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Monday, January 28, 2019

Lts. Veach and Freeman, and Joe Murphy Write Home, Jan. 28, 1919

From the Hickory Daily Record, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 1919

Thirtieth Faced 20 Hun Divisions

First Lieutenant M.W. Veach in a letter dated December 11 to Mr. George Bailey gives the names and dates of the battles fought by the 30th division, the towns the division took and the number of German divisions which were fought from August 21 to October 19. Lieutenant Veach is in the 120th Infantry and he says he is glad the affair is over.

The following places were taken by the division on the dates indicated:

Lankhof Farm (Ypres), September 1 to 2
Belicourt and Nouroy (Hindenburg line) September 29 to 30

Premont and Brancourt, October 8
Busigny, October 9

Becquiny, Bohain, Vaux, Abdigny and L. Hale Mencrsse, October 10 to 11
St.Martin Rievre, Mazinier and Heights of Catilion, October 17 to 19.

Exactly 20 divisions faced the Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina troops from August 1 to October 19. Lieutenant Veach gives the numbers of the divisions and their quality. Of the number of enemy divisions 14 are rated as “average” and six as “very good.” This was a rather tough proposition for one division to be handled, but Generals Pershing and Haig have vouched for the way the young men treated their opponents.

Card from Joe Murphy

Under date of December 16, Joe L. Murphy of the Rainbow Division informs a member of the Record staff in an appreciated card that he was 15 miles from the Rhine as part of the army of occupation. “The conditions are pretty good,” Mr. Murphy writes. “The people have enough to eat. Have hiked 300 miles since signing of armistice.”

Two Hickory Men in Famous Division

A letter to the Record form First Lieut. C.C. Freeman gives details of the work done by the 5th Division in the last few weeks of the war. Mr. Ralph Shed of Hickory is a member of this division, being connected with the 25th field hospital, and Lieutenant Freeman says “I feel sure his people and friends will be glad to know that he was with his organization and did faithful work during this drive.”

The 5th Division forced the famous crossing of the Meuse river below Sedan and for its valor has been cited by Maj. General E.E. Ely for bravery. These men built bridges and swam the river in the face of heavy machine gun fire and performed a feat that was cabled to all the papers. The exploit, which was carried by the Record at the time, was one of wonderful ingenuity and courage, and no reading was more gripping than this.

“For two days and nights,” the citation reads, “the fifth division held a front of 20 kilometers against the enemy on its front and both flanks. Not content with this, it went out of its own sector on the north and took the time of Meusay and turned it over to the 90th division. On the south it went out of its sector and took Voiosges, enabling the French division on its right to cross the river.

“In the 30 days preceding the armistice, this fifth division was seriously engaged under shell and machine gun fire for 37 days. In the past two weeks no day has passed that some town, wood, or hill has not been wrested from the enemy. Bois des Rappe, Ainereville, Bois de Babiemont, Cleary-leGrand-Clery, Brieulles, Dun-Sur-Meuse,” and many other points named. The penetration of 20 kilometers into the enemy’s line was made, and when the armistice was signed it was 5 kilometers, or over two miles, beyond the troops on its right.

Thirty-seven cannon, 461 machine guns, over 900 were captured by the division. The commander, however, congratulates the division most on its untiring, uncomplaining tenacity of purpose “in its constant driving of the enemy in spite of fatigue and shortage of rations. Being wet from the swimming of the river and canal or wading the swamp of the Forest de Woevre, this is a brilliant example of what an American soldier can do in an emergency when he must go on to the utmost of his power. The division commander is proud of the division. No division could have accomplished more and every member of the command should be proud of the division which has so brilliantly ended its record in the greatest war the world has ever known.”

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