Part 50

At 10 o’clock, on the 15th, our front was fairly cleared and we were beginning to feel that it was a great day, when something else happened. Can you, who were not with us, imagine how a prohibitionist feels on a yachting party? Completely surrounded by hell and damnation and can’t get off.

The enemy had penetrated to our left like the boll weevil through a Southerner’s cotton patch and fortified himself with minenwerfers, machine guns and barbed wire. They did not penetrate to our right. No, they simply walked over and wondered how much of a hike it was to Paris. We were then aware of the reason for “Feverish preparations on the part of the French on our right.”

Do you remember what we told you? We thought it was to fight, but evidently no such idea ever marred the sweet thoughts of the 131st. Say what you please, make any defense you like. They weren’t there. And that’s the business we have in hand just now. They weren’t there. Whence they came or whither they went we know not. A. W. O. L. most likely, but that is neither here nor there.

On the morning of July 15, 1918, when Colonel McAlexander was hurling battalion after battalion of the 38th into the Surmelin valley, the Gateway to Paris, and out-fighting, out-maneuvering, out-generaling the Kaiser’s favorites, there were no friendly troops on our right where they had been on the evening of the 14th.

However, thank God for a real soldier’s instinct. The Colonel had anticipated and was prepared to meet a right flank attack. Good old Captain Reid was there to meet them when they tried to consolidate their line through our regiment. He met them first with rifle fire, then with the bayonet, and finally with butts. He fought them all over the ridge and down on every side except our side. He never let them set foot on our sector of the Marne and though it cost him nearly his entire command he was there when fresher troops could get to him for relief.

On the left we repulsed a heavy rear attack and a light flank attack with a handful of the most exhausted troops in France—old “G” company reduced to fifty-two men from two hundred and fifty-one—taking up new positions and fighting off ten to one is a picture that will ever live in the memory of the 38th.

Major Rowe made desperate efforts to reinforce, but the Boche, just at that place, had us under direct fire of Austrian 88’s, German 77’s, and one pounders. You know what direct fire means. Effective forces can’t be sent against it, that’s all.

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So, for three days we fought on our flanks, for three days the German high command gave us all they had in their desperation to open the gateway. The Colonel received an order. “Fall back if you think best.”

[Illustration: “THE DAY IS DONE.”

After a long, hard day, the voice of the bugle was a welcome sound to the ears of the tired soldiers.]

He answered, “Is it up to my decision?”

The answer: “Yes.”

The Colonel’s answer: “Then I hold my lines!”

God, what a world of torture and yet solace in that answer! What a world of pain and joy! We were shot to ribbons, cut to small sections, unfed, and oh, so tired; but the drive would never have stopped once they consolidated their lines through the 38th.

It was Paris for them and a terrible defeat for us if we withdrew and gave them the little Surmelin valley. The Colonel had been studying the attack orders taken from captured German officers and knew as no one else knew what it meant to fall back.

He was there for a soldier’s purpose and did a soldier’s duty. He paid an awful price, made sacrifices of officers and men that tore his heart to pieces. But he held the Gateway to Paris and not only that, drove them back across the Marne and _followed them across_.

Believe it or not, it was an absolute physical impossibility, but we went right on after them and fought them again at Jaulgonne—still nobody on our right, mind you—where for several days and several nights it steadily rained and where for the same length of time we hammered them with shot and bayonet until they fell back with such impetus that our next big battle was at Fismes on the River Vesle.

One soldier was heard to remark: “I don’t see any more prisoners coming in. I wonder what can be the matter?”

Second soldier: “Didn’t you hear the Colonel say he had all the information he needed?”

There are not many of us left of the old 38th. There has been considerable talk in French circles about “Regiment d’elite,” “unconquerable tenacity,” and the like. Yes, our flag is to be decorated with the Croix de Guerre and it is generally recognized in high French command that “McAlexander’s defense was peculiarly American in conception, plan and execution.” You see we have been under French command and our deeds have not been recounted at home. All the glory goes to the High Command.

Things like this though, we keep close to our hearts:

27 July, 1918.

General Order I. (From the Field.) To the Officers and Men of the 38th U. S. Infantry.

