Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-02-25
FIGHTERS GIVEN
JOv!AL Time At
TEMPLE Dinner
Heroes Make Merry at Entertain
ment Provided By the Red
Cross Chapter.
TELL STORIES OF BATTLES
Elmer RansOm's Tale of Chateau
Thierry is Feature of Vel
come Home Banquet.

It was Hello jim" Hey Bill
when did you get back?' What
was your outft?'' heard on every
side among about two hundred
men in uniform who made merry
in jovial good fellowship and
camaraderie at the Masonic
temple last evening where an ex-
cellent banquet and program made
up a roUsing welcome home enter
tainment; the second of 4 series
given by the welcome home com
mittee of the Rock Island Red
Cross to local boys who have re-
turned from serving their country
on land. sea and in the air.
The feature of the evening was
an interesting account of his ex-
periences given by Elmer Ransom.
a Rock Island boy who was
wounded three times and gassed
during the battle in which the
Yanks captured the little town of
Fismes, just across the Vesle
river from Scissors, France.
Soon after entering the service
Ransom was transferred to a reg
iment of regulars and sent over
seas. He began to feel var on the
trip over, for his ship was torped-
oed and sank with a loss of about
sixty of his comrades who went
down with the craft. Ransom was
one Of the survivors who tossed
about in small boats on the ocean
for a greater part of the night
(the attack occurred in the even
ing) until in the morning when
they were picked up by ships of
the convoy which returned to hunt
for them. They were taken to Eng
land where they were met by re-
lief canteens OF the Red Cross with
hot foods and bandages.
At Chateau Thierry.
It was not long after his regi-
ment arrived in France that it was
sent to the Chateau-T hierry front,
Ransom said. He told interesting
~ of how, when his battalion was
sent up under cover of darkness to
a post in the reserve line, it be-
came beWfldered and finally when
all sense of direction had been
lost and daylight was awaited, the
dawn revealed the force we'll in
advance of the very front line and
in an exposed position. Fritzie was
not long in recognizing the plight
of the battalion and began drop
ping big shells around it-too close
for comfort, Ransom commented
dryly. Hun snipers and machine
guns began wreaking havoc with
the men and buddies were drop
ping on every hand. knowing
that we couldn't stay where we
were, our officers sent a runner
back for orders as to what to do"
said Ransom. "The runner came
back with the demand to know
what in h We were doing way up
there. The situation was getting
worse and knowing that we could
not hold that position our officers
gave US the command to advance.
I'VE went for about a hundred
yards and dug ourselves in, that
is, we scooped out shallow hales
about foot deep in which we fiat
tened ourselves. When we started
something seemed to hit my helmet
and there was a loud roar I went
down and did not come to fOl
nearly 10 minutes. l think it was
a big shell, the air seemed full OF
them whining overhead too close.
When I pulled myself together the
boys were about fifty yards ahead
of me and l had to dOuble-time to
catch up.
'eWhen We dug ourselves in. q
runner came il with the order not
to do much, but just hold the posi-.
ton we were in for a few days. We
had to obey orders.
1--WE had the Fritzies on the run
They did not seem to like cold
steel and when we got close to
them we could not shoot for our
own boys were everywhere acting
like crazy men. We did not take
any prisoners ard the Germans
didn't have time TO. Each man had
two chances, to stick or get stuck.
In BelIeau wood we struck stiff
resistance. The Fritzies there were
in trees and you can bet we
our best friend. After seVera,
weeks of fighting in this sector we
were sent to the rear where our
ranks were filed up by men from
a replacement camp and we were
given a few days rest. Al that time
several squads from our regimen
were sent to Paris for parade and
happened to be among the lucky
boys We sure had a good time.
Some of the fellows had as many
as two madamouseIIes on their
arms at once.
when We got back we noticed
quite a change just back of the
front lines. Some of the fellows
told US we were just in time to gee
in on the big show They meant
the big drive. There were about
five or six divisions in that sec
tor at that time
I'VE were sent to a new line,
near Scissors and there we rested
for a few days before being sent
10 the front. We were told that we
must cross the Vesle river and
capture a town called Fismes, by
the next night
Over at Dawn.
"Just at dawn we went over the
top. We crossed the river and
went about two miles on the other