Leslie Albert McPike,  

Co C, 8^th Machine Gun BN

Lawrence County, Indiana

Distinguished Service Cross: 

Bois-de-Foret, France: "Having been sent with his section to defend a difficult position, Sergeant McPike succeeded in breaking up a hostile counterattack, though his ammunition was exhausted in so doing.  Shortly afterward, when another counterattack was made against him, he and his men held off the enemy with their pistols, though at one time the Germans had closed in from three sides.  Their courageous stand checked the enemy until fresh ammunition could be brought up, whereupon the hostile attack was completely repulsed."  Nantes, France: ...Sergeant McPike maneuvered his guns so successfully that he lost neither man or guns, though his original positions and the surrounding fortifications were completely destroyed..."

William Klamm, Marine Corps

Lake County, Indiana  

Silver Star:

"...though wounded and with a practically disabled automatic rifle, continued to keep his piece in action and refused the aid of his comrades in order that he might fulfill his duty."

Ernest Franklin Hess, USMC, Gunner,

Ripley County, Indiana

Wounded at Belleau Wood. Struck in the left thigh, both arms and left eye.  Hospitalized for five weeks to recover and fitted with a glass eye.

Came over in a Hospital ship in a Casual Co.  We sent on arrival to the Naval Hospital at Portsmouth, Virginia for two months.  Was sent to the Marine Barracks at Norfolk Va. for one month.

Served as a gunner on an outpost when wounded at Belleau Wood, June 23, 1918.
Service in the trenches at Verdun consisted of raiding, extending excavations of trenches, and building roads. Was under constant shellfire and subject to gas attacks almost every night.

“Had only a week’s rest after the Verdun trenches until sent to Chateau-Thierry. Advanced eight days in this attack, doing hand to hand fighting with nets, rifles and machine-guns. (French ‘sho-sho’ guns). Marched back for rest when relieved by 7th Infantry. A barrage was put over the first night after this relief. The 7th Infantry fell back, the Germans rushed in and retook all the Marines had gained in the eight days. “The 6th Marines were sent immediately to relieve the 7th and went again into a battle about 8 or 9 AM, June 2, 1918.  They succeeded in retaking Belleau Wood, advancing four kilometers. They continued the advance for twenty-odd days until the entire wood was taken and held.

“Private Hess carried a wounded Lieutenant from a hill in Belleau Wood to a First Aid station in a ravine.  The Lieutenant was then carried by the First Aid men to a Field Hospital.   Both of these men received medals for this action.  Orders to all marines were to drag wounded out of further danger, so this action was in the line of duty.  Nearly all soldiers served their comrades in this way.”

Victor Keenan Baughman, 5th reg., USMC,

K. I. A.

Grant County, Indiana

Wounded by shrapnel October 4, carried to field hospital #15 and died October 6, 1918, Battle of Blanc Mont Ridge.

General Gouroud, in proposing the citation of the 2nd Div.

‘On October 3, this Div. drove forward and seized in a single assault the strongly entrenched German positions between Blanc Mont and Medeah Farm making in the course of the whole day, an advance of about 6 km.

It captured several thousand prisoners – This attack resulted in the evacuation by the enemy of his positions on both sides of the river Suippe.

In this fight, and in the week of advancement following, the casualties amounted to 95 officers and 2,369 men in the 4th Brigade of the Marines alone, of whom only 31 men were reported missing.

Victor K. Baughman was the son of John A. and Ella McNair Baughman and was born in Marion, Indiana.

The following is a letter received from the soldier who buried him.
Bendorf, Germany, March 5, 1919:

Dear Sister; Since receiving your letter of February 5, asking me to try and give further particulars of the death of Victor K. Baughman, I have made mental and clerical research with good results.

If I told you that I secured the little manual from a boy in the Argonne, I was mixed up. Here is the way I secured it. I was on burial detail.  On bearing a body, the pockets were emptied of money and valuables and these were sent home. When we buried this lad, instead of leaving the minor trinkets and papers in his pockets, as usual, I took the little book as a souvenir.

Victor K. Vollman, serial # 42604357, Private, 51st Co., 5th Marines, wounded by shrapnel in the left knee and abdomen, at the Battle of Blanc Mont Ridge, October 3-4, carried from field to Field Hospital #15, where he died on the sixth of October, 1918.  Buried in grave #97, in the little cemetery we started near Suippes, (near Chalons).

I helped bury him.  He was buried in a blanket and his uniform worn when wounded.  Service was read by a chaplain and taps blown.  We buried five others at the same time.  The Blanc Mont Ridge Battle remains a highwater mark in the history of American valor.  The French foreign Legion failed to take it; the 2nd Div. did not fail.

Suippes is situated out from Chalons. 

Jack Holdcraft