The Colonel commanding the regiment wishes to praise you for the heroic manner in which you took your baptism of fire on July 15, 1918, upon the banks of the Marne. No regiment in the history of our nation has ever shown a finer spirit or performed a greater deed.

Let us cherish within our hearts the memory of our fallen comrades. Salute them! Then forward!

MCALEXANDER.

And look at this for an official report and try to remember if in all history such a feat was ever before accomplished:

Headquarters, 38th U. S. Infantry. A. P. O. 740, France, 8 August, 1918.

From: Commanding Officer, 38th U. S. Infantry. To: The Adjutant General, U. S. Army. (Through Military Channels.) Subject: Capture of Prisoners from Three German Divisions.

1. In the second battle of the Marne, July 15-23, 1918, the 38th U. S. Infantry was attacked on the south bank of the Marne, July 15-18, by two German divisions, and it captured prisoners from each of their regiments, namely:

{ 6th Grenadier Guards 10th Division { 47th Infantry { 398th Infantry

{ 5th Grenadier Guards 36th Division { 128th Infantry { 175th Infantry

2. On July 22, 1918, this regiment attacked the 10th Division Landwehr on the north bank of Marne and captured prisoners from its three regiments, namely:

{ 372nd Infantry 10th Division Landwehr { 377th Infantry { 378th Infantry

3. It is believed that the capture of prisoners from nine enemy regiments during nine days of battle constitutes a record justifying a report to the War Department.

4. Identification of twenty-one separate and distinct regimental and other units were secured from enemy positions in front of this regiment.

U. G. MCALEXANDER, Colonel, 38th U. S. Infantry.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Military abbreviation for “absent without leave.”

AMERICA’S HIGHEST WAR HONOR

The 78 Soldiers Who Won the Congressional Medal of Honor for an Act of Supreme Courage

England’s most coveted reward for heroism in battle is the Victoria Cross. France gives her _Médaille Militaire_; Germany, her Iron Cross.

There has been little need of war medals in the United States, but with the entrance of this country into the war Congress established its medal of honor—called by its full title, The Congressional Medal of Honor.

This decoration is given only to those who achieve an act of supreme courage, or, as “General Orders” have it, to those who in action “have fought with conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty.”

Seventy-eight of the 1,200,000 men in the A. E. F. received these awards. Fifty-seven of this number were enlisted men, twenty-one were officers. Nineteen awards were posthumous. For every 15,400 soldiers who were in action one received the Congressional Medal.

The best showing was made by the 30th Division, the National Guard organization of the Carolinas and Tennessee. Second honors go to the 89th Division, which is the selective draft unit of Western Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, South Dakota, and New Mexico. The third largest is the 33rd or National Guard Division of Illinois. Fourth honors go to the famous 2nd Division of Regulars, which includes the Marines, while fifth place is shared by the two New York divisions, the 27th and 77th. The list follows:

1ST DIVISION

_Colyer, Wilbur E., Sergeant_, Co. A, 1st Engineers, 1st Division, Ozone Park, L. I.—Verdun, France, Oct. 9, 1918. Volunteering with two other soldiers to locate machine-gun nests, Sergeant Colyer advanced on the hostile positions to a point where he was half surrounded by the nests, which were in ambush. He killed the gunner of one gun with a captured German grenade and then turned this gun on the other nests, silencing all of them before he returned to his platoon. He was later killed in action.

* * * * *

_Ellis, Michael B., Sergeant_, Co. C, 28th Infantry, 1st Division, East St. Louis, Ill.—Exermont, France, Oct. 5, 1918. During the entire day’s engagement he operated far in advance of the first wave of his company, voluntarily undertaking most dangerous missions and single-handed attacking and reducing machine-gun nests. Flanking one emplacement, he killed two of the enemy with rifle fire and captured seventeen others. Later he single-handed advanced under heavy fire and captured twenty-seven prisoners, including two officers and six machine guns, which had been holding up the advance of the company. The captured officers indicated the locations of four other machine guns, and he in turn captured these, together with their crews, at all times showing marked heroism and fearlessness.

