The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-02-15
HEROES OF 18th
Ralph Hoppe of Topeka Writes
of Middle West Yanks.
Sends Pershing's Tribute to
Funston Mems Heroism.
HUN PLANES SWnnP DOWN
Sprinkled Machine Gun Bullets
Among Kansans.
But Burning Question Is,
"When Do We Go HOmeg"

That the Eighty-ninth division, the
"Middlewest division trained at
Camp Funston was second ITO none
might be inferred from letter from
Sergt. Ralph H. Hoppe, formerly Asso-
ciated Press correspondent in Topeka,
now with Company B, 340th machine
gun battalion, Of the army of occupa-
ton. written at Erdorf, Germany.
Sergeant Hoppe quotes the follow
ing praise from General Pershing re-
Gently published in the general orders
of the A. E. F. 1T is with a sense of
gratitude for it's splendid accomplish
ment which will live thru all history.
that I record in general orders
tribute TO the victory of the First army
in the Meuse-Argonne battle. Tested
and strengthened by the reduction of
the st. Mihiel salient, for more than
six weeks you battered against the
pivot of the enemy line on the western
front. 1t was position of imposing
natural strength, stretching on both
sides of the Meuse river from the bit
terly contested hills of Verdun to the
almost impenetrable forest of the Ar
gonne: position, moreover, fortified
by four years of labor designed to rem
der 1t impregnable; a position held
with the fullest resources of the en-
envy. That position you broke utterly,
and thereby fastened the collapse of
the enemy's military power. Soldiers
First. Third and Fifth corps-you will
be long remembered for the stubborn
persistence of your progress, your
storing of obstinately defended ma
chlne gun nests, your penetration, yard
by yard, of woods and ravines. your
heroic resistance in the face of counter
attacks supported by powerful artil-
lery fire. For more than a month.
from the initial attack of September
rs, you fought your way slowly thru
the Argonne-thru the woods and over
nils west of the Meuse; you slowly
enlarged your hold on the Cotes de
Mouse to the east; and then, on the
first of November, your attack forced
the enemy to flight. Pressing his re-
treat, you cleared the entire left bank
OF the Meuse south of Sedan, and then
stormed the heights on the right bank
and drove him into the plain beyond.
your achievement, which is scarcely to
be equalled in American history, must
remain a source of proud satisfa ction
TO the troops who participated in the
last campaign of the war. The Ameri-
| can people will remember it as reali-
cation of the hitherto potential
strength of the American contribution
toward the cause to which they had
| sworn allegiance. There can be no
greater reward for a soldier or for a
soldiers memory
(Signed) JOHN J. PERSHING,
General, Commander in Chief Ameri-
can Expeditionary Forces.
Yanks Don't Talk.
The real story of the war, says Ser
geant Hoppe, will never be told m his
tories, novels or magazines. 1.-The
| fighting men don't talk much of what
| they did, and the things they saw and
went thru are very apt to remain un-
| told unless some of them turn to
| literary pursuits after the war But
| the real story would be the one writ
ten in the thick of it,
The sergeant then goes into a par
| ticularly vivid description of the real
story, with machine gun bullets spat-
tering thru the brush, the shrapnel
and high explosive shells shriekine
thru the air. the debris flying from
| exploding shells and the murderous
airplane swooping down overhead, its
machine gun suffering and suffering
as its daring master put bursts OF
| fifteen or twenty bullets into little
groups of American doughboys and
| machine gunners. It was the fifth OF
| November-up in the Forest de
Dieulet near Laneuville and Stenay
| For five days we had been trying tt
keep up with the Hun. whom We ha6
put on the run with our drive the frs
| of November. The afternoon of the
fourth some of his machine gun nest:
| were holding up our infantry neal
Beaufort and Beauclair. Our bat
talon was ordered to move out on the
road in the open and a few hundred