FOURTH INFANTRY
IS COLORFUL UNIT
* - - *
(Continued from Page Eight)
of unloading ships and putting
up Quonset and Pacific huts, the
greater part of their time being
devoted to work details. They gnt
their share of training, however,
in the Eklutna and Campbell
bake areas near Fort Richardson.
The battalion was also assigned
to the defense of certain military
installations in the area and kep'.
spall detachments at those
points.
I Has Great History
HEADQUARTERS, ALASKAN
DEPARTMENT — Fourth Infan
trymen will tell you that there
is something that sets a member
of the regiment apart from other
soldiers. Perhaps this can be at
tributed to the regiment’s great
history and traditions.
The regiment was organized
141 years ago as the Infantry of
the Fourth Sub-Legion, and ha=
figured prominently in every
war in which the United States
has been involved with the ex
ception of one, the Revolutionary
War.
Out of its ranks have come
some of the most renowned mili
tary figures and statesmen in
American history. There were
Zachary Taylor and Ulysses S.
Grant, presidents of the United
States. Then there w’ere Phillip
, H. Sheridan and George Cook,
famous for their part in the Civil
War, and George Wright, who
gained fame during the Indian
wars in the West, and for whom
Fort George Wright, Wash., w^as
named. There were many others.
The Fourth Infantry, in 1B99.
became the first U. S. Army unit
to cross the Atlantic ocean, ex
cept for a small detachment of
artillery serving with the navy
during the Algerian war. The
Phillipine insurrection had reach
ed serious proportions, and the
regiment sailed aboard the trans
port Grant from Brooklyn tr
Manila, by way of the Suez Ca
nal.
Wearing of a red breast cord
for members of the regiment’s
band was authorized after an in
cident in the Mexican war. Dur
ing the battle of Monterey, p '
184€, members of the band threw
aside their instruments and join
ed in the battle. They captured a
Mexican field battery and turned
the guns on the fleeing enemy.
The red breast cord was author
ized to show that they were good
artillerymen as well as infantry
men.
When the regiment was organ
ized the young nation was ba<et
by marauding bands of Indians
on its expanding frontiers. Even
a complete summary of the
Fourth’s history would require a
volume, but here are a few of
the highlights:
In 1817 the regiment, as part
of a force under General Andrew
Jackson, marched on the inde
pendent, Spanish-controlled town
of Pensacola, Fla. It was claim- ,
cd that Spanish citizens and of
ficials of the town were abetting
the Seminole Indians in their:
war against the Americans. After
a short but fierce campaign, the
town was taken and many Indian i
villages were destroyed.
The regiment played an active i
role in the campaign of 1841-42,
in which the Seminole wars
were ended with the capture of
the Indian chief Halleck Tuste
muggee and occupation of his
i most important village which
housed most of his stores of food
and supplies.
During t.ie Indian wars, one
party of 100 rr.en of the Fourth,
under command cf Major Fran
cis L. Dade, was massacred when
it was sent or. an expedition to
relieve the army garrison at Fort
King, cut off by roaming band
of Indians. The entire force die
except for three privates who,
although severely wounded,
reached Fort Brooks. Fla., to r
port the massacre.
Five officers cf the Fourth, o
southern birth and sympathies,
resigned their commissions at the •
outbreak of the Civil war and
joined the Confederate army.
In the thick of the f.ghtir.g a‘
many of the major battles of the
Civil war, the regiment suffered
heavy casualties, and in June,
18ft4. with but three officers and
143 enlisted rr.en remaining, this
gallant organization was selected
by Genera) Grant, as a token of
appreciation fer its services, as i
guard for his headquarters.
Fever and disease swept the
regiment after the close of the
Spanish-American war, which
left the men of the Fourth weak
from exposure, lack of nourish
ment and fatigue.
In one engagement during the
Phillipine Insurecticn. the In
surgents, with artillery pieces
and about 5,000 men, attacked
the Fourth’s position at Imus.
After a seven-hour battle, only i
three men of the regiment had !
been wounded, and thope bu‘ 1
slightly, while the Insurgents had
lost 221 killed and over 400 ■
wounded. The regiment later
was at Cavite, Manila Bay.
