The Washington times., 1934-12-24

;;#::$; >:% $$$$$% ION u IN
Bill COrum minds Of the
readers. particularly those Of
the war veterans, and most
particularly Of all, the veterans
of the Second Division.
At least two wounded ma
rines were ready to make an
issue of it, and one OF them
wrote as follows:
"COrum, you're shell shocked,
I rot the lead 1 am still carry
ing in my carcass at the BoiS
Belleau and If 1t happened on
the right bank Of the Meuse
River in October, 1918, some
body had been kidding me be"
sides the guy who told me 1
was fighting the war to end
war.
II know where there is q
man of France and I'LL show
you where the BOiS Belleau was
At Chateau Thierry and on the
Marine, the Marne, the Marne,
and not, the Meuse, silly"
Two Bois Belleaus
It is easy to understand how
there could never be but one
Bois Belleau to a fellow who
still is carrying its souvenirs II
years after. But the facts are
there were two in the scene OF
American operations in France.
There was the big one at
Chateau Thierry that was al.
most bathed with the blood OF
the Second Division in late June
and early July, '18. And there
was the little one on the right
bank of the Meuse, some Is to
20 kilometers northeast of Ver-
dun, that Private Perkins took
pretty much Single-handed on
october q.
In the course of it's travels
from the Chemin-deS-Dames to
the Meuse-Argonne. the twenty
sixth Division paid its respects
to both these Belleau woods,
and while the last one was not
large, it was naughty enough.
It was not a child's playground.
I hope this clears up your
difficulty, Leatherneck, and
Records on File
And as a final word on the
subject, all the records on
mickey" Perkins are authenti-
cated and filed away in the
files on Medal Of Honor men
at the War Department. Any
one looking them up will find
the same story in every detail
that appeared here. Perkins
father received his poSthumous
Medal or Honor at the last
dress parade of the Yankee
Division.
A year ago we were spend
ing Christmas with the Colum'
bia football team in the hot
sunshine of Tucson, Ariz., and
it couldn't possibly have been
more pleasant. Thanks largely
to Mr.. Lou Little, Mrs. Herb
Kopf, Mrs. Jimes Barnes, Mrs.
Lewis Burton and other ladies
Of the party, there was Christ
mas tree and presents for all.
We had" two Santa Clauses,
count 'em, two, played as never
before or ever again probably,
by our Pullman porterS, Frank
and Beattie.
I have always believed that
one more touch Of tequila on
that particular evening would
have put Frank in the mood to
fight the Columbia lion that
Doc Barrett had him tossing
red meat to in the baggage car
all the way to California. The
lion was the doctor himself,
hidden behind trunk with a
tin can, a string and a piece Of
resin.
But though he fed him re-
1igiously. Frank never investi-
gated carefully enough to find
that out. 1t was his custom to
chuck the lions hunck steak
from magnificent distances
through the only partly opened
baggage car door.
Different Xmas
Yes, it was a strange and diff
ferent but pleasant Christmas.
Almost as pleasant as the one
in Nice in 1918, when for the
second time in my life I was
convinced there really was a
Santa Claus. The orcheStraS
were playing again in the big
hotels, the Mediterranean was
as blue as a Parrish painting,
the sun was shining always.
not only behind you, but be-
hind everybody you met, young
and old. The world was smil-
ing and the azure coast was
laughing out loud.
Work was finished. You
were only %, and when your
holiday was over you were
coming home to Gods coun-
try.
My own particular hope for
today is that you will have
the finest Christmas ever and
that all of us will still be here
for Christmas, 1885, still won.
dering. probably, how we are