El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-07-04
NeUer can Tell
What Man VIII
Do Under Fire
Sometimes The Bravest
Prove Cowards, and Then
Manifest Bravery Again.

Manifest Bravery Again.
aOne cannot tell what a soldier Will
do under fire until he has been tried
under every possible condition" said
yeung major who hollis congress-
ional medal OF honor or gailantTy IL
action. I have been a student Of
psychology and Of ethics all of my
life and thought that kaew some
thing about men until I saw them
lodging shells IN France. There are
but few who can aDsoIu.ely control
themselves under all circumstan noes.
and some Of the bravest under certain
conditions are the most abje-t cow
ards under others. and frequently the
determining feature is a NEST insiS-
nificant element A mans nervous
condition is largely respOnsib bic for
his conduct and what he has eaten
and drunk enter very largely .nlo his
actions If Il were commander IN
CHIEF OF an army 1 should pay EoTe
attention 10 what went into my men
than 10 everything else
I have a brilliant woman friend
who is the wife Of n able criminal
lawyer. He likes a certain kind of
hot cakes that she can make but it is
only on special occasions that she will
compound them just right for his
taste one day a negro down town
gave her favorit5 servant good
Whipping and she was inlurlateo-
That night she secured the promise
Of her husband that he would prose-
cute the offender the next day. Early
the next morning the woman arose
and prepared some OF those hot cakes
that would have tempted Lucullus-
The lawyer ate ravenously- He was
smiling as he left the breakfast table,
but pulled down the hatrack when
his hat would not come at his gentle
touch. kicked the door mat out of his
way, and actually tore the front gate
from its hinges as he departed for his
office. The good wife looked on all
these manifestations with special de-
light She realized that she had done
her work well
That evening when the man of
law came home. she asked him with
a seraphic expression on her counte-
nance. stephen. what did the Jury do
to that man They haven't decided
yet whether they VIII have him shot
or hanged" he answered
Two towards. Were They.
For 10 months I was captain of q
national guard company while in
training On this side. during which !
time I made a special study OF every
man in my company and of nearly !
every one in the battalion When We
vent over to France I was sure that /
I had two Of the bravest men on earth I
IN my company One was Z lieutenant |
and the other a sergeant
The sergeant had been a deep sea /
pilot on the dangerous Hatteras coast 1
and had faced death so often that the 4
Grim Reaper must have known him
we'll he had a trunk full Of medals 4
Tor herOism and was known in his
home section as the bravesr of the i
brave That man began TO tremble I
Just sa soon as he heard the roar OF 4
artillery and never did regain his {
equilibrium until he passed beyond 4
the sound thereof Il was Just as i'm
possible for. him TO make his legs take 4
aim towards rifle lire as II would /
have been for him TO have forced /
them 10 take him above the clouds i
worked with him for some time I
kept him from killing himself on ac-
count OF his deep humiliation and fin
ally had him transferred to training /
camp where he was Of great service ]
regarded the lieutenant as the /
finest specimen Of manhood had ever /
seen until he failed. He had seemed 4
concerned aDout the flesh and could 4
take more punishment without ap- 4
parent notice than any other man j
knew. Soon after we reached the 4
front he was sent on a little expedi- 4
ton at nay suggestion. He had com
mand OF platoon and the danger i
was not especially great Just as soon
as ne passed beyond our sight that 1
required four Of his men. to |
run ahead and dig a hole every so :
sales OF 50 tnat ne could run and
imp into each one just as soon as il
had been finished and keep under
cover. In this way he led his COM
mand FOR half a nile
Sent Him to Deafh-
Nobody but his men knew any
thing about this procedure until after
q stiff little fight the next day in
which he did not appear. I called ]
Elm before me to see If he could ac-
count Tor the unexpected cowardice
y the men Of his platoon. He finally
confessed how he had done the pre-
Vious day j actually placed my hand
1n my revolver intending 10 shoot
hin on the spot. He explained that
1e simply could not face a hidden
1anger- but that he was afraid of
nothing that he could see
He Captured the Nest.
We could see machine gun nest.
Tered him TO take that place He was
sred Kim 10 take that place He was
given four volunteers and nobody had
any idea that any OF them would es-
ape The man absolutely disregarded J.
All danger and by a miraculous com
0lnatlon OF luck and skill. he himself
killed or wounded all of the Ger
mans manning the gun and brought II
pack TO u.s. His act in proceeding
1nder that terrific fire showed that
be had no fear Of death II was m
luestlonabl5f the most reckless act 4
hat I saw during the war We re-
seived with open arms that man for
whom a few minutes before we felt
ne supremest contempt
Had Him Transferred.
Every time that man tried to face
ire coming from cOncea1ment he
Teuid run away. We labored with ,
him for some time and finally had Z
aim transferred to a training area.
where he was invaluable. We came
near having him shot for cowardice.
'ut realized his weakness and our
contempt finally merged into pity. He
leEged rs 10 shoot him many times
ana would have taken his life but was
-estrained on several occasions. He n
vas 2 mystery to US all I am sure
NJ he could have stood unflinchfng-l
y before firing squad and given the
i0mmand without falterine that would
lave meant his own death.
Inat man has caused me to lose a
OF OF sleep and even now 7 often
spend many waking hours after the
Midnight period trying to understand
AIM From many standDoints he Is
1ne. Of the finest men I know. but Is
N impossible soldier One has little
ssuranca when he Judges another