The Nenana daily news., 1919-06-25
COMPLIES
 DETAILS OF DEATHS
 OF WILD WEST'' MEN

SEATTLE.-Sad details of the deaths of the men of the 91st di- vision who did not return from France are being mailed their near est relatives by Lieutenant 'Colin Dyment, Northwest newspaperman, who went overseas with the dvis ion as Red Cross searcher and who re- mained with the Western men. in battle and out, until they stalted for home
 Scores of letters from relatives of the men killed in France are re- ceived by Lieutenant Dyment at lis office in the Red Cross headquarters here. Nearly all the letters come from the western states, the homes of the men of the Wild West" di- vision.
 Did he leave any word for us? How badly was he wounded? Were his comrades with him when he died? Did he say anything after ,e was shot? Can we get any of his personal belongings?" These and many other questions are put up to | ioDtopspt n1-pooot
 Answers for the questions are taken by Lietenant Dyment from number of note books he filled while on the Western front. These books contain something regarding nearly every death in the division. Most of the facts were gained by the lieutenant from the officers nd men who came out of the battles and told how their comrades died. Tt will take a million words of dictation to answer all the letters and write to the relatives Eh6 do not write for information" Lieu tenant Dyment said recently. Let ] ters are welcomed by the lieutenant and are answered as fully and as quickly as possible.
 Some of the letters received come from relatives of men in other di- visions. Lieutenant Dyment has no record of other than the 91st di- vision deaths, therefore he cannot answer the others fully.
 Lieutenant Dyment started his work in Paris before he returned to America. About two hundred let ters were sent by him from the French capital. advising relatives of the details of the deaths. Occasional Hast straw" hopes are blasted by the answers. Some relatives may have some bit of in formation that will lead them to doubt the truth of the telegrarns sent them by the war department telling that their boys were killed. Often the relatives will have a let ter from the soldier postmarked after the soldier died. Others will know of some other soldier who claims he saw their relative after the government reported he was killed. In nearly every case. how ever, the war department has been correct, Lieutenant Dyment thinks. l Most of the letters received ask if the writers can get some personal belongings of the dead soldiers. To one mother Lieutenant Dyment wrote that her son was smoking a pipe when he was killed. The mother replied asking if she could get the pipe.
 1 4n cases where one shell killed several men, Lieutenant Dyment punches the deaths and describes all in one letter. Copies of the letter go to relatives of each of the men.
 No facts, no matter how bad, are withheld Recently the lieutenant had to write the Washington father of a boy who was so badly wounded that his comrades did not dare move him and had to leave him be- hind to die when they changed their position. Lieutenant Dyment estimates that the 91st division suffered about 5000 casualties. Of this number, hatwapD Am and S00 uyor.