Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 94, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 February 1919 — HOW EARL CORNELL MET DEATH [ARTICLE]

HOW EARL CORNELL MET DEATH

Ob * Battlefield In France a Few Months Ago. Carl Duvall of Grand Rapids, Michigan, has sent his parents, Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Duvall, a letter from a soldier there which appeared In a recent issue of a Grand Rapids paper, and told of the death of Earl Cornell, a of Mr. Duvall and Mrs. Mary D. Eger of this city, who was killed In action in France a few months ngo, mention of which was made in The Democrat at the time first word was received by relatives here. The young man was known to several hero who were very sorry to learn of his death. It seems that Earl was with a machine gun squad and he and his comrades saw a bunch of Germans at a distance and planted a gun and sent a rain of bullets Into their midst. Earl was doing the loading, said the writer, who had charge of the gun, and when it got too warm for them he, not being used to loading, took up the post of observer. "We were putting them in,” says the writer, "about two a second, when all of a sudden we were picking ourselves up and wondering what had happened, for a shell had landed almost under the gun. We all dove for the ditch along one side of the road, when we heard Earl saying he was blown to pieces. We found a wound below his heart and dressed him up as best we could with his ‘first aid’ and my companions went back for some stretcher bearers.” Several Germans camo along just then, holding their hands up and crying "Kame'rade,” and the boys had four of them pick Earl up and carry him to an ambulance to be taken to the hospital, but he died a short time later.