Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-05-15
Sons of State DiSregarded
All Hazards to Crush Foe
french Commander Lauds Pennsyluaniuns for Re
mmhable Record Made after Reaching
TesIe Rirer

INTO the counter offensive battle
which commenced on the 18th of
July.
"Iou rushed into the fight as
though to a fete.
Your magnificent courage COM
pletely routed surprised enemy,
and your indomitable tenacity
checked the counter-attacks of his
fresh divisions.
"9ou have shown yourselves
worthy sons of your great country,
and you were admired by your
brothers in arms.
"Ninety-one guns, 1900 prisoners,
immense booty, ten kilometers Of
country reconquered. This is your
portion of the spoil of this victory.
"To attack him is to vanquish him.
American comrades, am CRATE
full to you for the blood so gen
erously spilled on the soil of my
country.
81 am proud to have commanded
you during such trying days and to
have fought with you for the deliver
ance of the world"
Killed Aiding Captain
OF the heroes developed in the
Fismes sector, none won such fame
as Sergeant James l. Mastrovitch,
of c company, 111th Infantry.
While fighting at Fismette, sub
urb of Fismes, C company was
forced to withdraw to the shelter of
a stone wall.
Sergeant Mastrovitch, when tax
ing up position behind the wall,
discovered that his commander, Cap
tain Williams, had been seriously
wounded. Captain Williams was ly-
ing in an open plot thirty yards in
front of the wall. 1t was being
raked by German machine-gun fire,
but Mastrovitch, true soldier of
America, went to the captains
rescue.
He dragged the wounded man be-
hind the wall, but fell. Fourteen
machine-gun bullets had entered his
body. He died in few minutes. A
medal of honor was awarded to this
soldier by President Wilson, and
forwarded to the next of kin, who
lives in Pittsburgh.
Vaudeville J. Barker, Y. NJ. C. A.
worker attached to the 10Sth
Machine Gun Battalion, proved him
self real hero on August 10. His
outfit was operating at Baslieux
near the Vesle. Seeing several men
in his outfit lying wounded in front
line positions, Barker crawled to
them, and after dressing their
wounds, turned to the relief of a
wounded German. After dressing the
Germans wounds he took him back
to the lines as prisoner. Barker
received D. S. C.
The 103d Engineers did yeoman
service at the Vesle, for besides
throwing ten bridges across the
river, the unit helped to hold them
against German counter-attacks.
The mopping up of Fismes, re-
ferred to in the official report of the
French, was a costly process, and
among the men who sacrificed their
lives in the work were Gordon
Faulkner, machine-gun company,
10th Infantry; Orrin Edwards, H
company, 10th Infantry; Corporal
William Curry, l. company, 10th
Infantry; Lester Johnson, COM
pany, 10th Infantry; John J.. Foley,
G company, 109th Infantry; Ago
stano Guincki, ID company, 110th In.
fantry, and Frank Gem, E company,
of the 112th Infantry.
Thomas W. Fales, Philadelphia
boy and lieutenant in M company,
109th Infantry, gave up his life in
the fighting at Courmont, on July
20. His commander, Lieutenant
Edward B. Coward, went forward
forty yards TO reconnoiter and was
hit in the head by a. sniper's bullet.
Lieutenant FaIes craWled out To his