The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1919-01-23
CAPT. HUDCENS
TELLS OF HUN WORK
SAW GERMANS RENDERING BOD
les INTO FATS.
Soldiers Come Home
From the War
Lieut.. Joseph F.. Smith, of Waterloo,
Reaches New York OF Steam
ship Comfort.

New York, Jan. 19.-Four steam
ships, their decks crowded with Am
erican fighting men, hundreds OF
whom gazed upon the home shores
from cots and c~onvalescent chairs,
passed the Statue of Liberty today
amid a din. from harbor craft, bring
ing home 1892 heroes. The climax
of the demonstration came when the
hospital ship Comfort bearing 81
sick and wounded entered the upper
bay and was hailed by cheers from
the throngs on shore and the strains
of Home Sweet Home" from a band
on board a vessel carrying Mayor Hy-
lan's committee of welcome. AS the
Comfort came abreast the Statue OF
Liberty a great shout o from her
decks, crowded to the rails with sold3
iers in bandages, supported by crutch-
es and canes or seated in easy chairs.
Through the port holes OF the hosplt-
al ship glimpses were. caught of the
more seriously wounded.
The other steamships were trans-
ports-the Lapland, which brought
2,065 soldiers; the Sierra, with 1918,
and the Wilhelmina, with : 1,O41
aboard. Of the. sick and wounded
brought back by the Comfort 100
we're naval men and four were ma
rines.
The troops of the Lapland for the
most part were casual companies
made up Of men from base hospitals
in France and England and most OF
whom were convalescent. One other
detachment, the One Hundred and
Fourteenth Trench Mortar Battery,
which had not seen service at the
front, was on it's way back to Camp
Beauregard, La. The casual COM
panies and their destinations are:
Nos. 211, 212, 21S, Camp Dix No.
PA, Upton; Nos. 215, 216,, 33S, 41s,
Meade; No. AT, Gordon. The Lap
land. also carried Sc casual officers.
Among the troops on the Sierra
we're the Three Hundred and Thirty
seventh Regiment of Field Artillery
and 237 casual officers and enlisted
men, the latter from hospitals in
France. Also on board were the
Three Hundred and Thirty-fourth and
three Hundred and Eleventh SAM
tary Train Of the Eighty-sixth Divis-
ion. the headquarters field hospital
and three hospital units and 1872
wounded.
Among the wounded officers on the
Comfort were Lieuts. Joseph F.
Smith, waterloo, S. c., and Benjamin
F. Malone, Monticello, Ga.
Z The Comfort left Plymouth, Janu-
airy 5, and five days later put into the
Azores after a stormy passage. A
turkey dinner was served the wound
ed before the ship put to sea again
and the trip from Azores was in
smooth seas.
Germany was in dire straits when
the war ended, according to Capt.
Robert W. Hudgens, of Laurens, S.
c., who arrived on the Comfort. He
was attached to the One Hundred
and Eighteenth Infantry, Thirtieth
Division, and when the town of Belle
court was captured the captain said
the Americans found the bodies OF
German soldiers being prepared to be
rendered into fats. A complete rem
dering plant was found beside the
BeIlecourt Canal, Captain Hudgens
said
Three wounded heroines also were
aboard the Comfort. All were nurses
and one of them, Miss Marie Smith,
of Berkeley, Cal, a. wounded in the
foot by shrapnel at Chateau Thierry
while attached to medical unit with
one of the 16-inch naval gun crews.
Members of the gun crew declared
she kept on attending to the wounded
until ordered from the field by an
officer.