The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1922-08-05
LEFT-HANDEn MEN
OF the u. S. ARMY
Shocked Old Infantry School, but
Also Shocked Enemy.
REAL TWO-FIS1ED FIGHTERS

Often a Mar Would Use a Pistol In
One Hand and a Rifle in the Other,
Each With Equal Ease-No Pro-
vision Whatever Was Made for the
Especial Instruction of Men Who
Were Naturally eft-Handed-Pro-
portion About One in Twenty.
There were 4,00O.O 900 soldiers in the
American army that was recruited to
stop the Germans on their rapid way
to Paris and thence to-Where?
That army stopped the Germans. 1t
stopped them with ~left-handed men.
To understand fully the force of
this statement one must compare the
personnel of the American army with
any or all Of the others that poure'
into the NAV of the big guns their
millions of young men, Eugene Bis
bee writes In the New York Globe. In
the armies Of England, of Canada, of
Australia, Of France, and of Belgium,
and Italy nothing out of the ordinary
was outstanding.
In the American army In action the
outstanding characteristic, after you
saw their fierce fighting, was the great
number of left-handed men. All
through the ranks during the close
conflict against the Germans, men
were everywhere using their left hands
for their pistols, their grenades, and
their rifles. To the disciplined officer
of the old infantry school, watching
many hundreds of men in hot ac-
ton, each seeming to be acting indie
pendently of his detachment and many
of them using both hands for their
work of destruction, it looked much
like a mob riot.
Following one individual, he was OBJ
served to draw his pistol with his left
hand, pick up a grenade with his
right and, while aiming and shooting
with the firearm, hurl the grenade
with accuracy toward the enemy.
Often a man would handle a pistol In
one hand and a rifle In the other, each
with equal ease. This particular In
stance Is explained by the fact that
the embryo soldiers were instructed
to use the rifle with the right hand
while being drilled, but We're permit
ted to use either hand for the pistol.
What the Files Show.
Exploration into the files of the
great draft of five years ago unearths
the rather startling information that
no provision whatever was made for
the especial instruction of men who
were naturally left-handed. Stats
tics are not conclusive on the subject
of the proportion of left-handed per-
sons in a given number of the coun
try's population, but observation
tends to the conclusion that it is abou'
one in twenty among the males.
There is a smaller proportion VIII
are ambideXtrous. With these there
was little or no trouble. But with the
left-handers there was born at once
the question of what to do with such
a vast number of men who, in at least
one respect, were totally different from
their fellows. The recruiting officers
could not agree that a regiment, OF
several of them, should be formed OF
left-handers. That would have beer
impracticable, for the reason that they
were scattered throughout the whole
army and in no one camp was there II
sufficient number to form a regiment
When the men of the first draft un.
derw ent their physical examination
and it was found that a large number
of them were left-handed, some of the
boards inclined TO a suggestion that
they be given a deferred classification
unfair to the others, for they were, as
a rule, men of fine physique. So of
they went to the concentration camps
for training to be sent to France.
The drill masters assigned to. the
task managed to teach these men tt
handle a rifle with their right hands
but they let them use the pistol with
either hand, since that weapon Is moi
one Of the drilling essentials. And
when it was found that a man coult
not be taught to fire a rifle with any
degree of accuracy with his right han,
NAlCA hC hoS hdA III
the officers forgot his deficiency am
let him use either hand. The impor
tant thing was that he sheet to hit, Il
mattered little with what hand he
killed them when the time came for
that work.
A Remarkable Aggregation.
The consequence was that we de
veloped the most remarkable aggre-
CATION of left-handed men that ever
shouldered guns. On drill they did
very well and few would have noticed
anything unusual about them. But
the minute they went into action
from the trenches of France those
left hands began to make themselves
known. They were noticed by the
''Tommies'' and the "Poilus," for the
soldiers of those armies had beer
trained differently.
England is a country of strong tradi
lions, hard to change. So Is France.