Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-09-08

sir; but the Germans are there. He
knew where the enemy was and was
perfectly game to go and attack them
with his eight or nine men.
Colonel Hjalmer Erickson was
commander of the Twenty-sixth infan-
try during this action He was a fine
troop leader and a powerful man
physically. During a battle the high
er command naturally wants to know
what is going on at the front. It is
very difficult for the officer at the
front to furnish these details; often
he is busy, sometimes he knows moth
ing to tell. once during the first Ar
gonne battle the higher command
called upon Erickson. Nothing was
happening, but Erickson was equal to
the occasion.
Yes, yes, everything is fine. What
has happened? Our heavies have Just
started firing and it sounds good"
was Erickson's reassuring message.
Meanwhile ! had been given q Glass
b rating apd detailed as an instructor
at the school of the line at Langres.
After ! had been there a short while
] saw an officer from the First divi-
sion and, l told him / was awfully
anxious to get back and felt quite up
to field work again A few days after
that General Parker called up some
of the commanding officers in the
college on the telephone. ! had one
obstacle to overcome. l still had to
walk with cane, and although this
did not make any difference to me
from a physical standpoint it was
questionable if ! could get the medi-
cal department to pass me as Glass
A. We decided that the best way to
do was to take the bull by the horns
and go anyhow. | said goodbye to the
college one night and went with Ma
jor GoWenloc, of the division staff,
directly back to the division. / was
technically q. W. o. !. for a couple of
weeks, but they don't court-martial
you for a W. o. !. if you go Tin the
right direction, and my orders came
through all right. On reporting to
Gen. Frank Parker, who was COM
mandins the division, he assigned me
to command of my own regiment.
When my orders finally came to the
school directing me to report to G.
G., of the First division, for assign
ment to duty, | was commanding the
regiment in battle
Military Police Report.
At about this time three cavalry
troopers reported to the Twenty sixth
infantry. They said they came from
towns where they had been on military
duty They stated that they had
heard from a man in a hospital that
the First division was having a lot of
fighting and so they had gone a. W.
o. |. to join it, They were attached to
one of the companies, and a letter was
sent through channels saying that
they were excellent men and we want
ed their transfer to combatant
branch of the service. We phrased
it this way in order to tease one of
our higher command who belonged to
the cavalry. A long while later, as l
recall, an answer came back directing
me to send the men back to their out
fit, but they were all either killed or
wounded at that time.
After the division was relieved from
the Argonne it went into rest billets
near the town of Ligny, there to rest
and receive requirements before re-
turning into the same battle. Ad- |
vantage was taken of this brief period |
of rest to give leave to some OF the |
enlisted personnel and officers. This |
was the first leave most of them had |
ndu SllCe tuey ndu Deen IN france. |
Captain Shipley Thomas took the men |
under his command to their area. He |
described to me on his return how on |
the way down all the men would talk
about was: DO you remember how
we got that machine gun nest? That
was where Mcpherson got his" do
you remember how Lieutenant Baxter
and Sergeant Dobbs got those seventy
sevens by outflanking and surprising
them ?"
BY the time they had been at the
leave area twenty-four hours they had
forgotten all this. For seven days they
had a fine time and their point OF
view changed entirely. AS the train
carried them north through France,
when they stopped at station they
would lean out of the windows and
inveigle some unsuspecting M. p. close
to the train. They would ask him
with much earnestness what it was
like at the front. explaining to him
that they were members
of the Arkansas balloon corps. and
when he got near enough throw soda
water bottles at his head. Later an
indignant epistle reached me demand