USA > Washington > Whitman County > An Honor roll containing a pictorial record of the loyal and patriotic men from Whitman County, Washington, U.S.A., who served in the world war, 1917-1918-1919 > Part 26
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About 1:00 p. m. I helped a wounded man to the dressing station. When I returned my company had moved away. One could see soldiers in all directions so it was difficult to locate a given or- ganization. I went to the orchard where we had been in the morning which I found to be again filled with snipers. My only weapon was a pistol, so with it in one hand, I searched for my company and the snipers. The air was full of bullets which continually sang past my ears. Finally I found my company which had gone back to the original
position taken in the morning. Several of our ma- chine guns opened fire on points ahead, such as the doors and windows of the remaining houses. One of our guns blew up an ammunition dump. Our guns soon silenced the enemy machine guns. On the sky line we could see a few of the enemy run for safety as it was getting too hot for them. The allied artillery decided to drive the enemy out with another barrage so we again withdrew. Unfortunately all of the enemy had not been driven out and we received another hail of ma- chine gun fire, which was followed shortly by heavy artillery fire.
It was now dark and we did not attempt to go farther, so dug in on the reverse side of the slope during the early part of the night. We were under intense artillery fire a good portion of the night, many of the shells landing too close to be com- fortable. A shell or some kind of a projectile came over and exploded in the air near me. Molten steel or iron was scattered all about me.
Two days and three nights had passed, during which time we had practically nothing to eat or drink. We were desperately hungry and thirsty. The next morning (September 28) we enjoyed a breakfast of hard tack and corned beef (corned Willy). Our breakfast had just been eaten when the shells began to fall around us. Immediately we took up another position. Fighting continued with great intensity all that day. My company was called on that night to strengthen the front line in case of a counter attack on the part of the enemy. Notwithstanding a heavy downpour of rain, which made things disagreeable, fighting continued all of that night.
On the morning of September 29 I went with a detail for rations. On my way I witnessed one of the sad incidents of the war. I came across Lieut. Newland, a fellow student of mine at the State College of Washington, who had been killed by a shell. For a moment it made me feel quite ill. It was surely gratifying to know that he died fight- ing and still facing the enemy. His position on that field of battle demonstrated that he was a brave warrior.
In the afternoon of that day the enemy found that we were located in the woods just back of Gesnes. This discovery was followed by an un- merciful artillery and machine gun fire. Despite this we went over the top. I am proud to say that the way the men conducted themselves was wonderful. Gesnes was captured and held. We maintained our position on this ridge until re- lieved-a period of 100 hours.
By now the Huns had painted the American colors on their aeroplanes to enable their aviators to fly over our lines. We, believing that they were our men, did not take to proper cover. The avi- ators would then report our whereabouts to the artillery and we would be well shelled. Another Hunnish trick was to shoot at our men with a ma- chine gun until the last moment and then com- pletely surrounded, with no avenue of escape, throw up their hands and shouted "kamerad."
On the night of October 3 at about dark, the enemy put over an intense artillery barrage onto us, which was estimated at 700 shells per minute. It was the worst that we had ever experienced. After the barrage had ceased the glad news that we were to be relieved came. We were tired and
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it made us feel good to know that we were to have rest. The regiment marched back a few kilo- meters and hivouacked in the Cheppy woods, at which place we remained four days.
Scarcely had we been relieved than we were called upon to resume fighting. The men were expecting to march to the rear when the order to go hack to the front came from the 181st Brigade. Not a man whimpered as he marched back to the line with his pack on his back.
At about 4:30 p. m. on October 7, we started back toward the firing line and arrived at our po- sition early the next morning. The march was a tiresome and tedious one. The members of my
company carried their guns and a lot of ammuni- tion. I was so tired that each step that I took seemed like the last. There was a heavy down- pour of rain during the entire march. The bri- gade spent four days on the front line and was then relieved. During our stay we encountered in- tensive artillery and machine gun fire. We were relieved October 11. The men were very much in need of relief, for all were weak, weary, sick and hungry. We had slept so long with our shoes on that our feet were terribly swollen and very sore. It was great torture to make the trip back to the safety zone as walking was the only means of travel that most of us had, and the way was long.
Experiences in Camp and in Trench
SGT. G. W. NORRIS IN GERMAN PRISON CAMP
Severely Wounded on Battle Field and Captured By Enemy-Mourned as Dead by Relatives.
