Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-07-05
Fotbock, Hordtock and Sand:
Mexican Expedition Had All 3
l. w. Cornett Hopes
TO Gather Veterans
Of 1916 Adventure

Aching memories Of the 1916
Mexican Punitive Expedition
Wild and frustrating military adj
venture-have moved q WASH
ington man to try to recapture
those days before it is too late.
During the year-long march
through the burning sands and
dry chaparral of Chihuahua, the
American Expeditionary Force
never once glimpSed the elusive
guerrilla, Pancho Villa, they had
set out to capture. But histor-
ians have called the experience
invaluable training for the Eur
opean campaign a year later.
Lester w. Cornett was 4 90
year-old buck private in the 9Th
Infantry. stationed at Fort Bliss,
Tex, when Villa made his famous
border raid on Columbus, N. M,
killing Is soldiers and civilians.
The 9Th Infantry took of at
once for the scene, where Gen.
John j. Pershing was forming
q punitive force under direct or
ders from President Wilson.
Hot Days, Freezing Nights.
In the year that followed, Pvt.
Cornett and $4,000 other men
marched 800 miles south to San
Antonio, Mexico, fighting only
minor skirmishes, living on fat
back, parched corn. bareback
and a quart Of water a day. and
trying to keep warm during the
freezing nights.
During the day, the tempera-
ture often rose to 100 degrees.
Ill-fed, harrassed and bewil-
dered, the troops only wished
they might see the enemy they
had set out against.
Ordered to bypass every vii
lage on their route, the soldiers
rarely saw the face of a Mexican.
When not on the march, their
principal activity was gambling.
Lester Cornett, now So and
living at 1900 South Thirteenth
street, Arlington, remembers
that he and a buddy were the
frst to erect an adobe hut when
his. outfit finally bivouacked at
Ell Vale. The two men set up a
gambling casino, where a 10 per
cent rakeoff brought each Of
them 500 a night. At flights
out" IL o'clock every night, the
harder gamblers would take
their blankets and candles out
on che desert and shoot craps
until dawn.
Now at Bureau Of Standards.
Mr.. Cornett has lived in WASH
ington since 1920. "A purchasing
agent at the Bureau Of Stand
ards now, he says he had never
before thought Of organizing q
reunion Of veterans Of the
Mexican Punitive Expedition.
But with the American
Legion Convention coming here
In August, and a lot of those
fellows getting pretty old now,
I think a reunion would give a
lot of joy to some old soldiers
who have given their best to
their country"
Mr.. Cornett remembers the
only time he met Gen. Pershing.
In 1924, he and his wife were at
tending a Red Cross exhibition
at the old Washington Audito-
rum. A Red Cross worker over
heard him Dragging to his wife
that he had once been Gen.
Pershing's private courier in
Mexico.
The worker was delighted, took
him by the hand and dragged
him red-faced to corner of the
hall where the general himself,
paying a courtesy visit, was
standing.
Pershing Caught On.
I had buck-fever so bad I
couldn't see straight" said Mr..
Cornett. "But the general caught
on at once and said. I remember
you; we were down there to-
gether, chasing the will-o'-the-
wisp. Villa"
I'll never forget that" said
Mr.. Cornett, land I'll never try
to lie about that time again"