Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1919-01-07
PARTICULARS IN REGARD TO THE
DEATH OF LIEUT.. MONTGOMERY

IN a leULer TO MS HO01ei unoOi udlO
of December 18th, from Lieut.. Il. L.
Rodgers, a fellow officer in the same
Machine Gun company, extracts OF
which we have requested for publjca-
ton, knowing it would be of interest
to his numerous friends:
81 received your letter today and
am going to answer it Immediately.
You did not speak of receiving my
letter of October 4th. / guess it was
never sent, as at that time censor
regulations called for all letters of
that kind to be sent through cen
trail records office, which | did, and
no doubt they held it the same as
they did the one | wrote to Mr.. Sher-
man, father of Lieut.. Bob Sherman,
who was killed instantly by the same
shell that wounded Monty IAN endear-
ing term by which he was known to
ali the company and caused his
death later in the field hospital. The
company was in the middle OF the
Argonne, the part of the woods called
the Bots de Naza, and the infantry
had been held up by the enemy ma
chine gun fire in the thick woods.
Bob and Monty were ordered out
with their Machine Gun company to
our left flank to take up position
that would enfilade the Boche and
overcome the resistance and save
many lives of our men lad they sue
ceeded, but the Boche saw what an
advantageous position that was for US
and they shelled the place heavily and
made it impossible to stay there dur
ing the Smelling. Both Monty and
Bob were together and were hit by
the same shell, killing Bob instantly
and wounding Monty in the legs. The
men that were with him at the time
say no one thought Monty was hit
seriously He directed them to take
| him to the first aid station after re-
| ceiving first aid by the men. At the
station he was dressed again and sent
| to the Field Hospital at Sachalade in
a church not far behind the lines
where he died at 1904 a. M, October
4th. He had immediate attention
after being hit and did not lay in the
field any longer than was absolutely
necessary to render first aid about i've
minutes, and was at the first aid sta
tion as quickly as possible in ten min
utes anyway, and was dressed and
transferred to the Field Hospital
where he received the best possible
medical attention.
He did not complain Of suffering at
all from the time he was hit until
he reached the Field Hospital. He
was conscious all the time until he
reached the Hospital. We did not
know he was hit until ten minutes
after when runner came to Company
headquarters. They were about two
kilometers away Ia mile and a half
L LIE Ia n RI
the hospital and was too late for us
to 60 the first aid station as he haC
already been transferred. Monty sale
: to the men that carried him over that
he would be all right and had every
thing he wanted, so we couldn't dc
anything more. He was hit at about
4:3O in the afternoon on October 3D.
Several days later l went to Sacha
lade and saw MOnty'S grave In the
churchyard in little cemetery with
other boys that had made the SUI
preme sacrifice. No matter how much
of this terrible slaughter you see, you
never get hardened to it, and when
stood at Monty's grave and realized
that | had lost one of the best pals
had ever had, broke down and cried
like a baby. 1t is hard to be brave
|
| not show it because of its bad mora
effect OH others, but | couldn't stanC
it. | thought of you and what il
meant to you at home. You are thu
real brave people.
Monty was so devoted to you anC
always spoke of you and told me al
the news about you when he got your
letters. WeMere very close. Monty haC
met my mother and | had met vol
and we had lots of things in general
besides the little league we belonged
to-the Second Lieutenants' Leagu,
of the Co.-just the three of us, Bob
Monty and l. We always pulled to
| gether and went to places togethe
when we were out of the line
i'm the Regiment. We were known a!
the three inseperable Second Lieuten
ants. 1t was an awful blow to los'
both of my ''pals" at once. l fell
alone in the world without a friend
Mother noticed my letters were diff
ferent after that and knew something
wasswrong until she heard what i
, | was through the Auxiliary.
Monty was ace high with his mel
and everybody else.
They loved him and were willing t
60 any place with him. He was
fine officer, fearless and as brave a.
any officer in the army and showed il
by his actions under fire. 1t will b'
comfort to you to know how Mont!
died in the effort to save the lives o.
many men; for had their gun gotter
, into action at that position it would
have saved the lives of many men tina
were killed after they tried to get tn,
, guns up-the Machine Gun fire of tn,
enemy that the infantry men had Il
; face and advance on. Both Bob anC
: Monty died for more than their coun
try and cause as they made the Su
preme sacrifice in the effort to saw
the lives of other men. You are the
ones at home that suffered most. W.
did all write home about the nigh
without sleep and the wet and colo
and we had few worries. We all fee
you had the worst part of the Who'll,
war, and parents of the boys were tn,
bravest Of all the people.
Chaplain Brown was not in tn,
neighborhood at the time of his death
but another chaplain was there at tn,
, hospital but did not get his name
Our company was in the line the da!
Monty was buried and we couldn'
leave the line and couldn't find on
who was there. There was no Rec
Cross nurse at the hospital as the!
were never allowed that near the front
but there was doctor of the medica
department whose name they are no
allowed to give us.
Photographs are only allowed to bt
taken by official signal corps men anC
it is impossible, am sorry to say, Il
have a picture taken. Any request
could make would have to go through
military channels and would not bt
o. KID.
Lieut. Fitzpatrick Shea, who was
killed later, was with Monty and Boil
when they fell, but he too is now