The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-01-03
With
The AEF
By KENNETH L. DIXON

26.-(Delayed)- up - Steel CLINT.
ed in the sunlight on the slopes
CT San Pietro as Yank and Ger.
man crawled to meet each other
in the brush and shot and gougea
in painting hand to hand bloody
combat.
II was shortly after noon when
the survivors fell exhausted back
into their fighting holes, ten ma
chinegun and rifle bullets ragged
back and forth over the bodies Of
the dead and wounded who lay
between them.
The steady moaning Of the
manned carried clearly over the
ridge behind the Yanks to I small
group Of grim faced men. The q
of them had come through muir.
derous barrage of shell fire to
reach that point. What they were
about to do was strictly an expert.
ment in this campaign as far as
they knew.
If it didn't work, few OF these
unarmed army medical men with
bands on their arms would live to
tell about it.
Young, soft spoken, Major Ivan
J. Roggen. of Maurice, Iowa, pick.
ed up four by six foot white flag.
The Red Cross on it was terribly
faded but it was the only flag the
regiment surgeon had.
He waved it above the ridge.
then started walking over the top
and down the slope. A burst from
a German machine pistol spatter-
ed at his feet. He never hesitated.
Neither did black bearded Staff
Sergeant Irving S. Hollander, Of
Newark, N. j., who walked right
behind him. Nor did Chaplain Del
bert Kuehl, 26-year old Baptist
preacher who used to be student
minister at Hopkins, MINI.
Roggen walked straight on, Waiv.
ing the flag as the rest of them
came over the ridge: Capt. Ken
meth Sheek, Greenwood, Ind, the
battalion surgeon; Sgt. Guy Col
ley of Somewhere in West Vir-
ginia," Corp. Albert Creal, of Cot
tageville, N. c., Pfc. Robert L.
Snow, of Grand Junction, Tenn;
Private Flody Butler, of Texarkan-
an, Texas, and Private George w.
Beavers of Hot Springs, Ark.
In addition, there were IL cour-
ageous litter bearers whose names
got lost in the shuttle as they
rushed the wounded back to aid
stations and then went on to pick
up more wounded elsewhere.
The muddy men in the fighting
holes looked up in blank amaze
ment as the procession filed by,
walking straight out into No Mans
Land where the machineguns still
famed their ripping slugs. 1--WE
didn't dare bend down or try to
take cover or they would really
have opened up" said Kuehl.
"We just kept walking and pray
ing the Germans could see that
Red Cross pretty soon and would
respect it,
With a last puzzled burst, the
Nazis ceased firing and in perfect
English German voice called
across the slope:
$50 you are surrendering, yes?"
From the foxhole Creal was just
skirting, a Yank yelled back:
mo, but if you want to surrend-
er, come on out and we'll talk
Il over"
Nix replied the Nazi and drop
ped back into silence. Another
Yank quickly yelled Don't shoot.
they are mices." Nobody under
stood the Germans reply but the
faded Red Cross must have been
visible for there was no more fir
ing,
even our own men didn't rec
ognize the flag at first said
Beavers. lone soldier said are we
surrendering' as I went past"
When the medicos went to work
there was not as many wounded as
they had expected. Too much of the
fighting had been to the end.
MANY of the men who looked
like they still were fighting were
dead" said the chaplain. Twice
started to offer cigarettes to men
crouched in their fox holes, their
rifles still out in front of them
They were dead"
1.-THE men themselves didn't
know how many of them had been
killed. said Butler. Guys who
were wounded would say II think
my buddy over there got hurt too
Then you'd walk over couple
yards and find his buddy was
dead"
AS they started out with their
last grim load, the Germans SEEM
ed to get impatient for they ter
minated the truce with a burst Of
ma chine gun bullets,
But few minutes later the Ger
mans own aide men appeared with
flags and the Yanks stopped firing
long enough for them to pick up
their wounded.
When the battle began again at
dusk. only the dead lay in No Mans
Land. ,-
MANX TONGUE DYING