Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-01-20
PRAISES HEROISM
OF 18TH DIVISION
Major Evans, Back at Hav.
erford Home, Holds Unit
Unsurpassed
CASUALTY LISTS HEAVY
Describes Great Drive and Ac-
ton When Thrown Into
Hottest Verdun Section
CASUALTY LISTS HEAVY

Hottest Nerdun SeCtlOn
Philadelphia soldiers returning from
France tell vivid stories of the heroism
of doughboys from this and other cities.
Major John Lewis Evans, OF Haver-
fords, tells glowing tales of the deeds Of
soldiers Of the Seventy-ninth Division,
the first unit to be trained at Camp
Meade and made up almost exclusively
of Pennsylvania, including most of the
frst draftees from Philadelphia. He
declared the Seventy-ninth Division has
had more casualties among Its officers
than possibly any other division unit.
The division. he said, was thrown into
one Of the worst sectors OF the Verdun
region and started something" that the
Germans are still talking about. lie
said.
II remember one day that one of our
boys sighted a Hun. 1t looked like a
good shot to him. He was just about
ready to fire when a French soldier saw
him, seized him and dragged him back,
with horror in his eyes. He begged the
American not to start something
I'VE went over six days later. re-
member from a post of observation see
Ing Montfaucon off in the distance and
never suspected We would be there a
few days later. That was the place were
the Kaiser and Crown Prince stood and
observed the German drives at Hill 304.
Away from Artillery
Starting on our five-day drive on the
25th.. our procession on the f1rst day was
hardly interfered with at ALL That took
us away from our artillery There had
been tremendous a-tillery preparation.
So many guns had been assembled al
most literally hub to hub-75's and
heavies. The firing started at a. m,
and gradually increased in volume until
IL was impossible to hear yourself think.
held.
"Montfaucon was one of our objec-
tiyes the first day. but we did not take
1t until the second. Transport was i'm
possible without new roads, and we
couldn't stop to wait for new roads So
we went ahead and cleaned out machine
gun nests and German artillery and in
fantry
That is one of the things that ex-
plains our heavy casualties. Nearly
every major in the division was a cas-
ualty. I would not be surprised II the
18th lost more officers than any other
division.
THE final service OF the 10th Divi-
sion is along the Meuse. for about two
weeks, and there was fierce fighting and
heavy punishment. We were exposed
to fire on three sides That is anoth-
er reason for the large number of cas-
ualties. The American troops here
were forging ahead and spreading out
like the sticks of a fan. The space
between had TO be filled up with new
divisions.
IL Fighting in open
This fighting was not like going
over the top Of the trench warfare. We
were now fighting in the open and al
most entirely against machinegun nests
and artillery. The German machine
gunners stuck 20 their guns. l have
yet TO learn of one gun that did
not have at least one dead Hun along
side.
ut was mostly Indian fighting. The
troops advance in lines, each man yards
away from the next. When any one
found a nest it was his own private job
to get rid of It and he did II with his
rife. or with a hand or rifle grenade.
There was little bayonet fighting But
our boys had to pay for their victories.
But uOU DtlltNt We NOuli AldN' hOilt
II any other way, II certainly wouldn't
have been any better il we had pro-
tracted the thing for another year, our
boys were eager TO get through with il
and they preferred to play tie game that
way"
Stetson Back
Major Evans explained that the oper-
alton in which the Seventy ninth Division
played part was the vnal one to break
one of the two lines of communication
of the Germans, and it succeeded,
Captain John 3. Stetson, Jr, Of FL
lSins Park, has reached this country. He
declined to tell any OF his experiences
with the air division. Tell tfem I'm
home" ne said. He wiz report to Wash
ington for further duty.
Three Philadephians with metal jaw
splints replacing teetn have arrived on
the hospital ship Comfort They are
Private William A. gallagher. gSls ST.
Albans street. Company r. 2@0tE In
fantry, who was in charge OF an auto
matte gun at Argonne and was wounded
on Novenbe | /.
Private John Hilev, 5sl5 Master
street. Company q, 3l6th Infantry, hit
by a high explosive bullet at Argonne
Private Charles J. Turner, 43l5 Mas
Ter street, Company 9, S15th Infantry,
stopped a machtne-gun bullet with his
jaw. also at Argonue.
wayne Hughes. Of the 3Olsr Heavy
Tank Corps was on board the Comfort.
He was injured when German heavy
made a direct hit and overturned the
tank IN which he was going into action,
Sergeant Frank NJ. Leader, 453 North
Twelfth street. Company I, 32tth In
fantry; Private Thomas r. Hobson,
1921 East Thayer street, Seventy sixth
Field Artillery, and Private John Leahy
131 Yves. Wilt street, Company g, 3l5th
infantry, were others from this city