Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-11-11

The celebration Of Armistice$ Day
today brings to the minds Of the peos,
pie the, stories told by the, American
soldiers on their return from the bat,
tie line Of their experiences during
the war. A Herald reporter has I'M
terviewed q number of Grand Forks
men and here are the stories told by,
them Of where they were and what
they were doing when the Armistice
was Signed:
Philip R. Bangs, with the s5th d.
vision. 138th infantry, who had seen
almost continuous service on the front
line from June to late in September.
1913. was in base hospital III near
Bordeaux when the signing of the ar
'mistice took place. Mr.. Bangs had
been wounded I'm the shoulder in the
Meuse-Argonne offensive during the
latter part Of September. but was e
covering. and with others at the hos
pital' celebrated the event.. The
edge" was taken of the observance,
however, Mr.. Bangs states. by the
fact that the false alarm of the ar
mistice had been received a few days
before, and had been celebrated very
thoroughly then. "
Waiter schlosser Of the s50th reg
iment, which had been detached from
the ssth division, says of Armistice
Day, 1918: I
1--WE were encamped in the Bots
De Iagney near Thiacourt ready to
take part in the drive on Metz which
was to commence November 49,! We
had heard rumors of the Armistice
;and our first definite information
- ,,H&. <A~ a-n 14oan1 f{Ntno M
IL o'clock. That evening our battal-
ion assembled in the woods and we
were given official news of the end
Of the war. We had a quiet celebra
ton and everybody began to ask
When do we go homer"
"Where was I when the Armistice
was signed"? says Clarence Locklin
I was getting ready to be a shavetail
and furnish another target for the
Boche. They could mo- make them
fast enough at that time and there
were some twelve hundred OF us To-
Gated in an old French fort In thu
Langres district going over the same
things we learned when we first wen
into the army so that we could pt
commissioned second lieutenants.
las I remember, the name OF tn
fort was Connuleau, and like all 9th
er French forts, was all under tn
ground. November Is about the wet
test month in France and we hat
been wallowing through the mud TO
six weeks. We did not know an armi
stice had been signed until about
o'clock that evening n h next da,
the commandment read an order from
Pershing that due to the signing o
the armtstice no more commission
would be issued.
-Four days later I was in the cas-
ual camp Of the second depot division
at LeMans."
Leslie Trotter also was at this oil
French fort. and had just complete
training for q commission: He ais
moved on to LeMans to the 'Gasua
camp. I'VE broke quarantine to cele
brate the signing Of the armistice." n
says.
The first armistice day found Hebe
L. Edwards. now captain OF Compan
M, North Dakota National Guard, sta
toned al Quincy, with the l64tl
} Word Of the cessation Of hostil!tit
was flashed in by couriers. The sigr
Ing Of the armistice had been expecte
, for several days and when it becan
known that it actually had take
place, soldiers and t~ownspeople 5otne
in q regular ratification, accordin
to Mr.. Edwards. "They sure wei
glad it was all over" he states.
Nose Rosenzweig talking: II we
! chanting for Colonel Pennington ne