Sgt. George W. Norris, son of Mr. and Mrs. E. M. Norris of Seltice, six miles south of Tekoa, is probably the only service man of Whitman county who was an inmate of a German prison camp. Of his experiences the Tekoa Blade said:
"Sgt. Norris was a member of Co. C, 18th In- fantry, of the famous 1st Division, General Persh- ings' own, as it is sometimes called, and said to be the hero division of the American expedition- ary forces. Sgt. Norris spent only six weeks in the trenches, and but four days in the front line before he received a machine gun bullet through the neck, and was unable to fall back with his companions. When he struggled to his feet he saw a large number of German guns staring him in the face. One fellow shoved the barrel of his rifle against the wounded man's breast and was ahout to discharge it when a lieutenant stopped
him. Sergeant Norris says that he had ar- rived at the point where he didn't care whether the fellow shot or not, for he couldn't hurt him any worse. He surrendered his gun and was car- ried through the woods to a first aid station, then transferred to a field hospital, and switched about to four or five different hospitals until he fell under the care of an old German doctor who treated him well and succeeded in healing the ugly wound.
"His company was sent over the top in the Soissons offensive on July 18, 1918, with Sgt. Nor- ris in the first wave. On the fourth day he re- ceived his wound after undergoing hardships dif- ficult to describe. They crouched in a wheat field where the straws were clipped off with bullets as though a scythe had mowed them down. He saw two companions struck by a high explosive shell, or rather saw them before they were struck, and never again saw a piece of them large enough to tell what it was.
"After he had convalesced from his wound and was transferred to a German prison, he spent four months and nine days there with nothing to eat but soup. He says the Germans had no better
food than the prisoners. He was made to work, but the labor was light and he received six cents per day for it. On Saturday night he had enough saved to buy a cabbage head, and a veritable feast followed. He saw many prisoners die around him, and heard his comrades bargain for the clothes and shoes of a fellow prisoner in the death throes. The hardships of prison life were hor- rible, but he does not blame the Germans entirely, for they fared hut little hetter.
"While confined in the German prison he was reported to the folks at home as among the miss- ing, and for months was mourned as dead, until word finally came that he was a prisoner. He has been decorated for bravery by both the French and the American governments. After the armis- tice Sgt. Norris was returned to his division and spent several months with the army of occupa- tion, coming home with General Pershing and marching 132 blocks in the big parade at Wash- ington, D. C."
ROSALIA MAN WOUNDED AND CAPTURED
Ernest Erickson, Who Fought at St. Mihiel, Ver- dun and Chateau Thierry, Fell into the Hands of the Enemy.
Ernest Erickson, a Rosalia service man, was wounded in one of the many engagements in which he participated, fell into the hands of the enemy, and was held a prisoner until the armistice was signed. He fought at St. Mihiel, Verdun, Chateau Thierry and other battles. Of his experiences he related the following narrative: "At the time I was injured I had been detailed to go over the line with a ration squad, and as we were returning at the darkest hour of the night, we suddenly discovered several Germans within about 30 feet of us. They saw us at about the same time and were ready to shower us with hand grenades. The very first one thrown wound- ed me. The fight then began in earnest, and hand grenades were dropping so thick ahout me that 1 thought I would be killed. But I escaped death. Shortly afterward a first aid man came to me and bound up my wounds as best he could, but he was so badly frightened that I bade him to go on and leave me. Two or three of my comrades
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came and dragged me into an old dug-out. After a time the enemy captured the ground and the wounded men within that area, including myself. They placed me on a stretcher and took me back to a first aid station and then to the regular hos- pital farther back.
"When the armistice was signed the American soldiers came in and took me to France where I was placed in a hospital at Treeves. There I re- mained until I was ordered back to 'the states.'"
PALOUSE MAN TWICE DECORATED
Alvin B. Franzen, youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Franzen of Eden Valley, north of Palouse, wears two decorations as a result of his service overseas: the American distinguished service cross and the French Croix de Guerre, both of which were awarded for hravery displayed while under fire. Mr. Franzen enlisted as a private in Battery B, 10th Field Artillery, in December, 1917. He was soon sent overseas and spent 10 months in France at the front and eight months with the army of occupation. He served throughout the offensives at the Marne, St. Mihiel and the Ar- gonne. At the latter place on July 15, he volun- teered his services as driver to carry ammunition to the front, several of his comrades having fallen in the attempt. He came out unscathed. He was advanced to the rank of chief mechanic before be- ing discharged.
