The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-02-12

On board ship Col Fred B. Thomas of !
Montpelier was-eommander of the-easras |
Lieut., Col B. S. Hyiandeof Rutland was
in charge of messing These officers per
formed their duties with ability Among
the other officers Capt. Guy Cowen of
Rutland and Capt. John F. Sullivan of
St Adams had important positions and
rendered most efficient service The ad-
ministration force of the regiment was
crippled.
All the sergeant ma jors with the eXcep
ton Of Frank McLaren of Bennington
were sick. McLaren was on duty day
and night. and he did his work with
cheerfuness that was heartening to all
who came into contact with him. Capt
lC. " Barber of Mortified. regimental
adjutant just recovering from an opera
ton, laboring under great suffering,
stuck to his post as long as possible.
Upon the arrival at Brest the or
CARNATIONS were lightered ashore and
were marched about five miles to the mud
flats beyond the city of Brest This
proved repetition of our march to Al
/ pine Landing. The lassitudc of the men
made it impossible for hundreds of them
to make camp with their comrades They
were picked up by y. NJ. CA. and X. C..
men and ambulances and taken to hos
/ pitfalls or helped into the camp. That
night the men slept in their pup tents
and in the mud
The only entrance to the camping area
vas through lane filled with slippery
French mud. The two adjutants were up
good portion of the night lighting the
stragglers down the lane to where their
companies were billeted. Several hun
dred never reached camp or their organ
izations. The hospital record shows that
% Of our regiment died at the kehruon
hospital nearly 40 at Base Hospital No.
80. several at the Naval Base Hospital
and some at Landernau All of these
deaths occurred within a few days of
landing The remainder of the regiment
almost Immediately proceeded to the ad-
vance sector, and several more men died
at Base Hospital No. ID at Chaumont
and the hospital near Humes.
In those few tragic days Vermont lost
some of her finest young men. The names
of some of the Vermonters follow: Lieut.
William p Tighe, Rutland; Reg. Sgt
Major Elmer A. Gray, Brattleboro; Color
Sgt. Thomas A. LaFond, Rutland; Sup
Sgt. Charles NJ. Beckwith LIST Sergt. Ear
ii. johnson, Iyndonyllle; list. Sergt. Rob
ert d. Wakefield, Burlington; Sergt Cor
don A. Preston, Fair Haven Mess Sergt
Fred F. Bastian, Brattleboro; Sergt 10
seph Yarker, Brattleboro; Cook Eugen,
j. Belanger, Montpelier; Corpl. Howar'
l.. Bailey. Johnson; Corpl. Francis a
Guild. Orleans; Priv. John A. MacDon
aid, Brattleboro; Corpl Grover Town
shend; Corpl Arthur J. Desilets, Mont
pelier; Priv. Walter E. Webb; Priv Car
mi Reed
Nearly 200 of our regiment, men VIII
died at Brest, are buried in the Amer
can cemetery at Lambezellee. This cen
etry is well located on a height of Lane
from which one, looking to the Yves
towards the Land of Liberty, gets in tn
distance view of the waters of tn
great ocean separating the sleepers frol
their homeland One of my last act
before leaving France was to visit tn
cemetery, pick out the graves of OF
yermonters, pay honor to their sacrific
and say a word of farewell to these me
who sleep there in the soil of our Sist'
Republic.
E.. w. GIBSON.