Trench and camp. (Augusta, Ga.) 1917-1919, October 17, 1917, Image 4

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Newspaper Page TextI] J form™ life (• CL" \u\u« Y I t Yij 1 H ■i j I I ■ '" z 11 Page 4 PASSING OF THE FOURTH INFANTRY Historic Old Regiment, Organized Soon After Civil War, Loses Identity and Becomes Machine Gun Battalions. Col. Shannon and Chaplain Doll man Not Transferred. History of Command. One of the proudest regiments in the 28th Division is the old and historic Fourth Infantry, commanded by Col onel Edward G. Shannon. Under the reorganization plan, the Fourth has t.en transferred to machine gun bat talions and loses its identity as an ; fanrty regiment, but the prestige of the past as well as ths present clings- to the regiment and no matter where the men of the Fourth may be assigned, they will carry with them the fighting spirit and the efficiency that gave the Fourth the distincttion of being the only unit in Pennsylvania to contrib ute troops to the Rainbow Division, slated to sail for France soon. On the 23rd of July, the Third Bat talion of the Fourth was ordered to join the Rainbow Division, and this marked the beginning of the end of the Fourth. The Third Battalion is pow known as the 149th Machine Gun Battalion and with the recent order, the entire regiment has been trans ferred from an efficient infantry unit to machine gun uits. Companies A and B go to the 108th Machine Gun Battalion. Companies C and D and Machine Gun Company to 107th M. G. Batt. Company E. F. G, and H form the 107th Machine Gun Battalion. Sanitary, Supply and Headquarters Companies are divided among the three battalions. Only Colonel Shannon, Lieut.-Col. Case, Major S. H. HelLr, Chaplain Dollman and the band remain at the headquarters of the dismembered Fourth, where they will stay to receive the men of the national army. Origin of the Fourth. Three years after the close of the me morable Civil War, with a basis of the Allentown Rifles, which became Company D, and the Reading Artillerists, as Com pany A. six additional companies -were recruited, and with headquarters at Al lentown, Pa., became the Fourth Infan try, N. G. P. These units hailed from various cities throughout the state — Reading, Allentown, Columbia, Bethle hem, Hamburg, Pine Grove, Lebanon and Easton At that time eight companies constituted a full regiment. A and D had been •‘First Defenders,” answering the call of ’6l, as old and well drilled mili tary units. .... Followed several years of training, dur ing which time the Fourth improved steadily, rapidly taking its place among the foremost in the state militia. The first call for serious duty came in 1877. when the command was ordered to assist in quelling the Pittsburg riots, which attended the big railroad strike of that year. Here they were held for twenty days, and here they proved their worth as military unit, executing their duties wih dispatch and precision, in a manner reflecting credit to the entire militia of the state. For a period of fifteen years following the Pittsburg riots little of importance took place, and with the exception of the weekly drills and the yearly encamp ments, the Fourth was idle- In 1892. however, the Fourth was again called to the field, at the advent of the Home stead riots. Here they served nineteen days, stationed at Swissvale, directly across from the scene of the disorders. Since that time the regiment has an swered several state calls, in event of strikes and labor troubles, including the Latimer riots of ’97, when they were posted at Hazelton, the great anthracite coal strike of 1900, when they served six weeks at. Shenandoah, Pa., the coal strike of 1902 and many minor disturbances. Spanish-American War. During the Spanish-American war the unit took to the field, and was changed from the old eight-company line-up to the three-battalion formation, of twelve companies. Originally the Fourth was detailed to Chicamauga. whence they were ordered to Newport News, Va. From there they proceeded to Porto Rico, where they took active part in the campaign under General Brooks, and the advance on Guayma. The Fourth was lined in a strategic position, ready for the inevit able battle at Guayma, when word was flashed that an armistice had been de clared between the warring powers. Shortly afterwards they returned home and were demobilized, having served twenty-six -weeks during the war. After the regiment’s return from the conflict, they were again reorganized to a ten-company formation, which they held until 1913, when a twelve-company strength was resumed. Company I, of the Thirteenth was transferred, and be came Company L of the Fourth, and a Bethlehem company was organized, as *‘M.” Mexican Border. Last year the unit spent seven months at the Mexican border. Because of the excellency of its organization and per sonnel, Colonel Shannon was»called upon to detail an entire battalion to the Rain bow- Division, which is made up of pick ed men from the guard of all states, Forthwith, the Third Battalion, includ ing fourteen commissioned officers and 628 enlisted men were taken into the Machine Gun Battalion of the Rainbow Division. This, having taken place shortly before the present mobilization, the