2ND DIVISION

_Bart, Frank J., Private_, Co. C, 9th Infantry, 2nd Division, Newark, N. J.—Médéah Farm, France, Oct. 3, 1918. Private Bart, being on duty as a company runner, when the advance was held up by machine-gun fire voluntarily picked up an automatic rifle, ran out ahead of the line, and silenced a hostile machine-gun nest, killing the German gunners. The advance then continued, and, when it was again hindered shortly afterward by another machine-gun nest, this courageous soldier repeated his bold exploit by putting the second machine gun out of action.

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_Cukela, Louis, First Lieutenant_, 5th Regiment Marines, 2nd Division, Minneapolis, Minn.—Villers-Cotterets, France, July 18, 1918. When his company, advancing through a wood, met with strong resistance from an enemy strong point, Lieutenant Cukela (then Sergeant) crawled out from the flank and made his way toward the German lines in the face of heavy fire, disregarding the warnings of his comrades. He succeeded in getting behind the enemy position and rushed a machine-gun emplacement, killing or driving off the crew with his bayonet. With German hand grenades he then bombed out the remaining portion of the strong point, capturing four men and two damaged machine guns.

* * * * *

_Hoffman, Charles F., Gunnery Sergeant_, 5th Regiment Marines, Second Division, Brooklyn, N. Y.—Château-Thierry, France, June 6, 1918. Immediately after the company to which he belonged had reached its objective on Hill 142, several hostile counter-attacks were launched against the line before the new position had been consolidated. Sergeant Hoffman was attempting to organize a position on the north slope of the hill when he saw twelve of the enemy, armed with five light machine guns, crawling toward his group. Giving the alarm, he rushed the hostile detachment, bayoneted the two leaders, and forced the others to flee, abandoning their guns. His quick action, initiative, and courage drove the enemy from a position from which they could have swept the hill with machine-gun fire and forced the withdrawal of our troops.

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_Kocak, Matej, Sergeant_, Co. C, 5th Regiment Marines, 2nd Division, Albany, N. Y.—Soissons, France, July 18, 1918. When the advance of his battalion was checked by a hidden machine-gun nest he went forward alone, unprotected by covering fire from his own men, and worked in between the German position in the face of fire from an enemy covering detachment. Locating the machine-gun nest, he rushed it, and with his bayonet drove off the crew. Shortly after this he organized twenty-five French colonial soldiers who had become separated from their company, and led them in attacking another machine-gun nest, which was also put out of action.

[Illustration: American Troops on Parade in Paris on July 4, 1919

Immediately after the ceremonies incident to the naming of the “Avenue du President Wilson.”]

* * * * *

_Kelly, John Joseph, Private_, 6th Regiment Marines, 2nd Division, Chicago, Ill.—Blanc Mont Ridge, France, Oct. 3, 1918. Private Kelly ran through our own barrage 100 yards in advance of the front line, and attacked an enemy machine-gun nest, killing the gunner with a grenade, shooting another member of the crew with his pistol, and returned through the barrage with eight prisoners.

* * * * *

_Van Iersal, Louis, Sergeant_, Co. M, 9th Infantry, 2nd Division, Newark, N. Y.—Mouzon, France, Nov. 9, 1918. While a member of the reconnoissance patrol sent out at night to ascertain the condition of a damaged bridge, Sergeant Van Iersal volunteered to lead a party across the bridge in the face of heavy machine-gun and rifle fire from a range of only 75 yards. Crawling alone along the débris of the ruined bridge, he came upon a trap, which gave away and precipitated him into the water. In spite of the swift current, he succeeded in swimming across the stream, and found a lodging place among the timbers on the opposite bank. Disregarding the enemy fire, he made a careful investigation of the hostile position by which the bridge was defended and then returned to the other bank of the river, reporting this valuable information to the battalion commander.

* * * * *

_Pruitt, John H., Corporal_, 78th Co., 6th Regiment of Marines, 2nd Division, Phoenix, Ariz.—Blanc Mont Ridge, France, Oct. 3, 1918. Corporal Pruitt single-handed attacked two machine guns, capturing them and killing two of the enemy. He then captured forty prisoners in a dugout near by. This gallant soldier was killed soon afterward by shell fire while he was sniping at the enemy.

