The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1919-01-24
JOE HILL
FIRST BATTERY T
MAN FROM FRONT
COLUMBIA SOLDIER INJURED IN
ACTION IN VERDUN FRONT
is DISCHARGED.
LEFT BOYS WELL AND HAPPY
Many Other Columbians In I 18th Field
ArtilIery-Describes Heavy Fire of
His Outfit Which Was Used as
Shock Troops.


His Outfit Which Was Used as
Shock Troops.
Private Joe Hill is the first mem
ber of Battery f, 115th Field Artillery
to reach home from overseas. He ar
rived last night after spending about
month in various camps in this coun-
try before receiving his discharge.
Private Hill was injured on October
2 when the recoil of big gun broke
his leg while his battery was in ac
ton on the Verdun front. Since that
time he had not been with his regi
ment, but when he was sent to the
hospital he left all the boys in the
battery well and in good spirits.
Among the other soldiers from Co
lumbia and vicinity in his gun section
whom he mentioned were Thomas
Petty, Nelson Nellums, Guy w. Pigg
and James J. Mooney. He also men
toned Cheairs Figuers, Jesse Ray
burn, James Morgan, Jeff Anderson
and others well known here, this bat
terry having been made up from an
infantry company formed here at the
outbreak of the Mexican border
trouble.
pi, hn Inr
aid this morning some OF the exper-
fences of his regiment, much Of which
soldiers. He volunteered April II,
1917, and went to Nashville with the
First Tennessee Infantry where they
were in camp several months before
being transformed into artillery and
sent to Camp Sewer. After a long
period of training the regiment sailed
from New York on June 4, 1918, and
soon got into action on the Toul front,
which was considered quiet sector
until the Tennesseans got there and
started something.
1t was from the Toul front that the
115th artillery moved into the ST..
Mihiel drive as shock artillery and let
down a barrage which resulted in the
doughboys wiping out that salient
early in September But the 115th
remained there only one day and night
before being rushed to the Verdun
front where they assisted in starting
the last big drive that crushed the
enemy east of the Argonne forest,
1t was while engaged at Verdun
that Private Hill was injured. The
Huns were retreating so rapidly that
the artillerymen were compelled to
put in extra heavy loads in order to
send their shells far enough to reach
the enemy. One discharge was so
terrific that the recoil of the gun
caused a part Of it to strike Private
Hill on the right leg, breaking both
bones just above the ankle and crush
ing his foot so badly that he was laid
up in hospitals for more than two
months. He was in hospital at
Tours when the armistice was sibned.
The French virtually went wild with
joy at the news of peace and celebrat-
ed for week. Nothing was to good
for the Americans in the hospital and
some of the boys were so elated that
they forgot their wounds and almost
jumped out of their beds.
Up to the time he left the battery
only two men had been killed and one
wounded, an enemy shell explosion
killing two brothers named Smith,
from Dyersburg, and First Sergeant
Gutherie of Tullahoma
The guns used by the 115th we're
6-inch French howitzers, which we're
fired in action at the rate of two
| times a minute with brief halts every
20 minutes to cool the guns. They fir
ed all night at that rate frequently
when putting down a heavy barrage.
Often the fire was so heavy that the
tops of hills held by the enemy were
literally blown off When the artil-
lery moved forward after beginning
an attack it was often necessary to
clear the road of dead Germans so
that the horses would pass. Private
Hill said that a horse would not go
over the body of dead man.
The Tennesseans used French
horses and had much difficulty in
keeping enough to handle the heavy