The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1919-04-12
BACK HOME FROM FRANCE
Weedie Cardinalli, First of Our
Eureka Boys To Return From
Overseas, Arrives Safe After
Being Seriously Wounded.

~' " 6ohCho, anu ouc VI TIE
second lot of boys that left here 10
months ago to enter military service
at Camp Lewis, returned home by
Mondays train from France. He is
the first of u home boys to return
from overseas and was given a
hearty welcome. Cardinalli was at
Camp Lewis less than four months
when ordered east en- route overseas.
He was on one of the six transports
that left an eastern port for over
there and they arrived at a French
port without meeting any subma-
rines. He was kept actively training,
but was not sent to the front until
the battle at Chateau Thierry, when
ne went over the top for the first
time as a member of the 23rd Regi-
ment of the Second Division. He
got through his first battle without
serious injury. and the Second Divis-
ion was then moved to the Scissors
front.
At the Battle of Scissors on July
l8 he was wounded three times-frst
in the foot by shrapnel, and soon af-
ter by a shrapnel wound in the thigh
that extended about four inches and
was nearly half an inch deep. Car
-
dinalli says he did not think these
wounds amounted to much at the
time; the boys were just getting
warmed up and he kept on going.
Later in the fight, while lying spread
out or the ground and waiting for
their own barrage to lift, a German
one-pounder explosive shell dropped
within four feet of him and went off.
A piece of this shell struck and tore
out a goodly portion of the f1eshy
part of his res right hip.
This last wound put him out, and
he lost so much blood before ~receiv-
ing first aid that it was generally
thought he could not be pulled
through to recovery. With the
others severely wounded he was con-
veyed to one of the hospitals in Paris
and received every possible attention.
In speaking of the treatment in the
hospital, Cardinalli says the Red
Cross organization cannot be given
too much praise for it's constant and
untiring efforts in aiding all and an
ticipating their slightest wants; and
he says this organizations great
work extended from the training
camps in America right up to the
firing lines, and its efficiency every
where was praised by all.
Cardinalli was released from the
hospital on November 4. seven days
before the armistice was signed. He
states that while the Germans were
Smelling Paris with their long range
gun, three of the big shells were
dropped close to the hospital in which
he was located.
He returned from Brest on the
transport Agamemnon and arrived
at Hoboken. New Jersey, on March
IL. From there they went to Camp
Merritt, and shortly after to Fort
Russell. Wyoming. Here he received
his honorable discharge from the
service and came straight home, and
he says Eureka surely looks good to
him.
Cardinalli returns with two gold
service chevrons on the left sleeve of
his uniform, one being given for
every six months service overseas;
while on the right sleeve is a wound
ed service chevron given to those
severely wounded and who have been
given hospital aid. Half way down
on the left sleeve is worn the red
chevron denoting an honorable dis
charge from the army, and this latter
one must be worn by all discharged
soldiers whenever wearing the regu-
lation uniform to show that their
connection with the service has been
terminated according to law.