New Britain herald., 1927-06-04
STAND OF MARINES
 EPIC 0f GREAT WAR
DsTndoes' Blocked Road to
 Paris Nine Years Ago

plane from New York to Paris, but during the week. memories which will hold forever the dark days of nine years ago. recalled the excit- ing and desperate events which cast Paris and all Frenchmen almost 10 the ultimate depths of despair.
 It was during the World war and especially nine years ago last Tues day. June 2. that the French nation and in fact the allied governments had cause to again pay homage to the United States through the cour- age and bravery of the American army. comprising the Fourth Bri- gade of Marines. the Ninth and 23rd Infantry and the Second Engineers with the divisions artillery support, at Chateau Thierry. Bouresches and Belleau Wood.
 To recall more vividly the stirring scenes of those days, it is best to get the story from one who took part in the bloody struggle. who .uf- fered with his comrades and fought to stop German army from breaking through and reaching the heart of France, Its beautiful capital, Paris.
 Joseph Feingold. a New Britain boy, member of the Fifth Marines. has a shattered hip as permanent reminder of his service with the corps during the war. and his vivid recollections of the fight at Belleau Wood relates only to the work of the Marines. through the Ninth and 23rd hold equal honors with the remain der of the Second Division.
 During the latter part Of May. 1918, division was resting behind the lines at small town named Buerry. Marine Feingold says. Drilling and maneuvering occupied the working hours while the usual duties of camp life took up the remainder of each day.
 On May 31. the company in which the local boy served was lined up in the street and ordered to be ready to depart at 10 o'clock that night. On June 1. 8 long string of motor trucks wound out from the cluster of towns bound for an un- known destination. On the endless string kept moving while nearer and nearer the dull booming of the big guns could be heard over the hills in front.
 The company was delivered to small town behind the lines and the members lay down to rest in field. Early next morning, little expecting what was to come. the entire divi- sion was on the move.
 As the men trudged through the mud and over the ruts of shell torn road. they were met by crowds Of old men and women, some carry ing babes. some small belongings wrapped in shawls, all fleeing from the Boches who were driving down through Soissons toward the goal which. if taken. they believed, would end the war as far as France was concerned.
 The road on the return journey was a moving mass of bewildered people. gun mounts. trucks. horses and every imaginable conveyance. French soldiers, wounded and ex- hausted, stumbled by seeking refuge from the terror they had just left, Broken they were in everything but spirit, and as the Marines, youths eager for the coming battle. passed. these Frenchmen smiled and mo- toned with their hands what should be done with the enemy when they met.
 Slowly the French and British were being pushed back along the front. soissonss almost impregnable, had fallen and everything in the path of the oncoming hordes re- treated. Nearer and nearer to Paris drew the German high command. More joyful and happy were the German soldiers at the thoughts of what awaited them. Flushed and happy with victory with everything their own way, they rushed on.
 But little did these sons of the Fatherland know what was in store for them as they passed in the fields by Chateau Thierry. Americans, !" they laughed. "yes, but they would fight with money and supplies, not with men and what could the few hundred who were in France do to help in this drive:"
 Northwest of Chateau Thierry. the victorious army came. Down on the road that led to Paris were the Marines, dug in Tn shallow rifle pits with machine guns enflladed across the fields. Waiting, eager and confi- dent but not too confident. the flow CT of Am erica, listened for the word to fire.
 Overconfidence has been given as the cause of the defeat of the Ger mans. As they advanced in mass formation across the wheat fields, their every bearing gave that inn pression.
 Suddenly the signal came and thousands of rifles and hu~ureds of machine guns spat out death at the columns in the open. The Germans fell back but came on again. Again the same deadly fire met them. Again they tried but gained noth- ing, losing hundreds in dead or dy- ing.
 Almost unscathed the Marines kept up the fire. All through the night, artillery pounded down on their positions fingered at the delay. the officers behind the lines halted for a consultation.
 ''The best defense Is a strong of- tensive," it has often been said. and The next morning, the Marines with out awaiting another attack from across the fields. went after the Germans.
 Belleau Wood formed V in the line and 1t was this spot just beside the little town of Bouresches for which the Marines began that at tack. Into the bushy undergrowth