3RD DIVISION

[Illustration: Made in France

American locomotive builders assembling an engine in shops behind the battle lines.]

_Barkley, John L., Private, first class_, Company K, 4th Infantry, 3rd Division, Blairstown, Mo.—Cunel, France, Oct. 7, 1918. Private Barkley, who was stationed in an observation post half a kilometer from the German line, on his own initiative repaired a captured enemy machine gun and mounted it in a disabled French tank near his post. Shortly afterward, when the enemy launched a counter-attack against our forces, Private Barkley got into the tank, waited under the hostile barrage until the enemy line was abreast of him, and then opened fire, completely breaking up the counter-attack and killing and wounding a large number of the enemy. Five minutes later an enemy 77-millimeter gun opened fire on the tank point blank. One shell struck the driver wheel of the tank, but this soldier, nevertheless, remained in the tank; and after the barrage ceased broke up a second enemy counter-attack, thereby enabling our forces to gain and hold Hill 253.

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_Hays, George Price, First Lieutenant_, 10th Field Artillery, 3rd Division, Okarchee, Okla.—Grèves Farm, France, July 14-15, 1918. At the very outset of the unprecedented artillery bombardment by the enemy of July 14-15, 1918, his line of communication was destroyed beyond repair. Despite the hazard attached to the mission of runner, he immediately set out to establish contact with the neighboring post of command; and, further established liaison with two French batteries, visiting their position so frequently that he was mainly responsible for the accurate fire therefrom. While thus engaged, seven horses were shot under him and he was severely wounded. His activity, under most severe fire was an important factor in checking the advance of the enemy.

5TH DIVISION

_Allworth, Edward S., Captain_, 60th Infantry, 5th Division, Crawford, Wash.—Cléry-le-Petit, France, Nov. 5, 1918. While his company was crossing the Meuse River and Canal at a bridgehead opposite Cléry-le-Petit, the bridge over the canal was destroyed by shell fire and Captain Allworth’s command became separated, part of it being on the east bank of the canal and the remainder on the west bank. Seeing his advance units making slow headway up the steep slope ahead, this officer mounted the canal bank and called for his men to follow. Plunging in, he swam across the canal under fire from the enemy, followed by his men. Inspiring his men by his example of gallantry, he led them up the slope, joining his hard-pressed platoons in front. By his personal leadership he forced the enemy back for more than a kilometer, overcoming machine-gun nests and capturing a hundred prisoners, whose number exceeded that of the men in his command. The exceptional courage and leadership displayed by Captain Allworth made possible the reëstablishment of a bridgehead over the canal and the successful advance of other troops.

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_Woodfill, Samuel, First Lieutenant_, 60th Infantry, 5th Division, Fort Thomas, Ky.—Cunel, France, Oct. 12, 1918. While he was leading his company against the enemy his line came under heavy machine-gun fire, which threatened to hold up the advance. Followed by two soldiers at 25 yards, this officer went out ahead of his first line toward a machine-gun nest and worked his way around its flank, leaving the two soldiers in front. When he got within 10 yards of the gun it ceased firing, and four of the enemy appeared, three of whom were shot by Lieutenant Woodfill. The fourth, an officer, rushed at Lieutenant Woodfill, who attempted to club the officer with his rifle. After a hand-to-hand struggle, Lieutenant Woodfill killed the officer with his pistol. His company thereupon continued to advance until shortly afterward another machine-gun nest was encountered. Calling his men to follow, Lieutenant Woodfill rushed ahead of his line in the face of heavy fire from the nest; and when several of the enemy appeared above the nest he shot them, capturing three other members of the crew and silencing the gun. A few minutes later this officer for the third time demonstrated conspicuous daring by charging another machine-gun position, killing five men in one machine-gun pit with his rifle. He then drew his revolver and started to jump into the pit, when two other gunners only a few yards away turned their gun on him. Failing to kill them with his revolver, he grabbed a pick lying near by and killed both of them. Inspired by the exceptional courage displayed by this officer, his men pressed on to their objective under severe shell and machine-gun fire.

