Father Duffy's story : $b a tale of humor and heroism, of life and death with the Fighting Sixty-ninthDuffy, Francis Patrick
History
Father Duffy's story : $b a tale of humor and heroism, of life and death with the Fighting Sixty-ninth
Duffy, Francis Patrick
United States. Army. Infantry Regiment, 165th; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, American
Nobody blamed the 1st Division for this mix-up, because they
certainly had orders the same as ours to advance and capture Sedan.
The whole thing is a mystery. A staff officer told me that neither
of us had any right here, as Sedan lies in the sector of the French
Division on our left, and considering what it means to the French,
they are certainly the ones who have the best right to capture it.
In this sector we had a visit from Sergeant Alexander Woollcott,
who is well known in New York as a dramatic critic, and who has
been assigned by G. H. Q. to the duties of reporter for the _Stars
and Stripes_. He is always on hand when there is trouble, and the
field of war becomes a pleasant place for me whenever he is there.
We have swapped stories and discussed men and books in the weirdest
places. He is communicative rather than inquisitive and one never
thinks of him as a reporter, but he gets all the information he
wants and all the more effectively because there is no appearance
of seeking it. He can even make Anderson talk.
During this period Anderson had been forging ahead with his
Headquarters group, expecting to find Bootz in Chaumont. He entered
that town with a couple of doctors, Lieutenant Rerat, and his
liaison men, only to find that they were the first to get there,
and the enemy had not yet completely evacuated it. They were
under rifle fire as they came along the street, and had a merry
little sniper’s battle before they got possession. Then Lieutenant
McCarthy set up his one-pound cannon on the edge of the village,
and soon had the German gunners putting for safety over the hill.
So Anderson captured a town for himself, and for once did Colonel
Dravo out of the bouquets and kisses. Though, even here, Rerat got
the cream of it.
We kept going through that day, the 3rd Battalion relieving the
2nd during the night, and reaching on November 8th, the village
of Wadelincourt on the heights of the Meuse, directly overlooking
Sedan. A patrol from Company M with orders to go down to the Meuse
and scout up to the suburbs of Sedan, got nearest of all American
troops to that famous city. Eighteen men started out, of whom most
were wounded, but Corporal John McLaughlin, with two men, carried
out the mission and reported the results of the reconnaissance.
Under shell fire that night Albert Bieber and Carl Maritz of
Company I were killed and Lieutenant Behrendts, the Company
Commander, and many others were wounded. James P. Smith of Company
M was also killed and Sergeant Lester Lenhart of Company E was
mortally wounded.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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