The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-06-02
SOLDIERS ARE Gll(
BUT MEMORIES SIM ]
Shaft in Ruined Town Honosy -
Americans Killed In 81
Action.

villages which mark the sectors ooutn@s
! east of Nancy, where American yqI.s
diers entered the trenches tor the mr.
time, the people have forgotten wMeN
Americans are like. A stray soldier
4 in olive drab in sensation The CHI
dren run after him In the street, but
/ they have become so unfamiliar With
the manners and customs Of the AMI
NAL that they never mention cieAI-
cites and chewing gum.
4 In all that Lorraine countryaf00
from st. Nicolas to Baccarat, where
the list, 42nd 37th and nth divisions
got their baptisms OF fire, there are
only few striking reminders That
/ America. after all, had some part ~
the war One is the lorn cluster Of
| NJ. P.'s stationed at Luneville under
the deluson that AWOL's might In
wade the town, as if a man on spree
would ever think of going to Lune-
| Vile.
Another Is the nashy painting OF
the Statue of Liberty which snites
the eye of every stranger who entefs
the public square at Einvilie- 1t 0c-
cupies the whole side of house, TOR
all the world like an American break
fast food advertisement, anu It ID all
that is left of some Franee-Anert-
can fete celebrated In the days when
France was all agog over American IN.
PREVENTION in the war.
| Then remote. solitary. impressive
stands the white memorial shaft
which the good people OF Lorraine
reared among the ruins OF Bathlemont
les Bauzemont in honor OF the hrSt
three American soldiers to be killed
in action. All around it is desoIation.
fields still dead from the long absence.
of the pillow, dugouts and trenches un-
disturbed save by the soft spring rains
and wire everywhere. The village u
on a hilltop and the white shaft In
visible from far across the rolling
countryside.
Here, in the soil of Lorraine, lie
the first three American soldiers killed
by the enemy, November 3. 1911. Corr
poral j. b. Gresham cot Evansville),
Private Thomas r. Enright COT Pitts
burghl. and Private Merle D. Hay COT
! Glidden). AS sons worthy Of their
great and noble nation, they fought
for right, for liberty. for civilization
against German imperialism, tho
curse of the human race. They died
on the field of honor"
i Not there in the square. but a stones
throw away, in the field that slopes
down from the settlement, The three,
Company F. 18th infantry, are buried
buried in little American cemetery
of twelve graves. each grave sodded
and planted with flowers. some Of the
crosses decorated with metal medal
lions that show the crossed hags Of
France and America. The whole GEM
eterp marked by great cross OF
brentwood. with the figure Of Christ
nailed to it. II is very different from
the hasty graveyards that had TO be
made in the later days when our dead
numbered thousands.
The other nine soldiers who lie in
that first of our battlefield cemeteries
are:
Corporal Russell ". Sprasue. Conn
pany c, LIST engineers
Private Harry L. Miller, Battery r,
sth field artillery.
Private Charles Rtssmiller, Battery
F, sth field artillery.
Private Harry Meyers. Company n.
, 2sth infantry.
:, Private Peter wojtalewicz, Company
Z X, 9th infantry
Private Earle E. Aurand, Company
7, o6th infantry.
Private Abraham Meadows, head
i quarters com pany, 26th infantry ..@ MI
Sergeant John F. Czajka. company I,
) 26th infantry
Private Stanley Janovicz Company
! |, 26th infantry.
The German raid in which Gfiddeu.
Enright and Hay were killed 10 4
legend now in Battlefront les Bauze-
mont The old ne-legged FrenchMAn
,, who hobbies out to greet the occa-
sional pilgrim will. az he sits on thu
! wall smoking an American cigarette,
Tel! all about the heroism shown that
night. He will tell, too, how It was
, the coming OF the Americans which
brought ruin to the previously undis-
turoed village on the hill
Yes, we were close to the line he
says There are the French trenches
just over the crest OF that hill. But II
was un bon secteur Until the Amos1.
cans came the Germans had very few
guns opposite US, and they never Ared
them In the first three years not =
shell strck in the town. We could -
and come in peace. Then the Amert-
cans came and. mon Dieu. how they
did pull the strings OF their guna All
day and all night. Monsieur. And thu
Germans were furious and began hit.
out right and left. Still, what
would you' II they had not come
our houses would be whole today. but
poor Bathlemant. it would been 4 Ger.
man town. That was . long time
ago and life is very hard here nov.
We have to journey far for ravitallle-
ment. C'est la misere. Are there any
American troops left now in France.
Monsieur"
He might hobble far through that
part of Lorraine without nndine N
answer to this question. Sommerviller
can hardly remember whether II wax
the dust-covered wooden barracka ~
the Marie which sheltered our ART
divisional headquarters in the Nna
That was back in October. 1917, wfaan
Major General Sibert was commana9.
ing the LIST division and the trooha
had gone into the trenches brigadeA
with the French. long before the con.
muniques irst told the world that -
had taken over a sector northwest
of Toul"
But If that land Of lace and giass
and model workmen's cottages haa
been drained OF Americans ever since
the 37th shook the dust OF Baecarat
from their feet last September. there
Is still older American area whaok
is still populous with Yankee fruora
That is the first training area around
Gondrecourt. in,o which the men 81
| the first cOntingent wAre intr<HAs.~..3