Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 231, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 October 1918 — TWO HOLD OFF GUN COMPANY [ARTICLE]

TWO HOLD OFF GUN COMPANY

Yanks Caught in Pocket Fight Until Last Bullet Is Gone. BOCHE SHELL GETS THEM Caught Between Barrage and Huns They Fight In Manner to Make One 'Proud to Be of Same Race. By E. A. BATCHELOR. Paris.—The Y. M. C. A. man told the story with tears in his. eyes and a break in his voice. He said that it was the saddest thing that he ever had encountered, which meant much. He had been a long time in Francte, so death and suffering were no strangers to him. But when he spoke of the sergeant and the private that they had found dead beside tbeir machine gun he couldn’t control his emotion. It seems that the sergeant and tjie private had been caught in a pocket. The Germans, in force, were in front of them. There was a barrage behind which made it impossible for them to rejoin their company. So they stayed and roughed It out, fought in a manner that made one proud to be of the same race.

Held Off Whole Company. When they found them there was pile of empty shells several inches high around the gun and not a single round of unexpended ammunition remained. The two had held off a whole company, of Boche machine gunners for several hours. The enemy had been around a bend in the road, a scant 50 yards away, and hadn’t been able to advance because of the brisk fire of the lone American gun manned by thd sergeant and the private. The sergeant had been evidently pointing the gun and the private had been feeding it. Their only protection had been a little ridge where the dirt had been thrown up beside the road. The undergrowth just behind them had been cut to ribbons by the Boche bullets and the trees near where the enemy had been were scarred by Yankee fire. It had been the hottest kind of a fight and the Americans had been winning against the terrible odds until a shell- burst right on them and killed both. Whether it was a Boche shell or one of our own, nobody ever will know. Both sides had been firing into that part of the wood. Whatever the source of the shell, it had done its work quickly and thoroughly, for the men were badly torn. Death probably had come instantaneously. They

had gone while the joy of battle was still upon them- v . Death Not in Vain. It was a glorious death but a sad Obe because a few minutes after the shell landed, the Boche had been obliged to retire. Another half an hour, and the heroic pair would have been safe. But they had not died in vain. The company that they had held at bay carried back to the German lines a story of American heroism that will do much to convince the Boche that the men from across the sea are going to decide the war. The sacrifice of these two lives will save others. They called on the Y. M. C. A. man to help bury these two heroes. It was not his first experience as a member ofa burial party because he had been at the front all through the big push. As he aided in the burial he could not help wishing that of all the thousands engaged in that battie these two might have been spared.