The Fort Peck press., 1936-01-30
Knox a Soldier
in Two Wars
Volunteer Rough Rider and
Artilleryrnan But
No Militarist,

peculiarly their Own. To those VIII
have never had their experience. til
observations of these veterans some
times sound cynical or fatalistic. AS
matter Of fact, they are neither. Ther,
never was q good soldier who has no
admitted that there were many time:
when he was thoroughly scared. Con
sequently, Il OF the Conversations
pastlmes Of the veterans Of the World
war has sometimes been to tell eacl
other when they died." meaning thai
they had been confronted some time
or other by situations from which
there appeared to be no escape what
ever.
Captain "Hddie'' R~Ickenbacker, pre-
r1ier aviation ace Of the American
army, and Frank Knox, now Illinois
"~fayorite son" for the Republican noln-
inati0n for President, once snapped
such yarns at & meeting OF American
Legi0nnaires, both being among the
founders Of that organization. Rick
enbacker's story wes that he thought
his time was up when, caught in q
"dOg-dght" between American and Ger
man planes several thousands Of feet
IN the air. the Germans nearly shot
of M OF the wings OF his plane, which
began to fall rapidly out of control.
Rickenbacker quickly disengaged
himself from the cockpit, crawled out
on the s0und wing and managed so
10 balance the plane that Il partially
righted itself. A few hundred feet
from the ground he grabbed the con
troll stick" and landed between the
American and German lines In & com
plete s%mashup, but without injury TO
himself.
Knox served with the artillery brig
ade OF the 18th Division. He enliated
as 3 private in the New Hampshire
militia, was transferred to an officers
training camp, having seen service In
Cuba, and finally became captain and
then major Of artillery. When the. wal
ended he was promoted to Lieutenant
Colonel and is known to his old bud
dies as "C0l. Knox" His division
served in the st. Mlhiel sector early In
September, 1918. Two weeks later
found II in the battle Of the MeUse-
Argonne with Sedan as the objective.
When 1t came knox's turn to tell his
story, he recalled that any soldier
quickly learns to know By the whirr OF
a shell or the sing Of q bullet wheth-
er ut has his name on It." as tile
soldiers say. In his tent Mt Apremont
hate M night Knox heard q "hig
Bertha with his name on IT," Almost
Instantly his little tent was deluged
with rocks, dirt and debris which
nearly tore ii from It's fa~stenings-bnt
else happened. The next morn
ng Major KnQx was invited by his
to look outside his tent. 4
feet IN front of the entrance was
he big shell nearly buried In the
It had failed to explode.
Kn0x's narrowest escape, however,
vas In the spanish-Anerican war. Vol f;
.Inteering In Michigan at the age OF
he reached Tampa without being !
worn in or assigned to duty with any 5
rg%anizGtion. AT Tampa he was intro
.uced TO Theodore Roosevelt who I
romptly swore him in personally as q {
OF the Rough Riders. Knox I
anticipated In all the engagements OF /
hat famous regiment up 70 and In. {
the battle OF San Juan hill G
n that engagement, the Rough Riders !
'ere bOmburded out OF their nrst posi- 2
on by the Spanish artillery, wadad In :
the san Juan river and took refuge Z
! water up to their waists beneath & y
rotecting bank, and later stormed and &
'ok several nils, including San Juan 5
III Itself, where the Spanish finally Z
IN TIP the white flag. 8
In this battle the Rough Riders would /,
and lie down and then charge 5
gain. The intervals between two OF &
Iese charges Was 81 little too long for 5
Ie i%mpetuo1!S Knox, who was Tired Z
lyins out In the hot sun. He raised 5
to sight the enemy and promptly 2
It a bullet through his campaign hat 5
hlch took Il lock OF his Scotch gold z
4 hair along with It At the end of g
e battle Knox was detailed TO carry 4
spatcheS of the victory to the rear. S
lrOute he was overcome By the heat, ;
veloped some tropical ailments and 2
IS t%nvalided home Just before the s
al surrender OF ell Cuba. Mrs. Knox .
the campaign hat among her s
lied possessions. z
In the last wa Col. Knox had an &
her surpriseg which nearly cost him 2
: hearing. Leading up an ammunition I
lin 10 the support Of the gums, he Z
lerged into a field Of barbed wire. s
st as he rose in his stirrups to 10 3
te the guns, q camOufiaged and we'll z
battery gave the Germans g
blast from q %brush-heap only a few &
away. Knox was partially 3
'nned, his horse made frantic and for &
refal minutes he had his hands full ,
epfng the horse and himself out OF 8
barlled wire. When he did dis s
unit. he was stone deaf and re-
ined so for several weeks. In time. 5
yever, he regained his hearing al &
st entirely. After the armistice Knox s
ne home and was chairman Of the &
nmittee on resolutions at the meet )
at st. Louis which resulted In the &
aniZation of the American Legion. y