The New York herald., 1921-07-12
JACK MUNSON, HERO,
DEAD IN THE MORCUE
Man Whose Bravery Saved
Lost Battalion Is Victim
of tuberculosis.
DIES POOR AND ALONE
Body on Slab Is Tagged
Merely With Name and
Date of Death.
DOCK FRIENDS GET BUSY
Army Captain Acts Promptly
and Will Arrange for Burial
in Arlington.
DOCK FRIENDS GET BUSY

The body OF Jack Munson. liaison
runner who broke through the Ger
man lines in tho Argonne forest on
October 6. 1915. and carried the mes
sage that saved the lost battalion"
lay last night on a slab in the city
morgue. Attached TO it was this label ::
John Mnnson. II years old. boatman.
Died July 9 in Bellevue Hospital of
tubcrculosis"-the epitaph of a hero!
Less than three years ago Major
Charles w. Whittlesey. returned from
Franco. was telling how his command,
the third battalion of the 307th In
fantry. Seventy-seventh Division. was
surrounded for five days without food
or water until their relief came up.
I'VE used TO send out runners twice
day regularly TO see IL they could get
through 10 headquarters" he said. but
they were all killed or wounded. and
after several days OF that sort of thing
] asked another boy If he would take
chance
"why. sure he replied. That was
Jack Munson."
The OmciaI Citation.
This is how Munson's feat was told
In the official citation given Munson
when Marshal Petain. commander OF the
French armies. pinned the Medaille
Mjlitaire on his breast:
ITO obtain ammunition and rations,
Private Munson, with another private
and an officer. ventured TO establish
communication between his battalion
and regimental headquarters. They
aft -a1 17,vo 81 (sa,-
mans, and one of them was killed. They
succeeded in reaching cover, and re-
mained there until nightfall. when they
crawled by error into a German camp.
and lay there for three hours before
they were discovered Private Munson
then deliberately drew the fire of the
Germans to himself in an effort to save
the officer. and he succeeded the next
morning in reaching the American lines
and destination with the message en-
trusted to him"
Besides tie Medaille Militaire. which
only four American doughboys won.
Munson received the Croix de Guerre
with palms. and from Gen. Pershing the
Distinguished Service Cross.
After his return and discharge from
service Munson returned to his old job
ms a stevedore and boatman on the East
Side waterfront. But the deadly germ
OF the white plague was undermining his
health and he found II difficult to find
steady employment.
He moved into a cheap lodging house
in Park Row. All his possessions were
pawned or sold except one suit OF clothes
and the framed citations In French and
English that hung on the wall of his
room. On June IA he had just strength
to drag himself to the gates OF Bellevue
Hospital. He was put In the ward for
tubercular patients and he never told
the nurses Of his record In the war.
To Have Military Funeral.
Last Friday he died. There were none
OF his friends or buddics at his bedside.
He had told the hospital attendants to
notify Mrs. Peter Peterson OF 1917 South
street. with whom he had once lodged,
and they sent his medals to her. His
body was taken to the Morgue. for
there was no one to claim 1t.
Yesterday some OF Munson's friends
on the docks heard of his death. They
telephoned Capt. Groves c. Graham, now
adjutant of the army post on Governors
Island. once an officer of the 307th. He
telephoned to the Morgue last night and
asked that nothing be done with Mum
sons body until he could arrange a
military funeral with proper burial in
the National Cemetery at Arlington,
d. c.
And so Jack Munson. who saved
battalion. will not be buried in Potter's
Field