Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 101, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 April 1919 — TWO STELLAR LIGHTS HOME [ARTICLE]

TWO STELLAR LIGHTS HOME

DR. C. E. JOHNSON AND JAMES ELLIS MOST RECENT OVERSEAS ARRIVALS. “By gar! she’s not my native billet, but she’s my billet from now.” Thus spoke a pompous blonde-hair-ed individual Tuesday afternoon as he sniffed the azone for a moment or two and gave his trousers a hitch. “Yes sir,” he continued, casting his eye on the village clock, “lots of folks don’t know where Rensselaer, Indiana, is but that don’t make any difference, to me. I’m here and just as soon as I see my mother in lowa lam going to stay here. Germany may be all right for Germans, France may be all right for Frenchmen, England may be all right for Englishmen—but war’s what Sherman remarked, and—well, I don’t care much for Europe nor war either. The point is, I’m here, and here I stay. The speaker was Dr. C. E. Johnson, Captain perhaps we should sayoverseas veteran, who arrived in Rensselaer Tuesday afternoon and who arrived on the scene of the European conflict as early as April 3 of last year. During that time the Rensselaer physician’s course has been an interesting and varied one. He saw service in England and Franc* as a member of a medical corps, swallowed some gas and suffered a silght injury to his left limb. Otherwise he’s in tip top shape and anxious to take up his civilian work where he left off. Dr. Johnson was m the Arras sector and also spent a short time on other important fronts, where he rendered valuable aid with the men of his comlmand. He witnessed air raids on London"and Paris and describes them as being intensely interesting and beautiful despite the danger and seriousness of the occasion. , . , . When asked about the air flight he made with Colonel Lee, of England, in Washington, D. C., last March before leaving for overseas, the doctor smiled and walked away as we stood gaping with pencil in hand. Another young Rensselaer man who arrived in Rensselaer Tuesday was James Ellis, son of the late James H. S. Ellis, accompanied by Mrs. Ellis. , Mr. Ellis enlisted early m the year 1918 as a member of a tank corps in an eastern state, leaving a short time later for overseas where he was in continuous active > service until the close of the war. So far as is known, Mr. Ellis was the only local boy to enter this dangerous branch of the service. He came through it all untouched and feels well repaid for the experiences h has had.