Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 302, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 December 1918 — SOMME VETERAN VISITS HERE [ARTICLE]

SOMME VETERAN VISITS HERE

CORPORAL JOHN KRATLI VISIT- - ED WITH HIS BROTHER. PROF. KRATLI. / If you want to get a real thrill, have a talk with Corporal John Kratli, who is spending a few days here with the family of his brother, Prof. W. F, Kratli, principal of the local high school. His description of .the fighting during his year or more of active service, ending with a very severe accident caused by being injured in a train wreck while retreating from the savage Hun in their mighty drive last March, is a most vivid one. Corporal Kratli is a veteran of the Spanish-American war and spent seven years in the Panama zone in the service, retiring in 1914, and was engaged in farming until Uncle Sam needed men to defend the cause of humanity. * He enlisted in the 2nd company engineers at St. Louis, Which was converted into the 12th, with whom he saw strenuous service in France. He enlisted June 5, 1917, sailed for France in July, and within a month he was on the active front. He early found out that Sherman was right when he said “War is hell,” and hds company, which had been brigaded with the English on the Oambrai-St. Quentin sector, learned that the general’s expression was entirely too mild. It was not to be expected that soldiers in the engineer corps would be required to do much fighting, but Corporal Kratli and, his comrades were' sobn in the thick of the fiercest of the fray. They were fighting, digging -trenches and putting up wire entanglements and doing everything that could be done by men and the equipments of war to stop the Hun in his drive into the heart of France, and in his almost successful attempt .to crush the soul of Liberty. The regiment with which Corporal Kratli was fighting was. One of the very first Amercan units to get into the battle line. With them it was a fight of life or death, and the latter was greatly preferred to surrender to the Hains. With men of such stamina and love of freedom there were'\sure to be many losses against a foe so strong and fierce. Corporal Kratli saw many of his comrades make the supreme sacrifice while he was allowed to continue to stand against the onslaughts of the Germans. Under the most hellish fire of the war Corporal Kratli remaned unscratched. On November 17, 1917, he was gassed, but was not off duty 16ng. When the Germans made the drive on Amiens last March and it seemed to the brave soldiers that the cause of the allies and humanity was to be lost, Corporal Kratli met with an injury that came very near costing him his life and from which be is still suffering. This occurred on the night of March 26, 1918. He was in charge of a small nar-row-guage train, bringing up ammunition and carrying back the wounded, when one of the cars, . filled with wounded, jumped the track and stopped the train. The night was pitch dark, except for the,, blinding glare of thousands of guns, and no man could say his life was his own. As Ithe train stopped ; Corporal Kratli leaped to the ground, but unfortunately the bottom had dropped out of that partcular spot of the earth and branded on some rock in a 10-foot hole. His comrades rescued him from this uncomfortable position and in due time he brought the train through and made his report. He thought little of his knees at that time and turned in at midnight for.

a few winks of sleep. At 2 the next morning, however, his regiment was ordered to retreat and he marched nearly a hundred males before his knees gave out. He stayed with his company for several weeks and was then ’placed in an English hospital. His treatment here was fine, and late in August he was able to undertake the trip w the old home shores. He landed in this country Aug. 29, and soon thereafter was sent to the post hospital at Fort Des Moines. -John worked and fought with the English troops all the time he was in France and he speaks of their fighting qualities, and especially those of the Canadians, Australians and Scots, in the highest terms of praise. Hqs greatest praise, however, is reserved for the brave, impetuous Yankee boys who helped stem the tide in that great German drive.