THRILLING EXPERIENCES OF PALOUSE MAN
Sergeant Major Heitzman Received Two Wounds in Desperate Encounter-Bombed while
in Hospital No. 7.
Sergeant Major John Heitzman of Palouse has the honor of having seen as much actual service in France as any man in Whitman county. The young man served 28 months in foreign lands, having enlisted in the Pennsylvania National Guard on April 6, 1917, the day after war was de- clared. The Palouse Republic, on which news- paper he was employed previous to the out break the war and on which he was employed at the time this book was published, tells his story to a good advantage.
After some months of training, the greater part of which was spent in the South, the Pennsylvan- ians were sent overseas, and there made a wond- erful record for heroism, the names of hundreds from the Pennsylvania National Guard appearing in the casualty lists early in the war, says the Re- public. It was in the battle of the Marne that Heitzman had his narrow escape from death. Two companies of Americans were entirely surrounded by Germans, owing to a misunderstanding be- tween the French and the Americans, the plan having been for the French to reenforce the lat- ter. Heitzman, with the captain of one of the companies, decided that they would not be cap- tured and fought their way through the Germans to safety. The Palouse boy, however, awoke in a French hospital with a machine gun bullet through one leg just below the hip, a shrapnel wound on the head and his lungs full of gas. It was at this time he was reported missing in ac-
tion, because of the fact that he was in a French hospital and the American army officials had lost all trace of him. * * * After his recovery he served with the army police for some months, remaining overseas until June of 1919.
To add further to the experiences of the young soldier, the hospital-(the famous No. 7)-was bombed by German planes while he was confined therein.
ROSALIA SOLDIER BORE CHARMED LIFE
Robert Dowling, First Class Private, Hero of Many Battles, Returns Home Unscathed- One of Seventeen to Reach Safety.
Knocked out and unconscious for more than two hours on the battle field of Verdun, and after 18 months of the severest fighting in nearly all of the big battles, Private Robert Dowling has re- turned to parents and friends, said the Rosalia Citizen-Journal of May 9, 1919, in telling of the ventures of one of the Rosalia service men.
"It seems just like a dream to me that I am home again, and sometimes it certainly seems im- possible that I could have gone through these ex- periences and come out alive and unhurt," said Private Dowling.
"Two hundred and fifty of my company went over the top at Verdun and of that number only 17 of these boys answered roll call next morning. Two hundred and thirty-three of as fine soldiers as ever went into battle were either killed or wounded."
Private Dowling landed in Hoboken in the early part of December, 1917, and set sail for England on the Tuscania. His company was taken to the rest camp at Romney, where the English gave them a Christmas dinner of beans and hardtack. From there the division was taken to LeHavre, France, where they entered training. On July 4, 1918, the division was ready and was called to the front, and began fighting with the Twenty-sixth division. After helping defeat the Kaiser's crack troops at Chateau-Thierry, the men were sent to a rest camp. On September 26 the division was ushered into action at the Argonne woods. The Twenty-sixth division had much to do in defeating the enemy in that drive.
This division was at St. Mihiel and helped clean out the enemy in less than two days.
Private Dowling tells of the way the French and Germans fought at St. Sec, a mountain near Metz, a few days before the armistice was signed. On this mountain the German army captured or killed 35,000 French in only a few hours, so when the American soldiers were ordered to take the hill, they naturally supposed that they, too, would share a like fate. To everyone's great surprise the Germans, realizing that the Americans always got whatever they went after, gave ground from the very start and in a few hours' time the hill was in the possession of the Americans.
"A bullet hole in my helmet is just one instance of how nearly I came to being one of the 'gotten' ones in one of the battles.
"One day during one of the engagements I happened to be standing on a spot the enemy
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had picked for dropping a high explosive. It happened to sneak upon me and bursted right over my head-so the lads told me afterward. When I awoke several hours afterwards I was in a dug- out and some of my pals were pouring water over my face to revive me. That little incident put me in the hospital for several weeks.
"High explosive concussion is one of the most feared accidents. It was a long time before I could move my legs to walk the least bit; every bit of my body seemed to be shattered from the blow which sent my framework several inches into the ground.