ranks were not filled in the Fourth. Under the new regime the Second Battalion, together with the Machine Gun Company, will be embraced as part of the Machine Gun Battalion of the Pennsylvania Division. The First Battalion will be attached to the old First Infantry, the 100th, to bring it to the new requisite strength. The colonel, lieutenant-colonel, chap lain, regimental adjutant, supply officer, four captains of Companies A, B, C and D, and twenty-five enlisted men of these companies, will constitute the First Training Battalion, which will be re cruited to a strepgth of 612 men, and TRENCH AND CAMP act as a “feeder” to the line troops in Europe, training new men, and sending them across to fill the ranks. The regiment ’has furnished, in addi tion to those sent to the Rainbow Di vision, twenty-four men from its ranks, to the Officers’ Reserve Corps. Col. Edward G. Shannon. Colonel Edward G. Shannon, commahd ing the Fourth, has just completed his twenty-eighth year of continuous service i nthe National Guard of Pennsylvania. He enlisted in 1889 as a private in Com pany C. In June ’93, he was elected second lieutenant, and during the Span ish war, commanded that company. In private life, Colonel Shannon is a promi nent business man in this home city, Columbia, Pa., where he is general man ager of the Triumph Manufacturing Com pany. He is forty-seven years old. During the summer encampment of the guard in 1904 at Gettysburg, Pr., while Shannon was captain of Company C, the militia was reviewed by Major F. A. Duvall, no .wmajor general in command of the Department of the Southeast, to gether with Secretary Root, the governor of Pennsylvania and his staff. Company C was in excellent shape, fuiLequippped, and well drilled. Major Duvall' turned to the secretary, and said at the time, "There is the finest outfit I’ve seen in any organization here!” He also reit erated the statement in his report to Col onel Frank G. Sweeney, inspector-general, making special mention of Captain Shan non’s company. A few days ago. Col onel Shannon was among the guests at the Country Club during the reception given General Duvall. The general im mediately remembered Colonel Shannon though the stretch of thirteen: -years, walking over to him, recalled the inci dent of 1904, saying, "If your regiment’s as good now as your compafty was then you must have a crackerjack outfit.” Colonel Shannon takes a great pride in his command, having made it one of the best in the division. He takes the loss of it as a soldier, willing te sacri fice it for the good of the country. He is a "daddy” to every man in his regi ment, and doubtless there is not a more popular commander in the entire division. Roster of Officers. The roster of officers of the Fourth, as it stood prior to the break-up, is as follows: Colonel, Edward C. Shannon; lieuten ant-colonel, Marshall L. Case; major, Quinton O. Reitzel; major, Harry D. Case; , major, Orlando C. Miller; first lieutenant, Guy P. Brown, adjutant; first -lieutenant, Edward T. Hager, adjutant; first lieutenant, Robert A. Young, adju tant; captain, Harry S. Dolliman, chap lain. Headquarters Company—Captain, Wil liam S. Detwiler. Machine Gun Company—Captain, Wil liam C- Rehn; first lieutenant, Glen G. ABison; second lieutenant, David N. Trapnell; second lieutenant, Peter W. Stauffer. Supply Company—Captain, Theodore C.' Fegley; second lieutenant, Charles C. Curtis. Assigned from Medical Corps— Major, Samuel H. Heller; first lieuten ant, Ilenry B. Davis; first lieutenant, John E. Marshall; first lieutenant, Mil ton V. Miller. ’A pJBMpa 'umideo —~v„ Xuwlutoo Kestner; first lieutenant, Irvin E. Sea man; second lieutenant, James M. Sny der. Company “B”—Captain, William A. Ruch; first lieutenant, George H. Eisen hard; second lieutenant, Charles H. Ro mig. Company “C”—Captain, Andrew H- Baxter; first lieutenant, Paul R. Um berger; second lieutenant, Daniel B. Strickler. Company “D”—Captain, John E. Dil lenger; firs t lieutenant, Milton F. Winder; second lieutenant, Robert A- Barber. Company “E”—Captain, Lewis A. Loy; first lieutenant, Ivan D. Loy; second lieutenant, Percy Showers. Company “F”—Captain, Clyde M. Smith; first lieutenant, Edgar C. Keiser; second lieutenant, Harrison L. Rocke feller. Company “G”—Captain, Harry W. Schwalm; first lieutenant, Frank E. Smith; second lieutenant, George W. Zimmerman. Company “H”—Captain, Harry H- Barnhart; first lieutenant, Victor Gar man; second lieutenant, W. Billman. Company "I”—Captain, Charles G. Mil ler; first lieutenant, Harry E. Wootton; second lieutenant, William A. Kauffman. Company “K” —Captain, James N. Lightner; first lieutenant, Benjamin F. Charles; second lieutenant, John M. Gei zet. Company “L”—Captain, Frank M. God ley; first lieutenant, Charles A. P. Bart lett; second lieutenant, James E. Black burn. Company ‘M’—Captain, John J. Shonk; first lieutenant, William E. Lewis; sec ond lieutenant, Hpward L. Strohl. The composite units of the regiment come from the following cities: Head quarters Company, Co. C, Columbia, Pa.; Machine Gun Co. and Co. K, Lancaster; Supply Co., Tremont; Co’s A and I, Reading; Co. B, Allentown; Co. E, Ham burg; Co. F, Sunbury; Co. G, Pine Grove; Co. H, Lebanon; Co. L, Easton, and