Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-11-11

a patient in Base Hospital No. 81,
Anglers, France, wondering whether
l would live or die, and hoping that
l would die. When i heard that hos
| tilities had ceased l thought: Thank
| God! Those fellows out there can
sleep tonight in warm, dry
| place."
Walter j. Shaffer, French army
pilot, is glad the wars over: "One
year ago to-day 1 was barely exist
ing on carrots and potato peeling,
Slum and sour black bread in q Ger
man prison camp. Home never SEEM
ed so far away from me as it did in
the days following the one l was
shot down behind the German lines.
Then came armistice and release and
now 1 am flying plane over the
peaceful Susquehanna Valley"
! Richard \. Young, top-kicker at
| the recruiting station, said: The
! day the news was flashed that an
armistice was signed l was in COM
mand of a labor battalion at Camp
! Hancock, Ga, and L was thinking
that l would be able to eat my
| Thanksgiving dinner at home. My
reVerie was shattered by a wild cry
from every man in the battalion:
| When do we go home?'"
Corporal Charles w. Quinn, Bat
terry a, 18th +. A, said that he felt
like opening up another bottle of
Cognac. Il couldn't realize that the
war was over, and l hated to stop
! firing. l wanted to cut one more
notch in my As automat before the
bell rang"
Bunk Private Earl Husyar. Bat
terry F, 1l2th F. A, didn't like to
quit: "At 1890 one year ago to-day
was helping pump a 20 as fast as
she could swing from recoil into bat
terry in the general direction of the
Hun on the east bank of the Meuse.
Then CT came down and there was
nothing to do but fight the mud,
cooties and the homesickness blues
for five months"
Jack Koons, a "metroilleur" pri-
vate from the 304th NJ. G.s, said:
! When cease firing was announced
one year ago to-day my mind was in
such tumble I never was able to
| figure out just what l did think. 1t
was plenty. One thing l do remem-
Der was Boy Howdy," now I am go
ing home, and on the strength of it l
let the old death-sprayer loose for
a couple of more rounds"
Walter Williams, of Battery a,
S09th +. A, was greatly moved:
You may not believe it. but when
the silence of armistice descended
along the lines one year ago to-day
l actually cried. 1 don't know why,
but 1 did. The death-like stiffness
after the big guns stopped gave me
fright worse than any I had had
since my first time under fire"
Sergeant Elliott Hoagland, U. S.
Army Recruiting Station, said: "On
November II, last year. l had charge
of company of stevedores at New
port News, Va. loading transports
for overseas. There was not a
sharpshooter in the outfit, but there
was not a man who was not an eX-
pert at shooting crap. I thought it
was shame that M cGcfit didn't get
a crack at the KAISER"
Sergeant Phil Meredith. 2Sth Divi-
sion. said: Il spent the last hour
where I'd been for several days: in
an observation post overlooking the
Heinies in the Thiamount section,
and the way we were dropping the
stuff into them made me wish that
II o'clock was a couple of days
away"
Lieutenant r. c. Jacobs. Jr.:
Three days before the armistice l
was tearing my hair trying to put
my company in shape to meet the
port of embarkation inspection. 1t
was wild, but we were set, and
was anxious to get over and meet
the many friends I had left a few
months before. I'd had my crack at
Jerry, so l didn't shed any tears
when the armistice was signed"
Clayton :. Squires, sergeant of
Company c, 102nd Infantry. 26th
Division. was lying in Evacuation
Hospital No. s, near Nerdun, within
hearing of the guns. "On October o
l bet a fellow % francs that the war
would be over in a month and l just
missed out by one day! on the
morning of the 18th a heavy barrage
started about 4.30. and it sounded
as if both sides were shooting off
all they had; it certainly was funny
when everything stopped at IL
o'clock. OF course, being in bed, we
couldn't celebrate much, but that
night the whole place for miles was
lit up with fireworks"
Ensign Joseph Strouse. assistant
in the destroyer Quitting section
of the Philadelphia Navy Yard, said
he was never so disappointed as
when the war stopped without giving
him a chance to get over. Ensign
Strouse has eight rejection slips
from as many different enlistment
stations, but was finally accepted in
the navy. My only going across
was to go across the Elizabeth river
TO Norfolk" he said to-day.
Sergeant Frank p. McGinnis. one
of the old-timers doing recruiting
duty in this city, said: To-day one
year ago I was on guard at one of
the largest ordnance depots in this
country, Curtis Bay, Md. Upon
learning that the Germans had
thrown up their hands 1 thought:
How did they last this long against
the Yanks?'"
dren, Geraldine and Billy; Ralph
and Edward carp. Master Charles
I Hahn and Miss Helen Hahn.