The sun., 1919-03-21
9TH ENGINEERS IN
WITH MEDAL MEN
Went to Mine Germans, but
Built Bridges to Try to
Catch Them.
DONE UNDER HEAVY FIRE
Seventeenth and 137th Aero
Squadron and Many Cas-
uals Also Arrive.

Tne Engineers Concede that the navy
took the army across the Atlantic. but
who piloted the army across the rivers
OF France3 Now, all together the En-
neersl OF course. as any OF tho forty
three officers and 1,349 men Of the
Twenty-seventh Engineers who arrived
yesterday by the steamship Dakotan
would have modestly told any one who
had asked him. The commander and
! organiser OF the Twenty seventh Engi-
neers Is Col. Oscar b. Perry, who was a
UP huge Job with the Guggenheims
and graduating from Plattsburg.
The chief and original intention of the
Twenty-seventh Engineers, which is
made up OF men from all the world"
was to lay mines to blow up advancing
Germans. The Engineers found them
going the other way. and thereafter de-
voted themselves to building bridges and
occasionally acting as infantry when
themselves mostly In the Argonne, where
they put up fifty-ive bridges of all the
kinds known to warfare and won three
citations. In all their arduous construc-
tive service they lost only six killed and
thirty-one wounded, but they were quite
willing to do better and suspect they
might have II the Germans had known
how to shoot.
Bridged Aire Under Heavy Fire.
Special stories we're told of the way
tho men of the Twenty-seventh Engi-
neers did things to show what sort of
warrior builders and smashers they
were. There was the case OF Lieut..
Robert Burrage of Boston. He took a
l-A- n
out Just how they we're made 50 our ar
tillerists might >pulverize them the bet
ter. The patrol killed three Germans
and only one OF its own intrepid men
was wounded. They managed to bring
him back. Lieut.. Howard L. King of
$50 West 164th street had to build
bridge over the Aire under heavy enemy
Gre. II took three days to do 1t and four
men were killed and sixteen wounded.
but the doughboys went over that bridge
later.
Among the New Workers with the
Twenty-seventh Engineers are Lieut..
wilder Lahy. who has been eight months
IN France, chiefly building bridges on the
Meuse Lieut.. Charles }. Mampel, Major
Wilson e. Wood, medical officer Lieuts.
Ralph Edmundson and Douglas Chaplin.
The Adjutant of the regiment. Capt.
Edwin S. Berry. is detained in France on
mining Work TOT the tedCe commission.
The ,Dakotan had foul weather on the
trip and there were three deaths from
pneumonia: Wagner Francis r. Scott
Of California, Private Henry B. Russell
Of Arkansas, both of the Twenty seventh
Engineers. and Frank Carroll. Michigan.
Of the Seventeenth Aero Squadron. Cor
poral George r. Herbfled of the Seven
tenth Aero Squadron fell down an open
hatch on Tuesday and was killed. He
had sent a wireless message to his wife
the day before. which was her birthday.
telling her when he expected to arrive.
The hatch should have been covered and
the ships officers are making an inves-
tigation.
Brought Down sixty Planes.
Others aboard the Dakotan were off,
GERS and men OF the 18th and Seven
teenth Aero Squadrons and casual OFF,
GERS. The 137th. commanded by Lieut..
J. T. Heckel of Rochester. did not get
into action. The Seventeenth, COM
manded by Major g. b. Eckert, was
associated with the British, and brought
down sixty planes Lieut.. Howard Bur-
dick Of Brooklyn. son OF Clinton D. Bur-
dick. vice-president of the Title Guar
artee and Trust Company, won the Dis
tinguished Service Cross. Two New York
rIierS with the seventh Aero squadron
are David T. weels. formerly a news
paper man. and Lieut.. Donald Herring.
The Anchor Line steamship Italia
brought fifteen casual companies
Of twenty-five officers and 9ss men
under command % Lieut.-Co Oscar II.
rogg, formerly with the Consolidated
Gas Company. with home at the Engl-
neers Club. The greeting ship Patrol
being laid UP for an overhauling, the
Jtalia's homecomers were welcomed by
two police launches.
The Lamport e. Holt liner Vestris.
which normally plies between New York
and Brazilian ports. came here In place
OF the Cunarder Orduna, which was
slightly damaged in collision and put
back to Liverpool. The Vestric usually
berths in Brooklyn and customarily is
assisted by tugs. She could get no tugs
yesterday, 30 her skipper, Capt. John
Byrne. finding the tide favorable. put
her alongside her pier pretty mucn like
a Newport catboat sailer skins alongside
a yacht.
Missing papers that should have been
attached to the passport of Lieut.. Doug
las Kingsley. who has served through
the war as infantry man. artillery man
and aviator may cause him to be de-
tanned a while at Ellis Island. He is
. Londoner and nephew OF +. L. Leeds.
vice-presdent OF the les-Bement-Pond
Company. munition makers. of Ill
Broadway.