Co. M, Bethlehem, Pa. MAY~HOLD POLITICAL MEETINGS Citizen soldiers will not have to fore go the privilege of attending political meetings this fall. Secretaryßaker has approved an order by Major Gen eral J. Franklin Bell, commanding at Camp Upton, New York, permitting po litical gatherings in camps under the proper regulations, and that the ruling would apply to all the camps. Full and equal opportunities shall be given all political parties on condition that there shall be no interference with the serious training of the troops. THE FRENCH LANGUAGE (By Prof. I. L. Foster, Army Y. M. C. A., Camp Hancock.) There is without doubt no language on the continent of Europe which has had a more honorable and attractive history than has that of France, our sister republic. Its origin is to be found in the early days of the first century when Caesar and his victor ious legions overran the west of Eu rope, and conquered Orgetorix and Vercingetorix, the tribal rulers of what was then Gaul. As was usual, Rome not only subjugated the people and made them tributary, but she also im posed upon them her institutions and laws. To carry out the commands of imperial Caesar a permanent legionary force was demanded and they were garrisoned in Gaul at the expense of the natives. With the Roman soldiers came Roman traders and the language of soldier and trader was Latin, ft was not the Latin of Cicero and Vergil that is familiar to the school boy, but the tongue of the common people, “lin gua romana rustica,” the language of the Roman commoner, as it is techni cally known. As the Romans promptly monopoliz ed the business of the province, it be came necessary for the tribesman to learn the language of his conqueror if he would trade with him. Proud Rome would not. humble herself to the level of Gallic patois, -so the natives used the language of Caesar or took the consequences. Frequent intermar riages between the legionaries and the native women still further aided in the assimilation of the .foreign speech until finally the old, “familiar dialect was forgotten. It was, however,* not until 842 that we find the first real speci men of new. French language. In the Oaths Os Strasburg of this year we can discover the -birth of a new me dium of thought expression and it is called French because the tribe known as Franks were the first to use it. The language was slow in develop ing and it was not until the 11th cen tury that it began to assume definite shape. Even then it was quite imper fect and was burdened with many use less linguistic appendanges. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries teenth centuries certain grammatical and syntactical changes were made which brought it to a close resemb lance with the language of today. It has, however, been undergoing modifi cations continuously since the period of development, with a result that it is possible to find at the present words from several other dialects which have .been grafted on to the parent stock, giving us the language of the twen tieth century. These borrowings in the .French have been, considerable, but along definite lines. The German has furnished a rather large vocabulary, especially in the field of war and its accessories; the Italian, famous in art and literature, has made its contribu tion here; while the English, lovers of sport, have furnished practically all .the familiar terms in this field. In many cases the word remains un changed, when it is transferred from une language to the other, merely re ceiving a gender sign as required in French. The new language rapidly sprang into favor and in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries occupied the enviable position of the “world lan guage.” Today it is the language 'of diplomacy and international affairs. The reason for this universal popu larity is to be found in its logical se quence of phrasing clarity of ex pression. In the early history of the language it was said: “If it is not clear, it is not French,” and the same holds true today. It has a purity of style and felicity of diction which no other language possesses and makes possible an entrancing melody which carries you along and thrills you in spite of yourself. French is rather difficult for an American to learn, as it is romanic in its origin rather than Teutonic. De spite this fact, it can be mastered suf ficiently for practical purposes in a short time if a few fundamental prin ciples are carefully learned. The meth od of sentence formation is quite like the English and many words are the exact equivalent in appearance and meaning. The main difficulty comes in the pronunciation which seems for midable to all beginners. In pronouncing French especial re gard must be paid to the vowels, singly or in combinations with each other, bearing in mind that the last two in trigraphs give the sound for the group, that is, eau is like au; oue like eu, etc. The letter “u” presents a sound pe culiar to itself, resembling “ee” pro nounced through rounded lips. The nasal vowels, combination of the vow els wil'h m or n, also have a sound that is unfamiliar to American ears and, in some cases, difficult to imitate. The consonants are much like the English with the