The Washington times., 1919-01-12
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young man, with an artificial arm at
the end of which was a hook. feel
iffS-' OF the empty sleeve of a COM
! Tade.
| ut will get here Thursday by ex-
press was the comrades reply.
With that the questioner. by a
movement. of his shoulder blade like
a shrug raised his artificial forearm
J up and down like hinge, remarking,
t"aine's coming along FIRST rate, but /
want my hand to. hurry along"
= The soldier whose arm was expect
! ed Thursday by express" wore a dis
} itinguished service cross and a CroiX
! dc Guerre.
/, .- Modest Heroes.
Modestly declining to- give details
! OF ,hoH he won the coveted decora-
j'tions, the soldier pointed to the piano
! player. There's hero from the
crown OF his, head to the sole of his
feei,R the biggest hero there is out
here he said quietly. THe was. four
times. q casually and he has 4 lot of
Hght left In him yet" ...
, The .eporter could not see any Wis
| bile signs of wounds about the SOL
dier-mus,cian, but when he accosted
/ Sergt. John F. Blsich, vho that SOL
der proved to sbe. he found that all
the Germans left or hi n intact was
his smile. his fingers and a cheerful
disposition.
Yes. he said. he had a Distinguished
Service Cross, a Croix de Guerre. and
, a few stations, but he had another
on the way. which would be a con-
slant reminder as long as he lived,
| Of the late war.
'It's the %. G. r.. decoration. he
said.
Explaining, he said he soon would
Undergo an operation and have n
band of gold placed around one of
mis- vertebra, which was fractured
when be fell to the ground after his
| horse was shot from under him by a
| shell in Argonne forest.
80 you see, I'll be elected to the
Order OF the Golden Ring" he said.
smiling. ---.
was. Dispatch Rider.
Sergeant Blaich demurred to tell
ing of his experiences, saying that
he had not lost a leg nor an arm.
, But he was !gassed, suffered a shrap-
| rel wound In the leg. was bayoneted
by Prussian, and had his horse
| shot while he was a dispatch rider.
Blaich is from Philadelphia, and
was an engineer on the Pennsylvania
|
Company A, First Engineers, regular
army, when he went to France nearly
one year ago.
He returned from France last
| month and is today at the hospital
preparing for the operation.
Sergeant Blaich's company did not
! remain idle long after reaching
France. Two weeks after landing,
/ late in March OF last year. they saw
real action at Cantigny.
Wounded at Caatigny.
His first wound was received at
Cantigny, when a piece of shrapneI
struck him in the leg. He refused to
&C to hospital, but continued to
move forward with the platoon OF
4 which he wac in command. Some
l hSdrs later he went to a first aid
station. had his wound dressed ard
er. south Of Soissons.
This time he was
al
rging straight at the
attack began" Ser
Id. Now, to disturb
SITS is somewhat a diff
TO do II in the face Of
well, that's another
training camps in this
were taught to don our
six seconds. Over there,
ds Is too long. ! could put
and have time to spare IL
led that long.
charged ahead, wearing the
|ersome masks, when a bullet
~ a machine gun struck my mask
with a sharp snip and carried away
one OF the. eye pieces. With the gas
burning my eyes something terrible
and thrilled by the excitement OF the
charge, I couldn't stand to have the
mask in my way, so I tore ii from
my head and threw il away.
The burning in my lungs and stom-
ach as I bresthed the poisoned air
about me became so sickening that
I was almost suffocated.
watch Shot From Wrist.
"Glancing down at my watch to learn
the hour, could hardly believe my own
eyes: for just as looked at it. It sud
denly left my wrist, leaving only the
leather band that had held il. A ma
chine gun bullet had removed ii, but
mad missed me. The stem to the time
piece fell to the ground and I picked
IT up and kept IL for a souvenir.
by this time ] was unable to go
further, and the next thing 1 knew 1
was in a hospital"
When he was discharged, the young
sergeant was listed as physically unft
for duty in his old company. so he was
made a dispatch rider.
1t was while In this service that he
made another trip from the battlefield
on a stretchF. He has never fully re-
covered from injuries suffered there.
As a dispatch rider, II was his duty
to serve as a messenger between the
lines of infantry And artillery.
Horse Killed Beneath Him.
1t was in the engagement in Argonne
Forest that he had his horse shot from
beneath him, and came near losing his
own life.
Il was sent from the artillery head
quarters some distance in the rear TO
the artillery who were battling the en-
erny in the front line trenches he said.