Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-01-05
A MAN AND A TRUCK.
Being the Story OF a Nick-ofTim Exploit
Which Saved the Day at the Battle of
Chateau Thierry
BY AN ARMY OFFICER.

%HE gray tide of destruction and
| rapine had once cast its bloody
spume over Belgium, and had
I so far advanced over France
that it fouled the waters of the Marine;
then, forced to recede, it deposited
ruin, death and Hunnish slime in its
path.
| Now, with intensified force. it again
smashed forward and recovered much
| territory in France, advancing hour
by hour till the heart of mankind
grew faint with apprehension that
civilization and liberty were to be
swept into the vortex of destruction
and slavery.
! At Chateau Thierry the onrushins
wave of Huns had reached it's full
| crest. and, unchecked, it would nave
! accomplished the ambition for world
domination of it's leader But at tins
| point the wave must be halted ana
! thrown back; and at Chateau-ThterIy
! it was, at precisely the psychoiogHai
| moment, that the onrushing gray nood
was stopped and cast back by the
| yalor and sacrifices of Americas sons
regulars, marines and Rainbow
Friend and Foe Exhausted.
! For many hours the crucible of bat
| tie had boiled and seethed with ele-
| ments of men, gas. fame and units OF
destruction hitherto unknown. pitl-
| less, marrow Hing rain had drench-
ed the combatants alike, and night
| fell, dark, foggy and sinister, Win
beams of light crossing and stap-
bling the darkness. The many SOUNDS
of conflict bore heavily through the
sodden air, and then quickly decreased
! in volume and intensity.
| Vigilant, though wearied to exhaus-
ton, friend and foe sought SUCH phys
! ical comfort AZ time and place anord-
ed, each we'll knowing that the conf
| ing of thu morning would bring to
them again a resumption OF the strug-
tgle-with death in hideous forms,
manning and untold agony as their
portion. Success to the Huns spelled
loot, lusz. and RIGHTEOUSNESS; victory
Ito the allies preserved Christianity
lcivilization and charity.
| The night wore on till the. faint
dawn touched the low-lyfng eastern
clouds; then the tumult OF crashing
guns, with all the lessor chorus OF
hell sounds of battle again saturated
the air The Yanks had gone over
! the top-again.
Call From the Front.
Some twelve miles back on the line
of communication a telephone bell set
Iup a strident and intermittent claim
| to attention From different points
in the room six men gave speedy heed
to the suffering jingle. but of this
number FIVE were at once placed In
| the "also ran" class by one. Corp
Ames, whose proximity, foot ball ex-
perience and extremely long right
arm reach gave him a four-inch lead.
Its for the captain-.from up front.
Call the captain. Burn the air. MUIR
ply, and get the captain. Get move
| on-What the h
| The Individual addressed as Murphy
had already disappeared head first
| through an open window and was well
on his way. by this time, far out OF
| range of Corporal Ames' first-aid re-
marks Silence for about one minute
| "a silence SO tense that one man vol
! ubly cursed at small alarm clock
| for it's blatant ticking-then the door
| opened and the captain so urgently in
| der,and stepped in and took over the
phone.
Yves, this is Capt. Blank I'M
lderstand-200.00 900 rounds-bandolier-
| just about four truck loads--rather
poor roads, but there will be no
| trouble on that score-I think it can
be made in about half an hour. Yes,
| / know 1t is, but if it can be done by
man. we have the men to do the job
! can get one or two through anyway
! will do our best
Every Man a Volunteer.
! Within three minutes thereafter
Sergt Smith had the company assem-
bled, and emitting all formaiities
came right to the point Men. we've
got to get ammunition up to the front
one load must get Throughout
| we're going to send four trucks. Its
| a mans Job, for the boches will sure
| ly give you all they have and then
some more. l want volunteers-step
| out
F., Sergt Smiths next remark is mat
| ter of wonder--for it is stated he
| rarely made any reference to himself
| in his conversation. yet his language
proved the exception to the general
| rule: We'll I'll be damned---l might
| have known it."
The occasion of the sergeants dis
comtiture being that the entire COM
pany had advanced as unit on his
| command stop Out'-and Seret.
Smith at later date asserted that he
has a positive recollection of at least
la dozen men whose faces were I'M
| familiar to him being in his COM
pany that morning. Twelve men were
selected-three men to each truck,
Sergt. Anderson in charge. Within
short time the four trucks were
loaded, and with Anderson in the lead
they wheeled into column and started
on as dangerous piece of forlorn
hone as Tails to the lot Of mankind.
A proper distance for protection was
maintained and all speed consistent
| with the condition of the terrain WAS
used. But with shell craters. wrecks,
distractions and other obstacles the
little group had to progress with
isome degree of slowness. and thus
some minutes OF extremely valuable
time were lost.
Attacked by Scout Plane.
A fair start had hardly been made
when other trouble than that belong
ing to traffic came their way. Heinie
lin scouting plane evidently was u
|