The Big Sandy news. [volume] (Louisa, Ky.) 1885-1929, 1919-07-11
PRIV. PETE MCCOY
TELLS OWN STORY
ONE BIG SANDY HERO OF THE
GREAT WORLD WAR.

In telling the story OF Private Pete
Mccoy the following is taken from his
home town paper-The Citizen of
Prestonsburg. He lives at Thomas,
! KY
Wearing the Distinguished Service
I Cross, the highest medal by the U. S.
4 Government to any soldier during the
war, Private Pete Mccoy appeared
recently in Prestonsburg from Char
lotte North, Carolina, where he had
been decorated by Gen. Sam Facing on
I Wednesday, April l6, 1919
Here Is Pete's story in his own
words:
/ was in n skirmish squad near
/, Bellcourt, France, on what was called
the "Hindenburg Line" near about
the goth day Of Sept. 1918, and was
In a detail to go out of our trenches
into No Mans Land to locate and de-
! stroy some machine gun nests OF the
Z, Germans. There was another skirmish
line of our boys on the left OF us and
our captain wanted to know just how
far they were from us, or whether they
We're keeping up with us. He called
me up and ordered me to go to my left
until got connection with that COM
I
| business, said Farewell" and started.
II had gone little distance with the
machine bullets like a bee swarm all
around me. Eleven of our men had
i been killed while we were out, and
was a little scared. The shells were
coming and falling all around on the
right and left. The smoke screen was
so thick you couldn't see over ten or
twelve PAGES away from you on ac-
count OF them. Suddenly | heard
whistle blow on my left and heard
somebody say Ego down" ! was stand
ing there looking around but couldn't
see anybody. Then | heard the whistle
blow d second time. Directly Cap
tain came up on my left and patted
f me on the shoulder and says. GO
down! you are right in the Gerry
front"
We call them Gerrys over there.
Just as he said that couple of ma
chine gun bullets hit him in the left
arm and his rifle fell out of his hand
and he went down and says Il am
hit" Ills company was back OF him
about twcnty yards In a sunken hole.
We were up on the bank. The Ger
mans had a couple OF machine gun
emplacements just about in the shape
of an s out in front not very far from
where we were. The Captain he rolled
back in the sunlten hole but ! had all
this junk on my back and j couldn't
do IL, and had to stay there. But j
went down when the Captain told me
to 90 under the smoke screen, and
every once and awhile | could see the
German Captain peeping out They
were expecting a sldrmish line. / lay
there In that dead place in the ground
as we called II over there, with ma.
! chine gun bullets and shells hitting all
around me- When | went down you
see, they thought they had me- They
would shoot forty or nifty shots and
then you would see the Captain of
them stick his head up over the trench.
laid there and thought long time.
/ had a couple OF guns, a couple OF
revolvers, and my rifle, with bayonet
on the end of II, and had seven hand
grenades, had FIVE of them in BAN
doller kindly around me and two in my
pocket They were sweeping No Mans
Land all the time with their guns,
They had a couple of machine guns, |
. won't say 1t was fifteen minutes, IL
seemed like an hour to me, with their
machine gun bullets could feel them
going into this pack on my back and
now and then glanclng that steel hat,
and the commander every now and
then peeping over 10 see IL we We're
coming out. / thought about the old
man Mt home. l have only one brother
and | was thinking about him. thot
they have got me, but l will die be-
fore l will give up" All the time |
was trying to get this stun on my back
off of me so / could roll back like the
Captain did. ] took out three of these
hand grenades, and | "scrooched' back
in that little hole behind me--my rifle
and bayonet was three feet from me
where | could get my hands on them.
pulled the pin out of one of them
hand grenades They wasn't over
twenty feet away from me where they
i We're operating them machine guns. So
pulled the pin out of one of them and
held Il in my hand. You didn't have
but about five and n half seconds to
hold IL. Nobody had time to pick II up
after you threw IL down. j raised up
and could see the man at the gun raise
up and look over at me. | delivered
him the hand grenade and he might
have fired a half dozen times, but when
that went in there, there was not any
| more firing not another one. Instead
of going to the sunken hole, went in
after them with my bayonet 1t wasn't
nerve that done 1t; IL was ignorance.
You can guess when | met at the end
of the little trench coming out. | reach
ed UP and caught one over the left
eve: maybe reached down after one
of them | won't say for certain, but
walked up with the bayonet on my