Arizona republican., 1919-04-16
UNDER HUN FIRE
 FUR 267 DAYS; NOW COMES HONE
Ward Young, Son of Phoe- nix Couple, Returns from France Wearing Croix De Guerre; His a Busy Regiment

Perhaps no one man saw more of the great war than Ward Young of this ptty, son of Mir. and Mrs. Otis F. Young, who returned 10 Phoenix last Sunday iught. He had been 267 days under irc. That is, in that time his organi- 1auou never enjoyed an official rest; il was not at all times employed, but Was always awaiting sudden orders and "as alwys within range of enemy shell fire; a part of the time in trenches, but always at the front"
 Nominally he belonged to the En sineers, and he wears the insignia of the engineers as he wore it through service, for the deception of the enemy in case of capture. Really he belonged 10 the gas regiment which saw service along the whole western front from the x orth Sea to Switzerland He wears 8 "croix de guerre' conferred upon him June IS of last year following the breaking up Of q German raid.
 fHis was the only American gas reg iment. He enlisted at Des Moines Iowa where he was in business at the outbreak of the war. It was d widely selected regiment in which almost ev- cry state in the union was represented. There was one member from Alaska and another from Cuba. The regiment consisted at first of only 500 men, but it was later increased to 1.S00 and at the time of the signing of the armistice he formation Of a second regiment was under way.
 OesIt in Gas And Liquid Fire
 rIs1,o ,,-o- 1,.- officers in France, and when it was ready it was sent to the northern part of the line and received it's baptism at thc time of the great German offensive. t was credited with having stopped tho offensive near Lens and with hay ing inflicted in a very short time 6,009 casualties upon the enemy.
 The Sds regiment dealt in gas and liquid fire or thermite. They were shot in shells or bombs, the Stokes mortar and projectors being employed They have a range of not more than 800 wards. so that the regiment generally ought at close quarters. The shells and bombs were provided with time fuses The shells containing gas were exploded so that the fumes would en- Helop tho enemy, and the liquid fire so nat the ihermite on exposure to the air would turn into flames which would rain down on him. This fire burned it's way through all Instructions, even steel helmets
 At the time the Germans were turned hack below Chateau Thierry the gas regiment was operating at Serenges. q mall village to the northwest It had been taken and retaken six times, and at last the Germans were holding it and sweeping the entire country with machine guns. Then the liquid fire show was put on and the village was drenched with liquid fire. Almost i'm mediately 14 Germans, the entire force manning the machine guns, ran out holding up their hands. An American machine gun to one side Of the gas battery immediately moved them down.
 Wore Out One Gas Mask
 The use Of the gas mask was ex- plained by Mir. Young. The longest he said he had worn one continuously was three hours, but he wore out one and when the war ended he was in posses sion of the second one. A gas mask is good for only 65 hours of service. The Nearer is required to make a record on the mask of the time he is required to wear it after each time it is called into service The mask lis inspected every two weeks, and when the record shows that it has had 65 hours of use it is replaced. When exposed to gas attacks inc chemicals which save the life of the Wearer undergo loss, and S. hours of such service completes exhaustion. Mir. Young was asked what was his most thrilling experience-he must have had many. He replied that it was something not exactly in the line of duty. He was nearer death than at any other time in his career.
 A German airplane was flying over as German planes had been doing, dropping propaganda. Young said that reading matter was scarce in his regi- ment, and the soldiers read avidly everything that came along or came down. It was supposed that this ma chine was bringing more literature. He ran out, but just then it appeared that the Germans were coming in force. The le were two bombing planes and 2 with machine guns. The first bomb fell on the kitchen, killing several. and altogether in the course of the raid 60 men and several horses were killed The machine suns sprinkled the surround ing country.
 Barely Escapes Bomb
 One bomb fell behind Private Young as he was running and threw him for ward upon his face. As he lay prone another exploded almost at the ends of his outstretched fingers but the frag- ments of shell flew over him.
 Speaking of reading matter Private Young said that he looked forward eagerly to the receipt of The Republi- can which came as regularly as things could happen in topsy-turvy France. Beside, his regiment was moving so rapidly up and down the line. some times 200 miles at jump, that his mail accumulated and he received as many