The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1919-02-20
BRINGS BACK
HONORS, SCARS
AND TROPHIES
Former Idaho Guardsman Re-
ceives Highest French Dec
Oration for Bravery
HAS FIVE WOUND MARKS
James Sarro Gained Recognition by
Charging and Cleaning Out : ~
Three Gun Nests ss.e~ a

Wearing a French decoration for
signal bravery in battle, wound
stripe, two. gold service stripes, a
Scott NIT Uns" belt, and Hun sol
dier's watch and chain, James Sarro
arrived in Kennewick yesterday to re-
new acquaintance. formed here while
the Idaho guardsmen were guarding
the N. P. bridge in the early weeks Of
the war.
Sarro brings back the most graphic
and thrilling accounts of the Aghting
on the western front of any Of the
boys known to Kennewick. Altho
typical Italian in appearance and
speech, his mother is German and he
was born and lived in Germany near
the Austrian border until he was 18
years of age and so far as he knows
his parents still live there. Altho of
German blood he has never held any
German sympathies. He enlisted in
the Idaho National guard in April,
1917, and expects to re-enlist under
the Stars and Stripes and make sol
diering his profession.
Soon after arriving in France Sarro
was assigned to the second engineers,
second division. He went into action
in the last days Of june, 1918 and was
almost continuously at the front until
October 8, when he was cut down by
trench mortar fire at st. Germain hill
in the Meuse campaign. He fought
at Chateau Thierry, at Balleau Wood,
at Soissons, ct Nancy and along the
Meuse and regrets that he missed the
Argonne. He says that at the time
he was wounded there were but ten
of his original company whose names
had not been written in the casualty
list. He was in the hospital from
October until January 30, when he
was released at the San Francisco
Presidio. He received at ono time
five wounds, in the right knee, the
right thigh, right arm, left shoulder
and left breast. @
He received his decoration for ex-
ceptional bravery on September IL,
when one after another he cleaned out
three machine gun nests and came thru
without scratch. He was decorated
by General Pau while in base hos
pital in Paris. In cleaning out one Of
the machine gun nests he claims to
have bayonetcd his second cousin, who
recognized and called him by name
just before the fatal thrust. After
finishing off gnother Hun he returned
to the body of the soldier who had
called his name and found from his
identification tag that he was his
relative and boyhood friend.
Sarro says he was the first American
across the Meuse at Dun sur Meuse.
That he volunteered and successfully
carried over the rope for the building
of pontoon bridge. Later that same
day he received the wounds which put
him out of the fight. He says that
after the second engineers went first
into action they were hardly ever out
oft, often times being in continuous
fighting for several days. On one oc-
cosion they went from July 18 until
July "a without food except such as
they took from captured German
trenches.
Sarro went from here to Anatone,
Wash, where he has homestead.
AS soon as he can dispose of his pro-
perty he intends to make application
for re-enIistment in the army.