Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-09-24
No Wonder Germany Quit
by MAJOR FRANK C. MAHIN
or the Army Recruiting Station

Many and many n real hero has
never gotten so much as citation
much less Il medal during this late
war. One case in particular is III
delibly stamped in my memory. He
was stocky little fellow assigned to
regimental headquarters as a runner.
Time after time that lad has come
sliding down into my shell hole in the
middle of an intense barrage when
l VAS most fervently wishing that
| were home with mother. With a
cheerful grin he would hand me a
~ essage from the Colonel and away
he would go through shell and ma
chine gun fire as sunconcerned as
hough he were walking down the
main street of his native town. AS
he scrambled out of the shell hole
| would call out to him his famous
motto, some gets you but most of
them misses you,' and with a cheer
full, that's right, SIR and wave OF
the hand and he would be gone.
His motto came to light one day
when he arrived at regiln entail heau-
quarters after coming down the side
OF n hill, in plain view, which was
being simply smothered with burst
ing shells. The Colonel had stood
there watching his unhesitattng de-
scent and upon his arrival had asked
the runner If he had not been scared
on that hillside. His smiling answer
became historic all through the divi-
sion and really had great deal to
do with the marvellous morale and
determination shown by the men of
the Fifth Division in their crossing
of the Mouse on November 5th and
, their subsequent wonderful drive to-
wards Longwy General Pershing
said in his citation that the crossing
of the Meuse was the greatest div
isionaI feat of the war and many
thousands of the wearers of the Red
Diamond attribute their success 10
the spirit inspired by that runner
motto even though they had no idea
who said it. Week after week through
st. Mihiel and then In the Meuse-
Argonne this runner carried his mes
sa ges by day and night, through
dense fire that made perfect Hell
on Earth, through mud, through rain
! and darkness always cheerful, al
WAYS swift, apparently never tired
/ and never sleepy. Early in Novem- :
Der his comrades began to notice
/ that he had taken to snatching what
sleep he had time to get, lying on his
! stomach and they also noticed that
! he never sat down. Finally on No
! vember 9Th, the sergeant In charse
of the runner asked him why he
didn't sit down and rest when ne
! got a chance The runner just
grinned and answered that he never
/ got tired enough to want to sit down.
/ That made the young sergeant sus-
| picious and he took our young
friend over to see the doctor. The
doctor made him take down his
! trousers and discovered to his horror
! that a large part of one thigh had
been eaten away by mustard gas
Imagine burn as big as a dinner
plate, q burn that had eaten into
the flesh an inch and then, through
lack of care, had turned into huge
running sore, sore which every
step cracked and made bleed, sore
which every step caused the mans
clothing to chafe and rub. At last
the runner admitted that on October
| 18th n shell had knocked him head
over heels into q shell hole in which
he had sat for a moment recover
| ing his breath and senses which hac
been nearly knocked -out OF him by
the conclusion. 1t was in this shell
hole that he had unknowingly sat iT
mustard gas and gotten his burns
For twenty-one days without wore
or a hint to anyone of his condition
he had gone about his duty, always
cheerful. always on the job. And i
was during this twenty-one days tha
he had enuciated his famous motto
that did so much to bring about th'
downfall of the Hun. Is 1t any won
der that with. men against then
whose fortitude and courageous en-
durance far exceeded that of thu
renowned Spartan youth who let ;
fox bite him to the heart without ;
murmur, that the Boche decided t.
quit while the quitting was good ant
while there were still some Boch
left alive to make Peace Treaty.