The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-04-12
Eypbalb'
This Tough Marine Al
ways Was Ready to
Tear EN- Out

pitch in the totes of expert
ences Of Indiana UeterGns In
the great conflict.
The Times is offering first prize
Of $40 for the best story Of the week, /
with second place award of IS. Win |
ner's names are announced on
Wednesday.
One story is published to-
day, by L. w. Horning, $40
East Fall Greek boMeUGrd.
A LONG with a few hundred
4 n other recruits. was thrown in
with battalion Of marines, old
timers. all of them with five TO
twenty-five years service in all parts
of hte world. The lot of us formed !
part Of the Sixth regiment of the
Second division, A. E. F.
Those marines were the toughest, I
fightenest, carefree, fearless outfit I
of soldiers that ever ate monkey
meat or what have you. The old I
timers got a big kick out of tor
menting the boots, as we recruits
were called. They made life miser-
able for us for months. Among the /
lot was an old-timer named Wilson, !
8 feet 3, weighing 200 pounds and |
all muscle-the toughest of the |
tough.
Eyeballs, for some unknown |
reason, took me under his wing, with |
the result that l wasn't tormented |
as much as some of the other |
younger men. We called him Eyes
balls because every time he got
'hquored up with cognac, win blame |
or hair tonic, which was frequent, |
he would get up quietly. single out
some unfortunate devil, present or
otherwise, and in no uncertain
terms. announce his intention of
squeezing that so and SOS eyeballs !
out"
Nothing pleased him better than /
fight and not unlike the others, /
when there wa lull in the falling
OF minnewurferS, or ash cans. he
just had to start little private war
or two to keep busy.
One night after We had been re-
heved in the trenches after a siege
Of several days and had been sent
back behind the lines to pull our
selves together, EyeballS, not con-
tent with few hours rest, an
nounced desire to visit a camp of
French MOrroccos stationed over to !
our left a few kilometres.
-Four of us decided to go along,
if for no other purpose than to col
lect his dog tags and bring back
the remains knowing. of course, that
he would get into a fight.
THE MoroccauS seemingly were
u glad to see us-evidently being
curious to see some of the Americans
who had been fighting near them
in the lines for some time. They /
were a wild lot-Strong. muscular,
black men-with savage looks.
To add to the weirdneSS of the
moonlight scene, some of them were
playing strange reed instruments
and some were throwing knives at
a mark on the side of a wagon
They all seemed to have a half
dozen knives or so about their
persons.
Eyeballs decided their education
had been sadly neglected and after
a few preliminary shots of con-
centrated T. N. T, or something
equally as dangerous. began a crap
game. The other four, including
myself, looked on.
The black men couldn't seem to
understand the game or the ease
with which EyeballS made those
dice come seven and ere long the
teacher had pockets full of francs,
souvenirs and coins he never had
heard Of before.
About this time a French officer
arrived and informed us we would
have to leave the camp "toot-Sweet"
or he'd have us all court-martialed,
guillotined. shot or something like
that. EyeballS promptly told him to
go to and stay put" but we in
duced him to stop the game
The MoroccanS evidently thought
the crap game was Just for fun
and that EyeballS intended to re-
turn their francs. etc. but divining
out intention of taking leave with
out doing that, one big fellow made
the mistake of grabbing EyeballS'
arms.
Well 1 imagine that black boy
still thinks he blew up a powder
magazine, for EyeballS promptly hit
him SO hard that he bounced two
or three times before he stopped
rolling.
IMMEDIATELY knives flashed in
L the hands of the whole outfit
The French officer and two others
succeeded in stopping the fray;
however. not before Bill Reed. one
of our boys, had knocked one fell
low out with a club and "EyeballS"
had lost a jacket sleeve.
We lost no time getting out of
the camp, dragging EyeballS along
forcibly. With every breath he
still was daring the whole French
army, ETC." to come and get their
francs.
Several days later, in a wheat
field near BoureSches, Eyeballs fell,
a machine gun bullet did it. I was
near and stopped to see how badly
he was hurt. When reached him,
he was cuSsing and grinning at
the same time.
Between "damns'" he said: Light
this pipe for me. Bill. and for Gods
sake quit aSkin' me where I'm hit
I'm hit all right, amt I? So why
worry? Better get along-you can't
do arr hrhfir,t hara ca lnr,rI and