East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1919-09-19


Frank Gaffney. acclaimed by Gen
eral Pershing. the second braves
American soldier in the war. tol,
buffalo friends the other day that hi
heroic exploits resulted from his bull
headedness, desire to take chance
love of fight and eagerness to saw,
his company from annihilation, say,
the Buffalo News.
His reward for saving company @
1O8th infantry, at Ronssoy, France
september 20. 1918, at the peril OF
his life. and his later brilliant per-
formance along the st. Souplet front
October 10. when he lost his left arm,
are congressional medal. distin-
guished service medal and a pension
of $21 q month. His home is in
Lockport. N. Y.
DR.. C. Frank Bruso, who accom-
panied Gaffney about Buffalo, de-
clared "Gaffney Is not the second
braveat soldier: he Is actually the
bravest American of the war. not
even excepting the remarkable Ser
geant Alvin C. York.
The distinct difference between
York and Gaffney is that York was
D noncommissioned officer and car
ried authority to do things which
when ordered. But Gaffney went be-
yond his line of duty when he
smashed the resistance of the ma
chine gunners at Ronssoy. Single
handed he. too. accomplished the sur
render of the German machine gun
ners after he had killed some ana
crippled the remainder by dashing
the body of German over their
parapet."
Until DIR. Bruso convinced him that
his many friends and every American
would be greatly pleased to hear more
OF his wonderful exploits, Gaffney
stoiidly refused to discuss his heroics
in France.
Kept Himself Happy.
II always was very optimistic" said |
Gaffney. seldom did / worry when |
things went wrong over there! Some
how i always saw the bright side of |
everything. Home to me was wher-
ever hung my hat. Sure thought |
OF Lockport. my real home, with a
desire to be there. But I kept my
self happy by pretending my home
was back of the lines and my work
was up In the trenches.
Many times thought of the great
In jobs. How different
the battle lines were to papermakihg
In the International Paper company
In Niagara Falls. always thought
things could have been worse: those
Germans. you know. would have come
10 America. IL we didn't go there.
"Homesickness was worse with
most of our boys than bullets or real
disease In the thick OF every fight
always told the boys that the war
like . pink tea party compared to our
bottle parties back in Lockport.
''Whenever saw chance for real
action 1 ached to take a long chance
right. All along thought was born
under lucky star because / was
never wounded or captured
II guess I wasn't born under that
,tar, though. The last day my COM
,any was In action I got struck with
in the side beneath the
Ihoulder. That caused me to lose my
eft arm"
Major General John +. Ryan wrote N
o Private Gaffney July as follows: H
II read in the press the fact that N
,ou had been presented with the con-
yressionai medal of honor. as a result
If your extraordinary gallantry Sep III
ember 20 last. In the same article III
learned of your subsequent wound III
md was very sorry, indeed, to know III
,ou suffered the loss of an arm. III
Commended by General O'Ryan. III
After the Hindenburg line battle, Ill
carefully examined the recommen-
lations made by commanding officers
or the award of honor and at that
ime 1t seemed to me that no one !
nan had performed more daring ex- !
,loits and had exercised a bigger in {
luence upon those about him by the 1
,allantry of his conduct than you |
lad. ,
IT think you are entitled to know ,
his. 1t was therefore a matter of
,articular qualification to me to learn
hat you finally received this most
IGNORED of all awards. the congress
ional medal. {