Deeds of heroism and bravery

Fred Holmes, corporal in the Yorkshire Light Infantry, was awarded France’s chief military decoration, the _Médaille Militaire_, for gallantry during the fight on the Aisne. The official account of the exploit is quite brief: Holmes saw a platoon of French struggling against heavy odds, whereupon he dashed over the river for a machine gun, carried it to the platoon, and turned it on the enemy, with such effect that the German pressure was immediately relieved. However, when Corporal Holmes’ name is mentioned men usually think of the thrilling record at Le Cateau which brought him the V.C.

One of the most spectacular of the valorous deeds in the Champagne engagement was the single-handed performance of Corporal Fred D. Hubbell, a Marine, from Toledo, Ohio. He captured and brought in for delivery nine German officers and twenty-two privates as the result of a morning’s pastime. It was during the attack on Blanc Mont, and in some way Hubbell got separated from his company, and in casting about to recover ground he saw the head of a German soldier pop from a dugout entrance and promptly duck down again. Hubbell felt a keen interest and determined to explore. But let him tell his own story, as he did in an interview reproduced by the _Marine’s Magazine_.

But there were numerous single-handed exploits in that thrilling Champagne campaign, and among them are the following instances of the courage and initiative that characterized the American boys on the front.

Seeger was under fire in a series of engagements without suffering hurt, but he seems to have foreboded the end that came in the Champagne campaign. He was a fatalist as well as a dreamer—and there are those who believe that we bring to ourselves the fruit of our thoughts.

The delay occasioned by the French-American resistance at Château-Thierry gave time for the organization of the defensive strategy which culminated in the battle of Belleau Wood. It is interesting to know in connection with Château-Thierry that the Americans entered under the direction of the French. General Catlin says apropos of the Belleau Wood preparation:

“The situation was acute; there seemed to be no alternative. General Harbord was given free rein, and in that moment we passed out from our French tutelage and acted as an American army fighting side by side with our hard-pressed Allies. The battle of Belleau Wood was fought by American troops, under American officers, supported by American guns, in a typically American manner. And the battle was won.”

The capture of Vaux, situated on the Château-Thierry-Paris highway, marked the beginning of the check to the Germans in their drive to the Marne in 1918. One of the big guns which fired on Paris was situated near here.]

“That ammunition truck saved the day at Bouresches, for after it got in, Zane’s men proceeded to clean up the town. At 11 o’clock that night the report was sent in to headquarters to the effect that the Germans had been driven out of Bouresches. At 2:30 a.m. they made an attempt to get in again, but the counter-attack was smothered by our machine gun fire.