exception of c, ch, g, j and sometimes 1. There is practically no stress of voice on any syllable except the last and this should be carefully heeded. The words are uttered rather as syl lables than as words and this makes possible a baffling continuity of sound. Owing to the fact that there are nu merous unpronounced letters, such as “mute e’’ and final consonants except c, f, 1 and r. the question is usually more one of omission than of pronun ciation. To pronounce French well, therefore, the following should be no ticed: make as many syllables in the word as there are vowels; pronounce Oct. 17,1917. each syllable evenly with exception of the last; watch carefully for mute let ters and have regard for final conson ants. With these simple principles in mind there should should be no trouble in acquiring a satisfactory use of thia most practical language. 109TH INFANTRY Under the supervision of Chaplain Futcher, the regiment has been well supplied with pocket testaments. Over 1,600 editions of it have been distribut ed to the men of the regiment. Ac cording to Mr. D. A. Davis, who su perintended the distribution of testa ments to English speaking troops In Europe, this regiment has the world’s record in the number issued. Not only were the books distributed, but the promisary card accompany each tes tament was signed. Arrangements have been made to hav» a boxing ring erected on the stage of our open air theater. It is expect ed it will be completed in the early part of the coming weeK. A. court is undergoing con— struct'.on, and will be completed next week. It will be at the extreme right of the regiment. The Machine Gun Company will give a minstrel show and entertain ment on next Thursday evening. Thu show is under the supervision of Charles Seibold, who will be assisted by Gallagher Young and Ed Gravell who was formerly employed as pianist by Leo Feist Inc., of New Tors. A number of men of the regiment have been discharged to go back home and resume their work on government contracts of locomotives, etc. The band, under the careful super vision of Chief Musicaian Maurer is rapidly gaining popularity through their evening concerts. It is composed of only amateur musicians, almost all of whom are under 25 years of age. Lieut. Frickberg, Company A, Is rapidly whipping the non-coms of the First Battalion in shape, in physical exercises and bayonet combat. Lieu tenants Davis and Noble are instruct ing the Second and Third battalions in a like manner. The course of four illustrated lec tures on “Ben Hur” was completed last Sunday evening by Chaplain Futcher, the final lecture being entitled, “The Crusifixion.” These lectures have been beautiful ly illustrated by lantern slides and were greatly enjoyed by the officers and men of the regiment. cosy resFroom at AIKEN FOR SOLDIERS Every Saturday and Sunday hun dreds -of soldiers take the Aiken trol ley car and drop off at the towns along the way, most of them going to. Aiken, > the terminus of the trolley line. The fare is only 25 cents each way and the cars travel every half hour on Satur days and Sundays. On other days, the schedule is every hour. Many soldiers visiting Aiken have been charmed by the beauty of the place and the kindness of the citizens. Scores of men hire horses in the town and enjoy the numerous bridle paths in and .about the town. Wherever one goes, men in khaki may be seen. Aiken is the winter home of many prominent Northerners. William K. Vanderbilt, Harry Payne Whitpey, Thomas Hitchcock, Col. Anthony Ku- ' ser, Marshall Field Third, Congress man Gardner, Gouverneur Morris, Jo sef Hofman, John McCormack, Mrs. John Jacob Astor and scores of other wealthy Americans like at Aiken for three or four months during the winter and spring, and their homes are worth going to see. In addition to the natural advantages of the place, the progressive women of the Aiken Equal Suffrage Club, head ed by Mrs. J. B. Salley and Mrs. Wal ter Duncan, have established a rest room near the postoffice for the com fort and convenience of the soldiers. The men are invited most cordially to go in and sit down and on Sunday af ternoons a free lunch is provided for the men. The ladies are anxious to have the soldiers visit the rest room and will do all in their power to make it pleasant for them. Y. M. C. A. DOESN’T DANCE The secretaries at Building 79 had jnst moved their personal belongings from the little square tent, loaned by White, the Augusta physical director, to the building nearby. One of the secretaries was in his room fixing up matters, when a group of soldiers passed the corner. The windows were open and their remarks were heard plainly. One man said: “Gad, won't it be fine for the Y. M. C. A. fellows to get into their rooms.” Another one answered: “Yes, and they’ve got a fine floor for dancing.” “Go on,” said the other. “The Y. M. C. A. doesn’t stand for dancing, didn't ye know that.” It is a very simple incident, but sim ply goes to prove that the Y. M. C. A. building, by its very presence, has a moral influence on the men and points them to the higher ideals of living. SUNSHINE HAWK’S MOTTO After all There are only three things That are really worth while To be good, To do good, And always smile.