The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-05-08

DOB BALLOU was one of the
- most competent paper work
soldiers Of the A. E. F. In civilian
life he had been stenographer in
a railroad office, and improved his
knowledge by taking a course of
bookkeeping at night business
college.
Naturally. when war was de-
clared against Germany and he
joined the home town battery in
the states prize National Guard
regiment Of field artillery, Bob was
made battery clerk almost the mo-
ment he had enlisted. Thus he
automatically became a corporal
before he knew the manual of arms
or the infantry foot drill.
Corp. Ballou fought valiantly in
training camp in the fall of 1917.
He shared the Sibley tent at the
head of the battery street with the
top sergeant, one Jim Cogan, as
tough an egg as ever bossed Ma
tional Guard outfit. and that is say
ing plenty. He was an old regular,
and that is saying plenty, too. But
First Sergeant Ccgans education
was acquired in the Seventh Cav
airy, and paper work not only bored
him but was not within his mental
grasp. Therefore he appreciated
the skill and accuracy demonstrated
daily by the Battery clerk, who soon
became man to be reckoned with
in the organization.
The battery clerk was popular
enough. 1t didn't go to his head,
all this favoritism, which included
absence from all formations, drill,
fatigue duty, inspections and the
like.
EINALLY, early in 1918, the regi-
4 ment was sent overseas and
trained with big 155 howitzers of
French manufacture in LIE Mans
area. The regiment in the states
had been taught how to fire four
point seven cannon, under an
American system of fire. Now they
had to unlearn all this, fire French
guns, and fire them by French
methods of computing such intricate
forms of higher mathematics a; the
Continental way of determining
corrections of the moment, wirdage,
moisture. etc. All this was con-
trary, but it didn't bother Corp.
Ballou, for he kept busy with his
papers and didn't know the lanyard
of a six-inch piece from its awe
some muzzle.
Then came promotion. Capt
Casey was appointed personnel adj
jutant of the regiment, brand
new job, with the authority to
name regimental sergeant major
and two sergeants. There already
was one regimental sergeant major,
now there were to be two. one to
be the colonel's man Friday and
run the regimental headquarters 5e-
tachment, and the other to be in
charge of all the regimental paper
work. The captain knew of Corp.
Ballou's excellent record with type
writer and pen and ink, and in
adding columns of figures correctly,
so he Rad him transferred to head
quarters company with the grade
of sergeant.
Blithely Sergt. Ballou made up
pay rolls, consolidated morning and
sick reports, and attended to the
other functions of his exalted office
while the batteries got their baptism
of fire in the Vosges Mountains. He
went sailing through the st. Mihiel
offensive in much the same way.
THEN the Argonne. What veteran
L of the World War who saw any
part in that gigantic battle does not
thrill at the memory of that gosh
awful engagement? But what was
important to Sergt. Ballou, the SER
geant major in charge of the per-
sonnet section under Capt. Casey
was invalided to the hospital on the
eve of the Meuse- Argonne offensive
and he was promptly promoted to
the job. He did not even have time
to sew on the five stripes of the new
grade, the highest in the gift of the
commanding officer Of the regiment,
when the big cannon, hub to hub,
and the nasty little 75's began
pounding away on the famed Hin
denburg line.
On the same day the infantry of
the division took the town of Var
ennes, noted by historians as the
place where King Louis XVI and
Marie Antoinette were recaptured
when they tried to escape from the
Terror. The artillery moved into
Varennes, and with it came the
small personnel detail. This time
the principal work was not to make
out pay rolls and morning reports,
but to keep a careful check on
casualties, ammunition and the ire
mendous task of checking supplies
coming up from the rear echelon
The three battalions-two batteries
to a battalion of the 55-howitzer
regiments-Quickly found gun posi-
tons in the heart OF Varennes,
which lies on both banks of the
Aire. and blazed away atsthe retir-
ing boche who. surprisingly enough,
returned the compliment in kind.
I'm the second day at Varennes
~ the third of the big advance
which pierced the German lines
and contributed materially to the
unexpected speed with which the
Central Powers collapsed-several
trucks loaded with shells weighing
about 100 pounds apiece found their
way over pock-marked roads into
the ruined town. They were I'M