Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-03-31
YANKS WILLING LEAVE
PEACE SETTLEMENT TO THE
POLITICIANS M'CAFFREY

There isn't much talk among the
soldiers IN the army of occupation
about the league of nations, Private
John j, McCaffey. Company b, 342nd
machine gun battalion, states in a
letter from PfalaZel, Germany. He
observes that they seem to be content
to leave that to the politicians and
hope that they won't undo the things
the fighters have done.
The letter says:
Nothing much to do now but bum
the fellows for the "makins," and it
occurred to me that | would drop a
lire to the Morning Journal to say
lcllo through you to my friends there.
am we'll and came through the
worlds greatest conflict unhurt al
'hough | had a few narrow escapes.
What Sherman said about war was
true, but he lacked expression at that.
| know that it isn't exactly far to
blame General sherman for saying
what they say he did, but any way the
saying is fastened onto him for good
OF all the scraps | was in, the one
that took place on last Halloween
night will Eve forever in my memory.
That was the night. or rather, thu
early morning of the big barrage q
the Argonne Meuse river drive. The
squareheads yelled quits from that
time on. The Germans had every
hing in their favor. The Argonne
woods were just made to order for
their machine gun nests. But our
doughbOys were made to order to
force them. For eleven daVs and
nights it was eat when you could, fill
YOUR Canteen when YOU had a chance
md he prepared to go west on an in
stants notice, 1t was raining all the
lime, but onward went the Ianks,
ike tn" Crusaders of old, never stop
ing. That invincibIe. everlasting on
ward march of the Yalks was what
roke the heart of the German army.
The courage displayed by our boys
was MAGNIFICENT. No one seemed to
afraid to face death. Lads were
falling, dying and dead all over the
muddy. Slushy fields. but this DID not
launt our men. They seemed to have
'he attitude that if death was to
come, ii was to come. 1t was a
curious sort of fataism.
STRANGE to say, my thoughts during
his fattlo- and others. were not of
the immediate battle ground, or so
much of tn" tremendous drama that
was being unrolIed in front of us.
bought of Albuquerque and of the
good old days when ! was a kid and
vent in swimming in the Rio Grande.
On the morning of the barragc,
Ven before it lifted, the Jorrys began
o come in. Old ones and young ones,
CONSTANT streams of field grey. They
I'll looked the same to the doughboys
hough. The crack Prussan guard,
he pride of the kaiser's heart, that
was to lick us. Crumbled before our
night and our spirit. The boys took
these high and mighty guardsmen
rom their dugOuts before thew even
lad chance to use their IS INNS or
heir Austrian 1858. That g how
ierCc our harrage was. We had in
our outfit 144 machine guns firing
0otween 400 and 500 shots per min
lte, Artillery hub to hub. When
hey opened IN YOU could readily be-
lieve that hell itself had broken loose
md that ministers of the gospel who
ispd to take hell fire as their favorite
ext for a sermon, hadn't told half of
he story. Well. | am glad it IS over
and ! hope there is never another war.
| had few war trophies which /
was going to bring back to Altuquer-
que and donate to the public library
or the city hall or somebody that
wanted ''cm. But ! threw them all
away when | received the interesting
news that we were to do a 350-kilome.
ter hike, which took us through
France, part of Belgium, Luxembourg
and a few other towns and villages of
more or less importance. We are now
about forty ki'ometers from Coblenz
We are hilfptpd in the homes of the