The sun., 1919-04-29
LOST BATTALION IN
WITH 5000 OF nth
soldiers on America Kept Be-
low Decks to Insure the
Safety of Ship.
do NOT WANT TO MARCH
Cruiser Pueblo Brings 117th
Engineers - Minnesotan
Lands 18th Infantry.
DO NOT WANT TO MARCH

me larger part OF 5000 Ynen OF the
seventy-seventh Division who got bers
yesterday by the transport America
were unable to appreciate the greet
.ngs or weicomers who went down the
nay In four steamboats, because thew
were ordered below decks by the naval
commander SO that there might he M
danger or capsizing her through TON
neaviness and the rush of masses 10
.me rails OF the several upper decks.
me men did not like this, but the
shlps onicers thought It was neces-
esIy, as the America is a seven stored
creation and a bit tender" The order
mas been given before and for the
same reason
Most OF the men of the Seventy-sev-
ehth declared by ballot taken aboard
> mat they did not care about parading.
AS the Statue Of Liberty is the divisional
ensigma OF the Seventy-seventh some
OF the men. who were not allowed to
see IL said 1t had lost some of its sig
nincance to them. But they may change
lheir minds about this later, also about
their desire to parade
The Lost Battalion" or Second of the
3Osth Infantry. Seventy-seventh Divf-
sion, came back in command of Major
George G.. McMurtry, 20 East Seventeen
street. second in command when the
Germans cut Oft the battalion ana bur
rounded it. and who has received the
Congressional medal. Capt. william j.
Cullen. lawyer, OF 1887 woodycrest ave-
nue., The Bronx. in charge OF Company
n, retold the story OF the Lost Bat
talon" The losses were SO heavy in
the Ave days of continuous Smelling and
shipping after 1t went over the top that
ak companies of the 307th Infantry and
two companies of the S06th Machine
Gun Battalion were consolidated with
the regiment OF the Second to remaks IL.
with total of $50 men.
Men Killed Seeking Water.
The battalion moved forward on o.
tober 2. encountering heavy machine gun
opposition. They wiped out some OF the
tests and got we'll into the German lines.
Five attacks were made by the enemy in
the six days the battalion was isolated.
In the intervals between attacks there
was uninterrupted hand grenade and
machine gun FIRE. The Germans had the
range OF the only water hole and fifteen
men were killed or wounded at It,
The S0Sth Infantry Band buried tire
dead OF the battalion after the arrival of
the rescue party, and Band Leader Lieut..
Herman Schoenfeld of Patchogue, l., l..
comes back with two band horns deco
D., rated with wound stripes and red crosses
TO show where they had been hit All the
original instruments of the band were
smashed at Vesle in August Among
those the band put under earth was Capt.
Eddie Grant OF Company II, 307th In
'fantry. sent to rescue the lost ones
Three hundred we're buried in the woods
where they had fallen. Sergeant Frank
W. Winkler of 3714 Third avenue said
when he went into the woods with the
troops he weighed $50 pounds and when
he came out his weight was 1855.
Before the America sailed from France
Col. Maurice Larent decorated three men
OF the 3OSth with the Croix de Guerre.
They are Major McMurtry for gallantry
with the Lost Battalion" First Sergeant
Benjamin Kaufman of Company X. who
captured a German machine gun nest
single handed and took prisoner al
though his right arm was shattered. and
Private Jack Herschkowitz of Company
c, who carried messages to Whittlesey
through heavy barrages.
Private Pom Lee, Just tall enough to
get into the army. formerly a waiter in
O Chinese restaurant in Pell street and
winner Of the Croix de Guerre, and
Private Loreto Rodriguez, Mexican
Indian. from Albuquerque, more than six
feet tall, were fast friends on the trip
and went about together SO frequently
that they became known as the Long
and the Short of IT," Pom Lee Is ambi-
tious to get of his uniform swiftly and
get back to Chinatown, and New Mexico
Is appealing strongly to Rodriguez.
Digs as Decoration Waits.
Lieut.. Charles Ridgely of the 3osth,
90 East Seventeenth street, who went
across in September. received the d. 8.
c. at Scissors in July last and was cited
for action in raid in the Picardy sec
tion of the Argonne. when his detach-
ment captured thirty-six prisoners and
killed the rest Of German company.
Capt. John Bradley Delahunty, person
mel officer of the 30sth, and his bride,
who until April was Miss Margaret
Rowland. ambulance driver and Red
Cross nurse at the Mrs. E. H. Hartman
Hospital. arrived by the America They