Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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X ?! V LIEUT. CARROLL SWETENBERG Tulm a iVirt' iB-flre-Stg War Both in the Argonne Forest and at Champagne?The , World in a " ? Blaze?Their Casualties Heavy?Henry Mack Vallines Divides?The -Monument r- : . at Abbeville Beats Them All. Abbeville has always had a gloriour record in war and with the coming home of our young soldiers one realizes \wth a deep and growing feeling of appriciation the great glory they have shed on their home. To hear them talk is a liberal education and it is worth many months of life to watch their animated faces and to hear their casual mention of danger and hardships and it gives a person as old as^"the writer" a feeling of awe to realize that this great war has been won by ^boys, boys whose birth we can remember and now as mere youths they have had experiences crowded into a few ; months which woilld last most of us a life time. ? ' -v' There is much talk among the newspapers of six months pay for the soldiers which would mean with i-j many, six months of idleness. Well, most of them will need six \months: v I idleness to be able to answer all the | . *" questions asked them and to make I -v. even a passing remark to the people who want to hear everything a soldter has to say. Lieut. Carroll' Swetenburg has been home for about a month and If" "-~"t . - we have been fortunate^ in getting , him to talk to us and to allow us to pass it oh to our many interested v readers. Lieut. Swetenburg is the son of Mr. and Mrs. B. R Swetenburg and - - has made his home in Abbeville for ' 1 the past nine years. He was born at Peaks, in Lexington County, twenty three years ago but Abbeville claims! him and every man, woman and, child in the county feels a pride in his fine record. ? Lieut. Swetenburg volunteered at; the first call for men, and received i 1 his training at Fort Oglethorpe,.i ^ where he received his commission asj Second Lieutenant. He was assign-j ed at once to Camp Jackson, and to-; the 171st Infantry, Company D, 1st, Battalion. It was here that the: \~.young soldier experienced his first, "horrors of war" for one morning . ' he, in company with other young of-, ficers, was called up to Headquarters: and assigned his company^ the offi-j cer remarking "this is a negro com-, pany", in a perfectly ordinary tone! of voice We are told in the Bible! that there was silence in Heaven! for the space of a half hour, well,! there was silence among these young; officers for an hour. The shock) came very near taking the pleasure out of their brand new uniforms, but this feeling soon wore off says Lieut. Swetenburg and the officers * tool? a pride and pleasure in train- j ing their men. Jkfost of the negroes' were from South Carolina, fresh | from the cotton fields sent in by the j November draft. The majority were j quick and anger to learn, were proua | of th:i: new clothes and that they, ! # j_i -1. . ?- rni? ? were a pare 01 tne Dig snow, iney trained at Camp Jackson until the | first week in April, when they sailed j for France from Newport Newsi The j trip over was without incident, save: that the first few days rough wea-, ther was encountered and officers and men alike were sick enough to wish that they were dead. After this wore off the trip was pleasant and a source of unfailing wonder to the negro troops. They landed at Brest, where they remained for nine-' teen days. They have no pleasant recollection of the place for it rain-' ed eighteen out of this nineteen days. From Brest, they made a four days trip across France to Marats le Grande, a town in the Depart merit 01 tne Marne. inis journey was "made in box cars whose capacity was forty men or eight horses. Lieut. Swetenburg is not a Congressman and had no "kick" on this, remark. r ing "What would a soldier ride in, . , but a box car." Here the Americans were brigaded with the 157th Division of the French Army and were trained by French officers, their formation bein? changed to conform to French methods. The Americans have four infantry companies in one battalion, .while the French have three companies of infantTy and one machine gun company. After training four weeks oui men were moved into the Verdun j sector. ! "Was this a quiet sector?" "I never found a quiet sector ir j all my travels. There was always I plenty going on in the way of shol ! and shell," replied the young soldier i "Here we were in the trenches foi eighty-seven daj/s. Our first reliei 1 came in eighteen days when we werf I sent back to a reserve position foi i eight days. We were supposed to b? in rest camp but we spent the timt repairing trenches and keeping up wire entanglement, which did nol give us time to rest or to worrj about what was coming to us." "When we were making preparation for the big drive our battalion went in and stayed twenty-two days without relic*". We were on outpost duty, and the troops in the rear were l-building up defenses.. We were ! close enough to hear the German i supply wagons coming up to the German line. Our artillery kept up a ! continuous fire all night long for fourteen days in the hope of destroyI ing the enemy's preparation, and i their nerve. During this fourteen j days the Germans did not fire a sinj gle shot while before it had been | shot for shot. This silence was unj canny and rather got on the Frenchmen's nerves