Evening star., 1954-12-11

bunch but didn't get very far
before an order came through
reassigning me to Paris and
The Stars and Stripes. Alec
Woolcott. viii irwin. F. p.
Adams, Harold Ross and others
were putting out a daily paper
for our soldiers. I SHE'D at the
assignment. but it wasn't until
four months later that ] man
aged to get orders cut reassign-
ing me to the 115th. now up near
the Belgian border at Souilly.
AS q soldier ] was no great
shucks. AS an officer I didn't
crowd Macarthur. However. I
saw and experienced enough Of
the filth. suffering and horror
Of war to realize 1t never can ac-
count for anything that q slice
OF good Christian faith can't
outstrip every time.
When the armistice was finally
flashed around the world on
November IL, 1918. I was at Sd
Corps Headquarters at Souilly.
on the northwest coast of France.
near the Belgian border. Every
body, from buck private to briga-
dier, Immediately got drunk
on anything and everything,
from eognac to sterno.
Break In Boredom.
I wound up at Anglers. France,
with thousands of troops who
suddenly had nothing to do ex-
cept think and dream about
home. One day we were slogging
around on q drill field near an
ammunition supply depot, curs-
ing the mud and the boredom.
when I heard q voice explode,
There's Grant Rice!"
I knew that voice. It belonged
to Jack Wheeler, my press-box
crony from the old New York
Herald. Now an ammunition
supply officer. Wheeler was
standing with, another news
paperman. Frank Knox, owner
editor Of the Manchester IN. H.
Union Leader. A colonel at that
time, this was the same Knox
who later became Secretary Of
the Navy.
What are you doing here?'
Jack asked.
I'm not flying an airplane." ]
replied. II want to 60 home"
Somehow, along with Knox
and Wheeler, I got orders cut
to go home. We moved down to
st. Nazaire. q port In the south
Of France, and there we sat on
our launches, waiting and hop
ing for these heaven-sent orders
assigning us to ship. Jack and
I lived in barracks; Knox lived
downtown. But we kept the con-
tact flying, and 10 and behold.
our ship finally hove into port.
She was the Ryndam of the Hol-
land-America line. Knox was
the ranking officer on that ship.
We were Knox's adjutants, and
as such were detailed to super
wise department of troops. There
were nurses on the Ryndam, and
we had aviators, too.
The fly boys were quick to take
over. We had to issue-and back
up-an order for all aviators to
be in quarters (their own by 9
pm, which didn't make us very
popular. I also recall that the
cook on that boat had been j. p.
Morgan's chef on his private
yacht, so we had no complaints
about the food. Brandy. on
Knox's orders, was verboten, but
everybody aboard seemed to have
his own supply.
Flu Is Heart rt-Rending.
A fiu epidemic broke out less
than three days after we pulled
anchor. It was a heart-rending
sight, watching those men and
boys dying like fiies-knowing
they were sinking but struggling
that much harder to get home
Jack and ! spent most of our
time making out final papers on
the listed dead-a list that grew
daily.
A thankful, subdued 1t. Rice
landed with an equally subdued
1t. Wheeler at Newport News,
Va, on a drizzly day in Febru-
ary, 1919. We both declined for
New York. had scarcely thrown
down my gear when ! learned
that the lawyer with whom ]
had entrusted my securities In
1917 had Just committed suicide
by swallowing poison. Appar-
emily he had reinvested the
money I left with him and had
lost the entire bankroll. Eight
cen years after starting, / was
back at scratch. I blame myself
for that poor fellows death. ]
shouldn't have mt that fniief,