The Washington herald., 1919-01-05
DISTRICT BATTALION
NEARLY WIPED OUT
ON SEVERAL FRONTS
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Wv SA LlN<AA Il ANSlN -
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avenge the death of his brother, who
was the first American sailor killeo
in the war.
Private Harmon Young. who used
TO work for the Southern Railway in
Washington, was also killed
Private Owen Grinder. another
Washington policeman, in Company
c, was severely wounded by shrapnel.
struck Above Heart.
"Sergt. Jack Shanley, in our COM
pany, was hit by a bullet just aboVe
the heart He was only badly wound
ed. but I hear from his people here
that he is now on his way home.
''Sergt- Jack Kelley. who worked in
a bank in Washington, and SergL
Harry CLANCY, who worked for Harry
Wardman, the real estate man. were
both wounded. Kelley was shot in the
hand and CLANCY in the arm.
''Sergt Harry Penn. of Company c.
and several others whose names I
don't remember were badly 'gassed'
in the first drive. Lieut. E. NJ. New
lin. of Company c. who was later
made captain when Capt. Horace Yo-
cum was transferred, was wounded by
shrapneL Lieut.. Dwight Duryea, of
our company, also was hit in the leg
by shrapnel bullet.
Capt Taylor, of Company A, has
been made major of the battalion. sue
ceeding Mai. Stuart S. Janney, of Bal
timore, who was promoted to lieu
tenant colonel and transferred to the
In in ~ -
Division. Lieut. Tim Jordan was
made captain of Company B. and. as
! remember it. Capt Lombard, of
Company B. was transferred.
Left Meade in July.
Our battalion left Meade on July
:. going from there to Hoboken, n.
J.. from which port we sailed on
July 9 on the transport La France
for Brest. There were five other
transports in our convoy.
1t took US nine days to make the
trip, during which time our trans
port was fired at a couple Of times
by submarines. We reached Brest
July Is and stayed at the camp
there about three days. I don't re-
member the name of the camp. but
il was a pretty tough one, with lots
of mud and the roads leading to it
were almost impossible.
"On leaving Brest. we were put
aboard cattle cars-they had seats
and after travelling steadily for
three and a half days, we detrained
at Riviere les Fosses, a little town
of about 400 people. Here we lived
in the loft of a stable, sleeping or
aFr
as our neighbors below. Our move
ments seemed to excite them and
they were always grunting about
the time we got ready to turn in
We were never billeted in stables
after that. but we often had to sleeI
in much less comfortable places.
We stayed at Riviere les Fosse:
until the 9Th of September. Ther
started for the Verdun front. Agar
We climbed aboard cattle cars, which
are often used in France for trans.
pOrtation of troops. This time the
cars had no seats. but as it was only
a twelve-hour ride to our next stop.
ping place-Revigny. in the Toul
seCtor-we didn't mind it so much
Hiked Three Days.
From here we started out and
hiked for three days, stopping al
different towns. The first place we
hiked to was Camp Joffre, on our
way towards Verdun.
From this camp we hiked to the
trenches at Esnes. northwest of Yer
dun All the-time we were at the
front. nearly two months. we were
almost continuously under heavy
fire from enemy machine guns and
heavy and light artillery. 1 was
with the 312th Machine Gun Bat
TALON during all the fighting except
the last six days.
I'VE took part in both the firsl
and second big drives. with Luxem-
burg as our objective. The battalion
was in the lighting continuously
from September Is to November IL,
the day the srmistice was signed.
I'm our first drive. which resulted
in the capture OF Montfaucon. from
the crest of which the German
crown prince is said to have watch
ed the battle of Verdun. Company c
started in with 172 officers and men.
After we captured the mountain.
there were only ninety-five OF us
left. the remainder being either
killed or wounded.
shifted to st. MihicI.
Prom here we were later shifted to
the St. Mihiel sector of this front,
but all our fighting was in the neigh
borhood of Verdun. l don't know
how many men we lost in the second
drive. for I was wounded on Novem-
ber s. just six days before the armis-
tire was signed. We were holding a
hill we had just captured. The Ger
mans counter-attacked. and during
this engagement I was. shot. The
bullet-whether it was from a ma
chine gun or rifle 1 don't know
passed entirely through my head just
below the base OF the brain. 1t went
in one cheek and out the other above
the roof of my mouth, without break
Ing any teeth"
Private Bolceine. who Is suffering