for they thought the big attack would come in this Verdun sector, but it moved further up the line and "broke" at Soisson and Rheims, making our boys miss the German offensive. "We stayed in this sector until relieved in September with orders to, go back for that old well earned! rest all the American soldiers heard | about when they were' in France.j We won our rest after, a* all night | ride in army-trucks, after which we arrived,in a little town of about five ? ' 1 thousand inhabitants. In . a short while we were comfortably located ant}, settled down to routine drills when on the third day about three-in the afternoon orders were received that the Division would move at six-' fifteen. "How could you get ready in such1 a short time?" / "We just had to roll up our two blankets in mussett bags and put our underwear in our pockets and werwere ready for the move. We marched seven nigifcs, sleeping on the ground In the day time. We ar-| rived at our destination about nine o'clock at night and at eleven-fifty-! five, it seemed tp. us that the world went up in a blaze. This was in the Champagne sector and was the b?J grinning of the big fight. We were interested spectators that night but moved forward to the line next day. Every man carried reserve ration and two hundred rounds of ammu- j nition. Rations consists of two cans of meat ami hard tack and every man carried his own share. In the afternoon we moved out of . town to relieve the French Morac-( cans and ovr first attack was made,' - ? j at six-fortv-five or about daylieht, the following morning. We had one' day of trench fighting after which ' the fighting was in the open, Thej German's were fighting a rear guard, action with machine guns and. light artillery, to' cover the retreat of the! infantry". We were fighting the 4th j Prussian Guard. They were good, soldiers and we fought for and paid, dear for every inch of ground Wej won. I did not S6e any German run-; ning around with his hands up beg-, ging to be captured . I did not know; there could be so much noise in the world but it did not unnerve the negroes for they followed their officers steadily and played a fine part in the winning of the war. We had one officer killed and one wounded while our company casualties were I about seventy-three per cent. Our 1 battalion went in with about seven ! hundred and fifty men and came out with two hundred men.. By 'casualties' I do not mean that all these men were killed outright, the wound' ed are considered casualties too. | During this engagement the Germans sent over plenty of mustard ' gas shells. i "After a nine days fight we were | relieved and I tell you it was a grand and glorious'feeling to get back and ' get our faces washed and some clean clothes on. We were sent to a little ' town called Auve, where we rested for three days. We were entrained I " one afternoon under the impression ' that we were going to Nice- or Mar- j sailles to reorganize, but after an i i all night ride we brought ujp in the ! j Vosges Mountain. I shall never for- 3 ; get' the sound of the French guide's 1 i, voice as he walked up and down the 1 j line calling into the cars flfc Com- 1 | pany D. Our regiment went right : i' in and took over the sector known ; as Col de Botihomme, meaning "Gap of the good man." We were only a . short distance from the line of Al-|: . anr? fhinos! wore nnf no Hvolv ' as on the Verdun front. We remain- j > ed here until the armistice was sign- ' ed, that is from October 17th, till;: > November 11th. We had been hear> sace and thnigs were not as lively/ > ing all sorts of peace rumors andj: ; along with the civilian population we. < ' were living on the fourteen pojnts.h -On Sunday afternoyi, * Nov. 10th < . we understood that the Germans had J . refused to accept the armistice' < i-terms. This was a 'zero hour' for.1 ; sure^ Monday morning we were , eatmg breakfast in a *dug-out at < , about ten-forty-five, when heavy firing started all along the German ! lines. We thought there was going 1 to be a raid and two young lieuten- 1 ants went op a run up the trenches < ; to see what was the matter. In some ^ places our trenches were only twen- * ty-five yards apart and our observers f found that the grenades were falling s over the parapets and the machine J I " ? gun tire was directed at the side of 1 ! the mountain. At eleven o'clock the ' Germans sounded "taps" and came s | up over the parapet bearing a white t | flag. The war was over. The heart c j breaking times of the last four years 2 j was a thing of the past, and a great c sigh of relief went up and down the America line while the wojds, "We * ' are going home, boys," flew from 5 mouth to mouth. Ry I) m IE I W i , si < I l ^ S There i i I I Sirrinc Sn EES "-o S one's tast I able expr Kg H because t II ly found < 1 Abbe\ ifll j v.