Evening star., 1919-04-13

American soldiers in the army of
occupation are monarchs of all they
survey, and every effort is being made
to keep them satisfied, but they are
homesick, and find even a base ball
game for the divisional championship
a poor substitute for an honorable
discharge ard their old place in the
factory or on the farm.
The latest Washington arrival from
the Rhineland is Leonard Ormerod,
who left The Evening Star to enlist in
the 18th Field Artillery, I'd Division,
and who was discharged at Camp
Meade this week with the grade of
regimental sergeant major. He enter
ed Germany with his command De-
cember /, crossed the Rhine twelve
days later, and was ordered home Tor
discharge February H.
we went irto Germany prepared
for anything. and for the first three
weeks every soldier went fully armed
all the time" said Mr.. Ormerod on MS
return to Washington today Every
artilIeryman had .45 automatic piS
toll on his hip with twenty-one ROUNDS
of ammunition. while lnfantrymen anu
marines carried their rifles with them,
even while in cafes or restaurants
; Respected Private Property.
"AmeTica has every reason to. be
proud of that army. for they were Inc
best disciplined soldiers 1 ever saw:
We were fresh from the cruc1oie OF
war. even the youngest soldier nao the
bearing of a veteran We respected
private property, and there was no
waste or wanton destruction. but we
took what we wanted and there was
never any argument with the Ger
mans as to who was boss.
when a command took up quarters
in A German town the senior ofhcer
sent for the burgomeister and ordered
him to collect all firearms an ammu-
milton from the citizens and IN ther1
over to the American authoriles' d
receipt being given Tor each i'eih,-
Orders were very e%pilc.. 'fa. ta anJ
burgomeister was to be sent 1or anu
under no circumstances was the ohcer
10 call on. the German ofhclai.
we had accurate maps of the coun-
try through which we were 10 pass
and an officer with two or three nom
CONS was sent ahead each morning
10 arrange for b:lletS for that nlSht.
Hotels were usually entirely taken
over. and if necessary from Two 10
twenty soldiers were put IN every
private house in the village. once or
twice it was necessary for some OF
the men to sleep in hay lo1tS. out
that was only when We were in a
very small village.
Took Red Hot Stove.
~what we wanted we borrowed
without ceremony. If we wanted
table for the regimental office, we
took one from the nearest cafe. If 1t
was a stove, we took the nearest one
that did not happen to be in use, and
1 heard of one squad that literally
stole a red hot stove But there was
no looting. The burgomeister kept a
record of every requisition We made
and they are now lighting IN Berin
TO see who is going to pay the bill.
My personal view is that the only
place we showed leniency to fault
was in instances where We did not
find stable room for the horses. that
were having even harder time than
the men. With pictures of German
military methods fresh in mind.
would have put those horses under
cover. though I had to stable them
in bedrooms. But. of course. after we
reached our permanent station We
Immediately found quarters for the
animals"
Yanks Contrasted With Huns.
The returned soldier believes that
in spite of the firm hand with which
the Americans dealt with the Ger
mans. much of the good feeling dis
played toward the incoming army was
sincere. On this point he said:
I'VE were following up the retreat
ing German army which had lost all
semblance of organization. Those
who lived in the Rheinish provinces
fell out without ceremony when they
reachee their own homes. and the un-
disciplined horde generally took what
it cou-d lay its hands on. which was
not much. The contrast between
these troops and the well ordered
Americans who came along a day or
two later could not but reflect credit
on the latter.
The retreating forces were evident
1y hard pushed. for the entire route
was marked by the forms of enact
ated horses that had died from ex-
haustion and undertaking. And
hardly a carcass that did not show
where "tenderloin'' or several
round steaks had been cut from it.
In fact, some of them were fully half
eaten
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