The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-07-17
The Plans Of His Old Company to Wei.
come Him Home with Pa
rade Went Amiss by His
Coming.
ANXIOUS TO GET BACK
Said He Did Not Know That Any Dem
onstration Was Planned But
Could Not Have Wait
ed Long.

The plans Of the men of the old
Company l., to welcome Captain Ed
ward Chase with considerable cere-
mony all went amiss, for the guest OF
honor for whom the demonstration
was to be made, appeared on the
streets of Keokuk late yesterday after
noon.
He had been so anxious to get home
that he took the first train out after
his discharge from Camp Dodge.
Il had no idea that I was spelling
a good parade" he said last night.
| But / was just anxious to get home
and don't know whether could have
waited for later train If had known
about IL"
He consistently refuses to talk
about any of his war experiences and
maintains that the men who were
under his command at the time tho
company left Keokuk and were later
transferred to casual companies to be
sent overseas are qualified to do all
the talking on that score.
Most of my experiences in France
happened to be in Germany" he
said.
His Fate Better Than Others.
Their first commanding officer
robbed bank down there at Deming
and then committed suicide. The one
who was sent overseas with them was
court martialed for cowardice, and the
third one was killed after three days
In action"
But history of the company which
/ was issued by the men after the armis-
tice was signed speaks very highly Of
! q nj i Ar
ing the time he was in command he
was very much with them.
When asked about the conditions
surrounding the army of occupation.
he stated that it was not exactly a
picnic.
Don't let anybody tell you that
the men didn't work, for they did. OF
course there were lot Of things that
made it almost enjoyable too.
mo; the Germans didn't seem to
harbor any resentment against the
Am ericans when we came in. And
don't let anyone try to tell you that
they were towards. I've helped to
bury too many Of them who fought to
the last ditch, to think that
Huns Submitted Gracefully.
"They are good soldiers from their
necks down. They have to have au-
thority over them. They expect it and
want it. When a German soldier came
home to his own town one day, the
next day he was out working. It ap-
parently didn't make much difference
whether it was an American officer
that was in authority or the burgo-
master. He obeyed one just as Willing.
~ as the other. But don't think that
the individual Germans regarded
themselves as whipped though. But
it doesn't seem to make much differ
ence which authority they shall sub
NIT to.
at was the particular business Of
the military police to prevent frater.
nization with the Germans 1t wasn't
SO hard right out on the streets, but
don't know how you are going to pre-
vent it when a man is billeted in
house
"The Americans are peculiar AMI
mails. They know how to make the
best Of everything and would make
themselves at home wherever they
were bilIeted. The Germans hardly
understood that, but they liked 1t.
They expected to serve the Americans
because the authorities said they
should. And the men never hesitated
to let them do it either. As soon as
a man would be assigned. he would
throw off his pack and shirt and say
Mother, where is some warm water?
IL there were any 'madchens' around,
the first job they would get was to
shine the shoes of their guests"