Evening star., 1919-04-15
Ordered to Make Big Showing.

VI thC diuCu
Ordered to Make Big Showing.
Make as much of a show as you
Treat. in command Of the American
forces in Italy. to Col. Wallace. who
commanded the regiment. Make 'em
look like a million
So Wallace started. Sometimes he
paraded his regiment in two different
towns on the same day. The farther
apart the towns were the better he
liked it: He advertised the American
FORCES like circus. battalion would
march down the street amid the frantic
cheers of the populace, turn into a side
street, double back to starting point,
replace campaign hats with tin derbies
and perspire proudly down the line of
march again. The moment martial mu-
sic was heard the regiment fell in and
dressed to the right instinctively. 1t
could parade in it's sleep. 1t dismounted
from its trucks on entering each little
town and marched through and then
climbed back into the trucks for the
rush to the next little town.
THE whole country seemed crawl
ing with Americans" the Italian OBJ
servers. said.
Fooled the German Spies.
1t fooled the world, all right. Italy
was well equipped with German SYM
pathizers and spies, but unless the
spies could tie a ribbon on each
marching soldier they could never
find out how many Americans there
were in the kingdom only the few
in the secret had any suspicion that
there was but a single regiment.
After the 332d reached the Italian
front it kept up the tactics. 1t
marched down the streets and up the
streets and through communication
trenches and hack and in
and out and round about. When
ever it found itself concealed from
observation it changed hats. orr put
on raincoats. or dropped it's packs or
picked it's packs up.
How many Americans are there in
Italy?" asked an Austrian intelli-
sence officer after the armistice. I'VE
know there were five divisions. but
how many more?" 's
Austrian Fliers Mystifed.
The Americans found official re-
ports signed by Austrian fiers. who
managed to identify" almost as
in France. One reason why the 332d
was SO successful is that it is
picked lot. 1t began as part oftthe
Ohio draft, but when it was ordered
to Italy the misfits in each company
were combed out and better men
tdhcu lEOIH OtucT IS6 l"ChbS " uAA
the gaps. Officers of the regiment
have boasted to me that the average
non-c com. was At for commissioned
rank.
MY top sergeant is a better officer
than I ever will be-" said an old reg
panies.
1t was not all a hippodrome for
the 332d. however. 1t fought a.
plenty. One Of its men was almost
the last man killed before the Aus
trian armistice went into effect. The
332d liked the fighting, but there were
other things that got the regimental
goat. When I saw it last it wanted
to know. for example. why the regi-
mental quartermaster's department
went to Fiume when the regiment
went to the Dalmatian coast.
Regiment Asks Questions
80 we ate Italian rations." said
the regiment. mot that we're kick
ing, but our own rations were bet
termaster doing at Genoa? We
thought a regimental quartermaster
stayed with his regiment. Our field
hospital never did catch up to us
during the final drive. either. What's
field hospital for if it does not stay
in the field?"
It is quite safe to say an inquiry
will be made into many things now
on the 332d's mind. There was
camp ordered at Cormons. for ex-
trian prison site. and was rotten
with infection. Bodies Of the dead
Austrians were thick everywhere. The
little children of the town were en-
gagged in covering these ghastly ex-
hibits with quicklime when the 332d
came in. The Americans helped the
children dig graves. There was
high death rate at Cormons.
Col. Wallace asked permission of
Gen. Treat to move camp" I was told.
Treat told him to obey orders
stay where you were told to stay"
LOST Inside Enemy's Lines.
But the 332d does not let incidents
of that sort get on it's mind. It pre-
fers to talk of the night that Lieut..
Grant got lost with four trucks full
of food during the tnt, last ADVANCE ava ss.+,,.
line" they said. land next time. we
saw him he came to meet us from
the front He'd been prowling around
inside the enemy lines and in advance
of our own all night long"
Capt w. NJ. White of Dayton led
bare-legged company over the Taglia-
mento one night to persuade the Aus
trians to surrender. It Is almost the
story of Kipling's taking OF Lung
men take off their breeches in cross
ing the river because there was no
way to dry wet breeches on the front.
II did not want tlem to take cold"
said the careful officer.
Hid His Men in Tall Grass.
Then he hid them in the high grass
while he advanced alone and talked to
the Austrian officers at their camp
fire. Every now and then a bare
legged patriot behind him would
sneeze or kick hystericsty where the
rough grass tickled his bare legs.
II was afraid to turn around and
look at them" said White. because
knowing Just where to ssins look.rI ~ could tS
afraid I'd blow up"
The 332d will be returned to Ohio
Immediately, it il announced, and will
be mustered out as rapidly as possi-
BILE.
GEOPHONE AID TO MINERS.