The German army was at its
crest and the Allies were stagger- .
ing under its blows in World
War I. when racist of the regi
ment disembarked from the
transport ship Great Northern
at historic Brest, France.
The regiment parttevpated in
the ‘defensive actions; of Aisr.e
. . . Say It With i
More WAR '
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KEITH HEDREEN
SF
Chateau-Thierry and Cnampaigr
Marne, and in the Aisne-Marr*
St. Mihiel and Meuse -Argome
offensives. The entire regimert
was decorated with the Fretier
! Croix de Guerre.
Having lost approximately fcO
per cent of its men, under cor -
stant and gruelling fire during
30 days on the line, the regiment
was relieved by the 60th Infer
! try. After a rest during which
the organization received 600 re -
placements, it was marched to a
position in the Forest de Bee$e,
I and on Nov. 9, 1918, received or
I deTs to be ready to move at a rr.o
; ment’s notice.
The men knew they were to
take part in the final drive to
' encircle Metz, in the event tire
Germans did not accept terms of
l the proposed armistice. which
had been tendered the Germans.
Preparations were being ma'Je
for tire departure on the morning
of Nov. 11, when the end of the
war was heralded by French
villagers’ shouts of “Vive la
France, Vive la Amerique. Vive
les Allies! Fini la guerre-”
The Fourth served as part of
the ' Army of Occupation after
the end of the war.
PRIVATE IS INTERPRETER
FOR CHINESE ACE
BELFAST, Northern Ireland—
(AP)—When Major M. T. Tung
of the Chinese Air Force arrived
in Northern Ireland, unable to!
speak English, U. S. army offi-1
cers figured it would be tough !
finding an interpreter for him.
But they reckoned without Pvt.
Walter B. Smith of Evanston, 111.
Smith, a former newspaperman
at Chicago, bad spent 15 years in
China and speaks Chinese fluent
ly. He at once became the con
stant companion of Ace Pilot
Tung, who has shot down 10 Jap
anese planes and has twice been
decorated by Geralissimo Chiang
Kai-shek for galjtetry.
RUSTY DOW, feminine I'uck
driver for Army Engineer* «t
Alaska Defence Command
Headquarter*} can drive any
type truck that need* driving.
—(V. s. Army Enp'.netr* Pfcoto.)
PRICE CEILINGS
DATE BACK TO 1785
UNION, S. C. — (AP)—Ceiling
prices are not new to Union coun
ty. not by 158 years.
Courthouse records show that
in 1785 the county justices slap- I
ped a top on prices of hard liq
uors, meals at inns and proven
der for horses.
BADMINTON—
ALBUTIANS STYLE
A DAK, Aleut ion as —(AP)—A
sergeant trudged over a hill at
Aittu carrying two rifles and bad
minton rackets. He and a friend,
ije said, had a game scheduled
and he carried the rifles because
“there > ght still be i Jap or two
around and vve don’t want to be
interrupted.”
NOBODY HERE
BUT US SMITHS
ALTUS, Okla. —(AP)— They
do things alphabetically at the
Altus army flying school, assign
ing to each instructor five cadets
whose names begin with the same
letter as his own.
Chen instructor Jimmy H.
Smith stepped out one morning
recently to call the roll of his
harges, it went like this—Lyn
wood C. Smith, Donald J. Smith,
Andrew L. Smith, Lloyd Smith,
Howard G. Smith.
Impressed. Lieutenant Smith
called over Lieut. Anne M.
Smith, the field’s first WAC ar
rival, and the whole lot of them
had their picture taken with the
group's training plane, “The Vil
lage Smithy.”
The pnotographer was Tech.
Sgt. James R. Smith.
SISTERS IN SERVICE
FORT OGLETHORPE, Ga. —
(AP)—Trust the Irish to be in
the thick of the battle wherever
they may live.
Private Claire Farrelly of New
York, a native of Dublin, is see
ing service at the Third WAC
Training Center here, while a
sister, Aileen Farrelly of Dublin,
is a nurse with the British North
African forces. Two other sisters
are nurses in Manchester, Eng
land.
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