- , ; ehhhhhhhhhhh ? The Germans tried to come ovei ind be friendly but this was prohibited and we kept our same alert position, staying in the trenches readj for any emergency until the armj svas relieved. We were not sent in to the "Lost, provinces", this honoi being, reserved for the Second Mo roccan Division, v. When we were relieved we startec on a march which we supposec would take us to the Rhine and th< _ J? j* i i_ _ J army 01 occupation Dut aner a aaj vve were turned around and put ii a little town called Bruyeres, wher< we stayed until January 2nd, waiting for transportation. We had nothinj to do so everybody went to Paris We had been- out of the world foi so long that our pay had accumulat ed and we had so much money w< didn't know what to do with it. How ever, the people around Paris sooi made^us understand that w- ver( expected to spend it, and oi rnrse sve had to please the French. "How did the Germans J;ak tht :oming of peace?" "They were glad," said Lieut Swetenburg. Everybody was glad 5Ve found the German soldiers well cept, well clothed and with plentj >f good liquor and cigarettes, though vhen they started on their homeward narch some were waving the red lag of revolution. Some of them ;aid, "We were ready for war but V ... rou nave beaten us, and it is over so 'ar as 'we are concerned." The young lieutenant has much to ay of France that is interesting. In he war^ zone it is possible to * see >nly the poorest class of people and i man anywhere who owns ten acres ?f land has a plantation. They have compulsory education md every child from eighl to twelve rears must go to school. The French people were glad alJ. . . New I -, l : rnr rm Vy, of Indivl Che Indescribabl these beautiful coming to us d tative style ,cre chosen because al charm?sor or "distinctive it above the cc "hie Spr s a wonderful lot of das its. And they are so ch e and any woman's ty rtaairtn Thpv are sneci COOiVyiJ.. J. a* _ _ hey reflect individualit Dnly in much higher pri MILLINERY SUITS CAPES >HILSON rille, % ways to see the Americans for they - cleaned up their little towns vand . made things lively for a while. The r officers .usually had a me3S and hired r some French woman to cook for - them and' according to Lieut. Swfitr enbufg-a French woman can make - good soup out of a chip and that they taught the Americans to eat I carrots. Their supplies were ^ all II French and according to the negroid j' they got two meals a day, the continental breakfast^.qfwar bread and i! coffee not "being regarded by Sambo i j as a genuine meal. Dinner and sup; r per were about what any one \yould j, have, there being always plenty of # I live. , r| . Premier Clemenceau observed the -! fight on Observatory . Ridge and ; Lieut. Swetenburg got a good look - j at him as he passed b? the regii: meht. He is an'old, old man, but is ;'the idol of France. He has kept ,! the country together and prevented ! a premature peace. > j Lieut. Swetenburg says he saw no j inter-marrying of the races, but the .; poor people of France looked on the . negroes as genuine Americans, and [ he thinks they will be good Amerir cans for he feels that those who have i seen service will make law-abiding [ citizens. | The young soldier has a genuine i affection for his orderly, a young ne; gro from North Carolina who is , named Henry Mack -Vallines ar\d who was smart enough to anticipate i his wants and in the trenches the white soldier shared his blanket and i rations and the colored boy wasr genarnna otiaiic^i hio /inAf/ioo Lieut. Swet'enburg was promoted to First Lieutenant before he left Camp Jackson. After going abroad only two lieutenants were promoted. Everybody is asking the soldiers I foolish questions ^nd we- were no fipSiis&i Spring 1 )cm 4 duality and J irm.... Urn y fascinating are v M \ I frocks that are 1 if aily from authori- , \ 1 >ators. Each was K 1 ? of some individu- j ne "differentness" ; L ness," which lifts /ji )mmonplace. ing Suits h and style to these cris armingly varied, too, th pe will find suitable and ally good values and wel y, the style culture that i ced garments UNDERSILKS BLOUSES SKIRTS & HENR\ So. Ca ' r 9 -i -hazier thin the rest when we asked if he was "glad to get/home", and we felt like we knew when he told us that he had seen many "big and beautiful sights but-never anything to equal the Statute'of Liberty, un less it was the Confederate monu. ... i ment at ad be vine.~ I nave not consulted Mama but Tbelieve ahe is-as glad to see me as I am to see her."" While one of the sisters tpld at. 1 school that "Mama has cooked up a lot of fine, things for Carroll, in fact we. have to watch her to keepi her from killing the calf." ; * "1 The captain of Company D. ws&' i Thomas Moffatt, a young attorney; i of^Columbia. Capt. Moffatt iff the- ' ftalf brother .of Mrs. W. 0. Bradley,. who once lived in Abbeville and who has so many relatives and friends in the county.- Capt. Moffatt was promoted and served some time as Ma-V ! jor. * Lieut. Swetenburg's. regiment was,.cited by the Marshal of France^and- their colors decorated with the Croix. * de Guerre. The young soldier has. receive'd his decoration since coming home and among his trearares is the farewell address of their-' French commander whose high fcutuae ja cAprwsaeu in a-manner wor? thy of one of Napoleon's greatest- v Marshall: Headquarters 371st Jnfantry, Dec. 10, 1918. 157th Division, General Staff, Headquarters, 19th Dec. 1918.'' * Officers, non-commissioned, officers,. w ** TV. * sappers, soldiers, gunners,, and * cavalry men of the 157th Division: - The MarshaH of France, t com- -, mander in Chief of the Fren5l JU*&y, : has ordered the dissolution ocf iy our Division, on the date of ,fche"20th of December, 1918.. It w therefore thfr ~i last firewell I address to ,ycro this- (Continued on Page 8;) r - I r'vt: "* ; .. - ' \t*< ' ' ? ?.*: -'" "K' > v * jp, new / at any- - . - . ? fashion- fc, 1 chosen S | is usual- g| 8 rolina I II ^11 i