The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1919-10-31
Generals Personal Chauffeur Declares He Spent More Time Under
Fire Than Any Officer or Enlisted Man of the American
Expedhionay Forces-Aways in Advanced Post
Directing Major Operations.

New lork.-Gen. John j. Pershing
was the hardest working man of the
American eXpeditionary force and was
under fire a greater number of hours
during the var than any officer or e
listed man under his command, nc
cording 10 Sergeant Cesar Santini,
who was the generals personal chauf.
feur throughout the entire length Of
Americas participation in the war.
The general worked late and was al
ways In the advanced post command
directing the movements Of troops dur
ing major operations.
General Pershing personally direct
ed the st. Mihiel fight, was in the Ar
gonne forest commanding operations
for nearly two months and mingled
with the advanced troops at Cantigny
and Chateau Thierry. He questioned
prisoners brought in by the doughboys
at Cantigny and Chateau Thierry, and
in the latter operation walked into
the wheat fields TO the gun positions
to personally commend their crews
and to tell them how proud be was
Of them.
Sergeant Santini, who reveals these
hitherto unpublished facts of the do
ings of General Pershing in France,
is a Frenchman by birth and enlisted
in the United States army as an auto
mobile chauffeur and engineer at Gov
errors Island on April 23, 1917. His
knowledge OF the French language and
his ability as a chauffeur led TO his
selection as the commander in chiefs
personal chauffeur. Sergeant Santini
sailed from the United States with
General Pershing, he drove the gen
eral w forty thousand miles of
French roads during the more than
two years he was in France, and he
returned home aboard the transport
Leviathan with the commander in
chief.
Awarded Citations for Bravery.
The general has given Sergeant
Santini a gold cigarette case as n
token Of his appreciation of the chauf-
feur's services to him, and the ser
geant holds q citation personally
awarded him by the commander in
chief for bravery under fire. The ci-
tation stands as mute evidence OF the
hazardous situations General Pershing
found himself in ut times, as Sergeant
Santini was virtually never out Of
close touch with his commander. and
they both naturally suffered the same
ordealS from shell fire.
Sergeant Santlni was recently mus
tered out of service and has taken it
upon himself to tell Of his association
overseas with General Pershing.
Long before American troops reach
ed the front General Pershing went
through the rigors and strain of in
tensive shell fire. In the summer Of
1917 he was the guest Of the French
commanders and witnessed the attack
on Chemin des Danes. On this &C.
casion the commander in chief rode
right up to the barbed wire entangle-
ments in his automobile and crossed
the German trenches directly behind
the lines of French infantry.
Again in the Luneville sector where
the first Americans fell in the war,
General Pershing went into the line.
He donned hip boots and traversed
several miles Of trenches during an
enemy bombardment. On this occa-
sion Sergent Santini waited in q conf
m%unication trench until the general re-
turned, and admits the Jerry" was
using his high explosives to compare
lively good advantage.
Shell Just Misses Car.
OF the numerous narrow escapes
General Pershing had in his time at
the front the narrowest was, accord
ing to the best recollection of Sergeant
Santini, the day before the battle Of
Cantigny. The general was riding
along a road toward the advanced