Trench and camp. ([Admiral, Md.) 1917-1919, 1919-02-27
TURNED DOWN THRICE,
BUT STILL wins FAME
"Ec" Barnett of Baltimore Became
a Doughboy and Bayoneted
His Boche.

Bayonetlng a boche infantryman
through the neck and killing him
with a revolver after finding him still
alive and the bayonet stuck in the
flesh was the experience of eccles-
ton Barnett, nephew of the late Rev
Dr. J. Houston Eccleston of Baltimore
and brother-in-law of Lieut. Morrow
Sheppard of the 315th Infantry, which
was trained in Meade with the 18th
Division.
Private Barpett's case was one of
the most remarkable. from the stand
point of patriotic determination. in
the whole Army. He came back
wounded and partly disabled and will
probably carry a piece of shrapnel in
his body the rest of his natural life.
&c Barnett" said Baltimore
friends is one of the finest fellows
that ever lived"
That really tells the story of Bar
nett from the standpoint of a man,
but it does not explain in detail how
he worked out his meritorious career
in the Army. Others may wear their
guerre and Victoria cross. but still
they will not have a story of valorous
persistence like his to tell
Sergeant leased Him.
Barnett was an old soldier and yet
he was thrice turned down for serv-
ice in this war. He went to the Ma
rine Corps and the Navy and was each
time refused admission because of
81, erI,f 1nfn nd 1lxy1 he
given the cold shoulder at the Army
recruiting office in Baltimore. where
some Irish sergeant turned to him
as he left and said:
What do you thing this is-an old
mans homer
forty, but he felt the sting of this re-
mark, and though he laughed about
it many times to his friends, he set
his face to what he considered his
duty and did not give up hope. He
had beautiful home down on the
Severn river. near Waterbury. and he
did not have to go away to fight, but
he thought he should, and right away
he went to Allentown, thinking that
as last resort he might be taken in
the ambulance section. He was.
Before long the exposure of camp
life in upper Pennsylvania last winter
gave him pneumonia and he suffered
severely. In fact, little prospect of
his recovery was seen. But he pulled
out all right and went to France.
The ambulance was no place for
"Ec,' and as soon as he set foot on
foreign soil he realized that he had a
chance to get into the infantry, his old
branch. in which he had served with
distinction in the Boxer rebellion. He
got his transfer and saw hard fighting,
finally receiving a wound which kept
him in hospitals several months. He
walks now with a slight limp.
Seldom Tells the Story.
Barnett has been back now several
weeks. but he rarely volunteers to
tell the story of his encounter with
the German when he succeeded in
pushing the bayonet into the boche's
neck. In order to eXtricate the bayo-
net he had to shoot the enemy dead.
A close friend was entertaining him
one day when. many hours after they
had been together for the first time
since the return of Barnett, the latter
remarked that he had been through
the bayonet fight.
Why, we asked you to tell us in
teresting things and you said there
was none" said the friend.
Lieut. Sheppard was married to Bar
nett's sister, Mrs. Ruth Barnett Free
man, last spring, just before the 315th
Infantry left for France. The we'd
ding was one of the leading social
events connected with the 18th Divi-
sion, and was the elimination of
romance of the most interesting char
acter.