The Yale expositor., 1919-03-27

Back From France

following article which is taken from
the Peck Times, is brother to Mar
garet Leitch, who is employed at the
Yale Woolen Mills, and is a nephew of
Mrs. Chas. S. Brown
Corporal Alexander Leitch, wearing
the red arrow which distinguishes the
fact that he is a member of the Thirty
Second Division and with service re-
cord of which any American soldier
may well feel proud, returned for
short furlough at the home of his par
ents, Mr.. and Mrs. John Leitch, of Elk,
on Wednesday.
In the fighting which the Americans
did in France, there are two divisions
that will be remembered as long as his
tory is written, these being the Forty
second, known as the Rainbow" div
ision and the Thirty second, which was
composed principally of Michigan and
Wisconsin men from the National
Guard and brought up to the fighting
strength by drafted men from these
two states. Leitch served during the
war with the Thirty-second division
and went through the battles that made
that division famous.
Leitch was drafted from Sanilac coun-
ty in September, 1917. Soon thereafter
with several other Ssnilac county boys,
he was sent to Camp Macarthur, Waco,
Texas, from which place he went to
France, landing in that country on
Feb. 20, 1918. he was an expert with
the rifle and soon became one of the
best shots in the 128th Infantry to
which he was assigned. His prOwess
with the rifle was such that he was in
a few weeks made sniper and in this
capacity served until the end of the
war. He relates many instances of his
work, telling of being behind the Ger.
man lines and getting away, of lying in
shell holes for hours at time TO get q
shot at the enemy, of being camouflag-
ed in tree so close to the front lines
that he could see the Germans in the
trenches and thus was able to get val
liable information to take. back to
headquarters. Very often his work
was so close that he was obliged to
wear German uniform, and in sniping
near the lines always wore German
helmet. At different times he was dis
guised as French soldier, and as his
work was on No Mans Land, he was
able to keep count of what he did and
his service record shows that he brought
in the Identification tags taken from
eleven Germans that he had killed in
this work.
Time passes and the names of the
battles that the Thirty.second engaged
in became confused, but the glory of
this division will always be high, and
for any man to have served as Leitch
has in the beginning in Alsace'Lor.
raine, at Fismes, at the Vesle, at
Scissors, at Argonne Forest, at
Chateau Thierry,> st. Mihiel and to
have remained to be on the line when
the war closed is fame enough for any
soldier. Leitch was injured in the foot
by bullet on Sept. z, but this did not
keep him out of the line for any length
of time. While at battalion headquar-
ters in France a call was issued for
volunteers to accompany some men to
the federal prison at Fort Leavenworth
who had surrendered to the Germans
without fighting and had later bean
given back as prisoners to the Ameri-
cans, and he was given the task of
bringing them over where they will
serve time, which accounts for his be-
ing home ahead of his division. He
expects to be discharged in about three
weeks and will then return to private
life. Sanilac sent no better soldier than
Leitch, and to have been one who has,
under the cover of darkness, cut the
electrified wires in "No Mans Land"
to have faced machine gun fire, shell
fire, barrage, to have gone through the
hell of war on the battlefield. to have
been in places where capture meant
instant death, to have been member
OF the "Red Arrow" OF Straight to Ber-
lin division will be a signal honor
wherever true patriotism and manhood
ara o0tanfad hfnh