"It was an easy matter towards the end, and for that matter any time, to take prisoners. It grew to be a habit with the German soldiers to try to 'ease over' the death blow to the Yankees. The Huns would advance towards us with their hands in the air bleating something about 'Kamerad.' If they held their hands with the palms away from us and fists closed, it grew to be a Yankee habit to nudge them with a bayonet or to let the voice of a '38' sing them to sleep, for too often they carried in their hands a grenade and in coming in close would let the captors have its full force. They soon found out our system of treating such advances and the 'wise' German was the one who advanced with open hands, palms toward us.
"The company I was with in one of the scraps lacked ten feet of being surrounded and taken prisoner one day. By a surrounding movement a number of the enemy, far superior to us in num- ber, started to gather us in. We fought them off the best the rapid fire of rifles would allow, and things began to look pretty black when the Huns got to within ten feet of our lines. We received reinforcements from an excursion party of Yanks and the day was won.
"We were stationed near Verdun," continued Private Dowling, "when the report was obtained from a captured German prisoner that the Ger- man bombers were planning a night raid over the city to destroy it. In the evening I saw 150 allied planes take to the air toward the German lines, and while all of those planes did not come back, the Germans did not come over. Every battle had a 'flying circus' of its own, with the amusement left out and the struggle of death thrown in.
"In one engagement I saw five of my pals blown up by one shell. Six of us were lying under a tree, or what was left of one, and the old time 'hunch' said, 'move Bob.' and Bob moved. I went about 20 yards away and called to the others to come on. But the mud bed was softer where they were, so they stayed. In a few moments a big shell came over and the poor fellows were put out of the fighting."
Private Dowling tells of a breakfast in France that he and several other Yankees ordered but for which they did not wait.
"It was in a little French village," he related, "We wandered into a little home and the kind French mother offered us a breakfast. She told us to wash up and then she would get us our meal.
"At that moment I did not know the connection between the 'washing up' on our part and the getting of the breakfast on hers. But there was. As soon as we had washed some of the French soil from our hands and faces the mother took the
'wash pan,' placed it on the stove and broke six eggs into it and began frying them. We excused ourselves; said it was getting late and that we would have to be leaving right away."
SAW PAL'S HEAD SHOT OFF AT ST. MIHIEL
Ed Rickard of Rosalia Witnessed Grewsome Sight in Great Drive-Man had Premonition of Impending Doom.
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"I saw my pal's head shot off, but his helmet remained on the head even after it was thrown several feet from the body. He was a little Mexi- can, and was always saying, 'Me get shot today, boys; get killed soon." This was the experience of Ed. Rickard of Rosalia, who took part in the drive at St. Mihiel which was the turning point in the great war. Private Rickard landed at South Hampton, England, July 12, 1918, and was sent to Le Harve, France. There he remained two days after which time the regiment was sent to Bur- dons for training. The regiment was utilized as a reserve in the St. Mihiel drive. It was then transferred to the Argonne front and on the morn- ing of September 26, at 6:00 o'clock, went over the top.
"I will never forget that morning. It was awful- ly foggy, but at 7:00 o'clock the fog began to raise. When we could see we found ourselves com- pletely surrounded by a massive wire entangle- ment. This had been erected to trap us, and there we stood in squad formation. An aeroplane came over and in a few moments the Germans turned loose their 'Big Berthas,' and 15 of our men were killed in just a few seconds. Our captain and one of our sergeants made the supreme sacrifice be- fore we got out of the barbed wire enclosure. We finally got out of the trap and moved forward, get- ting ahead of the other divisions. At this point the Germans flanked us and we were again sub- jected to a cross fire, causing a heavy loss to our division. Thousands of our boys were killed in but a few days time in the Argonne woods. But it was right there that we turned the German army back. When the Germans found that we could drive them from their strongest and best fortified positions, that had taken them years to build, their hopes vanished. When we captured a Boche he would say, 'War about over; German army has gone to pieces; the Fatherland has gone to hell.'
"From there the 364th was taken to the Ypres front and placed in the trenches to hold the line. Here again we lost many men."
