Washington telegraph., 1927-08-05
Shell Hole In France Yields
Bodies of Seven Battle Heroes

FaucOn. where nine years age
American and German lines were
locked in the grim struggle of the
Meuse-Argonnc drive, the bodies OF
seven young Americans of the 10Th
division who gave their lives for the
flag in that fight have been yielded
up at last to end the long suspense
of gricving relatives.
Late in June, rewarding search
that had lasted almost a decade,
field workers of the graves regis
tratiOn service in Paris came upon
a fillcd-in shell hole where the
bodies lay. They were ranged in
their common grave in an orderly
row, laid there almost beyond doubt,
not by comrades, but by enemy
hands.
In the group were numbered the
casualties of platoon of Company
+. 3l5th infantry, including Lieut..
William A. Shechan of this city,
platoon commander, sustained on
the morning of September 80, 1918.
On that morning the four-day adj
vance of the division was held in
check by German resistance or.
ganizcd in the woods near which
the bodies were found.
Shcehan and his platoon had
driven on little beyond the line
of the other platoons in the last at
tack on these woods. The Young
officer and six men of his detach-
ment whose bodies lay with him
had already been ordered back for
reorganization of the line when they
fell. There was no chance for their
comrades to carry them back or to
bury them, for the ground they left
passed at once into German control.
The night the regiment was re-
lieved. Not until after the armis-
tice in November could Sheehan's
brother officers reach the SPOT
again. Three trips failed to locate
where he and his men lay. Twice
again relatives or friends went from
the United States but with no better
success.
IL remained for the tireless Wig
Ilance of the graves registration
service tracking down every clue to
missing comrades to find its way at
last to the shell crater that served
these seven war dead for tomb.
Sheehan and the six men, all pri-
Yates, fought and died on that Sep
tembcr morning. The others were
Irving s. Roffies, Brooklyn, n. y;
August II. Rittmiller. Baltimore, and
Jesse +. Schall of Philadelphia, all OF
Sheehan's platoon of + COMPANY,
Edward G. Moran, Philadelphia, and
Henry Faller of Pottsville, Pa. both
OF II company, 315th, and Ellis Es
kowitz of Baltimore, c company
3l3th regiment of the same division
A letter to Sheehan's friend. Wade
II. Ellis of this city, former attorney
general of Ohio, from F company's
commander, Capt. f. II. McClintock
written few days after the battle,
tells how the seven died.
THE drive on Mont Faucon start
ed September 2S." McClintock said.
The regiment pressed forward until
the night of the 28th against machine
gun and artillery fire. II was held
at last facing a dense forest strongly
organized by the enemy and which
repelled two attacks, each time with
Lieutenant BIZ in the front line
with his troops. Next morning an
other attack was driven in with the
companies mixed along the front
line and Sheehan's platoon far in
the lead of us all.
Machine guns and shells again
beat back the American line and as
they started Sheehan dropped, shot
through but living long enough to
wave the remainder of his platoon
to fall back
THE last word from his lips was
Mother" McClintock said. "One
man succeeded in getting his wrist
watch from him."
Identity of the seven dead was
made certain when the double iden-
tification discs were found on each
body. Publication was withheld,
however, until records could be
checked and relatives informed
Young Sheehan was a law grad
uatc of Georgetown university in
this city and worked at the depart
mcnt of Justice when Ellis was a
special assistant there. He was
trained for war at Fort Myer, across
the river. where many officers of
The 10Th received their training
Just over the road from Fort
Myer is Arlington national cemetery
where Sheehan will be buried at the
request of his mother, Mrs. Eudora
Shechan.
"My son always wanted to be
buried in Arlington" she said
when he was at Fort Myer, he used
to go there frequently.
" 4 want to pick out spot to be
buried in he told me then"
WARNING ORDER