26TH DIVISION

_Dilboy, George, Private, first class_, Co. H, 103rd Infantry, 26th Division, Boston, Mass.—Belleau, France, July 18, 1918. After his platoon had gained its objective along a railroad embankment, Private Dilboy, accompanying his platoon leader to reconnoiter the ground beyond, was suddenly fired upon by an enemy machine gun from 100 yards. From a standing position on the railroad track, fully exposed to view, he opened fire at once, but, failing to silence the gun, rushed forward with his bayonet fixed through a wheat field toward the gun emplacement, falling within twenty-five yards of the gun with his right leg nearly severed above the knee and with several bullet holes in his body. With undaunted courage he continued to fire into the emplacement from a prone position, killing two of the enemy and dispersing the rest of the crew.

* * * * *

_Perkins, Michael J., Private, first class_, Company D, 101st Infantry, 26th Division, Boston, Mass.—Belieu Bois, France, Oct. 27, 1918. He, voluntarily and alone, crawled to a German “pillbox” machine-gun emplacement, from which grenades were being thrown at his platoon. Awaiting his opportunity, when the door was again opened and another grenade thrown, he threw a bomb inside, bursting the door open; and then, drawing his trench knife, rushed into the emplacement. In a hand-to-hand struggle he killed or wounded several of the occupants and captured about twenty-five prisoners, at the same time silencing seven machine guns.

27TH DIVISION

_Eggers, Alan Louis, Sergeant_, M. G. Company, 107th Infantry, 27th Division, Summit, N. J.—Le Catelet, France, Sept. 29, 1918. Becoming separated from their platoon by a smoke barrage, Sergeant Eggers, Sergeant John C. Latham, and Corporal Thomas E. O’Shea took cover in a shell hole well within the enemy’s lines. Upon hearing a call for help from an American tank which had become disabled 30 yards from them, the three soldiers left their shelter and started toward the tank under heavy fire from German machine guns and trench mortars. In crossing the fire-swept area Corporal O’Shea was mortally wounded; but his companions, undeterred, proceeded to the tank, rescued a wounded officer, and assisted two wounded soldiers to cover in a sap of a nearby trench. Sergeant Eggers and Sergeant Latham then returned to the tank in the face of the violent fire, dismounted a Hotchkiss gun, and took it back to where the wounded men were, keeping off the enemy all day by effective use of the gun, and later bringing it, with the wounded men, back to our lines under cover of darkness.

[Illustration:

Two Officers of the United States Army Aviation Section, Lieutenant Morrow and Lieutenant Holliday, making a flight in a Burgess Tractor.]

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_Gaffney, Frank, Private, first class_, 108th Infantry, 27th Division, Lockport, N. Y.—Ronssoy, France, Sept. 29, 1918. Private Gaffney, an automatic rifleman, pushed forward alone with his gun, after all the other members of his squad had been killed, discovered several Germans placing a heavy machine gun in position. He killed the crew, captured the gun, bombed several dugouts, and, after killing four more of the enemy with his pistol, held the position until reinforcement came up, when eighty prisoners were captured.

* * * * *

_Latham, John Cridland, Sergeant_, M. G. Co., 107th Infantry, 27th Division, Westmoreland, England.—Le Catelet, France, Sept. 29, 1918. Becoming separated from their platoon by a smoke barrage, Sergeant Latham, Sergeant Alan L. Eggers, and Corporal Thomas E. O’Shea took cover in a shell hole well within the enemy’s lines. Upon hearing a call for help from an American tank, which had become disabled thirty yards from them, the three soldiers left their shelter and started toward the tank under heavy fire from German machine guns and trench mortars. In crossing the fire-swept area Corporal O’Shea was mortally wounded, but his companions, undeterred, proceeded to the tank, rescued a wounded officer, and assisted two wounded soldiers to cover in the sap of a nearby trench. Sergeant Latham and Sergeant Eggers then returned to the tank, in the face of the violent fire, dismounted a Hotchkiss gun, and took it back to where the wounded men were, keeping off the enemy all day by effective use of the gun and later bringing it, with the wounded men, back to our lines under cover of darkness.

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