Pullman Naval Officer Undergoes Harrowing Fire
Sanford Chapman of Pullman, a navy man of twenty years experience, had the novel experi- ence of heing aboard a United States submarine which was fired upon and nearly sunk by a war vessel of the same nationality. Lieut. Chapman then held the rank of paymaster and was station- ed on board the U. S. S. Savannah, a mother ship of a number of submarines. The mother ship left a South Carolina port on an assignment to visit the underseas fleet off the Atlantic coast. It was the duty of the paymaster, in company with a medical officer to visit each ship frequently
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to look after the health and victualing of the crew. While on board one of the submarines a destroyer sighted it and immediately opened fire. Thirty or more shots were thrown, some of which disabled the steering gear and damaged the lighting apparatus. All on board donned life belts, and as the boat came to the surface the members of the crew leaped into the water. The destroyer then steamed up and picked the men up. During the war period commanders of ships had orders to fire upon all submarines and make investigations afterward.
QUEER CASE OF LA CROSSE SERVICE MAN
Arthur Whitmeyer, Former Canadian Soldier, Disappeared at Calgary, Alberta- Whereabouts Remain Mystery.
A strange case is recorded in the mysterious disappearance of Arthur Whitmeyer, a former Canadian service man from La Crosse, who dis- appeared at Calgary, Alberta, following his dis- charge from the Canadian army. Despite a na- tion-wide search, his father, James Whitmeyer, of Lafayette, Louisiana, had not found trace of him up to the time of the publication of this volume.
The young man enlisted early in the war from La Crosse. He was wounded August 8, 1918, and was in an English hospital for eight months. He was discharged at Calgary on April 5, 1919. Since that date absolutely no trace has been found of the young man.
VINCIL F. LEMON DESCRIBES BIG BATTLE
Garfield Man Spent Five Days in Midst of Terrific Encounter-Escaped With Machine Gun Bullet in Shoulder.
The issue of the Garfield Enterprise of Decem- ber 6, 1918, contained a most interesting letter from Vincil F. Lemon of that place, describing a big battle in which he participated. The letter in part follows:
"No doubt you are wondering why there is such a space of time expired since I wrote you last, but that will easily be explained when I tell you that I have been ov the top. To you, that no doubt sounds wonderful and glorious, with lots of dash and color, but to me it has an altogether differ- ent meaning, since I have experienced its effect. Speaking to you frankly, I spent five days of a perfect hell, and two days in particular. At the present hour I am in one of the convalescent hos- pitals, out of the sound of the guns, and I am very thankful for that. The reason that I am here is because I got a machine bullet wound in my left shoulder. It was a ricochet shot, but it felt like I had been hit with a brick.
"When I last wrote you, we were camped in the woods just back of the French second line trench- es, waiting for the hour to come when the big drive should commence. At last we left the old camp ground and moved slowly along the narrow road up over the big ridge to the trenches.
"At 5:30 o'clock in the morning we went over the top behind a smoke barrage. The Germans
had an idea of when we were coming over, so they dropped a few big shells over their barbed wire entanglements, and they stirred us up a plenty, for the second wave was going over, and I was in it. The concussion of one of the shells knocked me off my feet with dozens of others.
"Immediately after crossing the entangled, shell- plowed ground, we crossed a deep, narrow creek, and then we entered the Germans' front line trench. After passing the enemy's second line trenches we came to a road that ran through the woods, where we met the other section of our company, and as we were pretty close up to the first wave, we took to cover in the woods by the road, and were ready for a rest. We had all found cover and had laid down about ten minutes when a big shell came whistling through the air and struck at the side of the road in the edge of the woods. We were ordered to scatter and find what protection we could in old shell holes. About a minute later a second shell came over and landed right in the edge of our company, and then we surely did scatter. I had no particular spot picked out, only I did want to run away from that area. I ran towards a little track that led into the woods along which we had walked a few minutes before. I found myself with a bunch of other boys from the company, and we all headed for the track. A big oak tree was standing by the track about thirty feet away, and we were scattered out be- tween the place where I 'flopped' and the tree. I heard the shell coming screaming through the air and I knew that it was going to strike close by, and I fell flat on the ground. There was a man on each side of me, almost within my reach, so I noticed when I dropped. I put my hands to my ears to stop the sound of the explosion, but as I struck the ground, one hand slipped, and the shell exploded at the same time. The concussion of the explosion literally moved me from within reach of where my rifle lay, and I was too dazed to pick it up. I almost stumbled over the fellow who was at my right as I ran towards the road, and the next thing I ran into a mass of wire entangle- ments, and while I was crawling out, the next shell struck across the road from me, evidently hitting where a number of men was standing, for a call went out for the 'medicos' immediately.
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