ne, six miles
northwest of Laon. He led a platoon of men against a nest of machine
guns, taking four guns and eighteen prisoners, not to speak of leaving
behind a number of Germans who were not in a condition to be taken
prisoner.

Many of the officers of the regiment were wounded. The escape of many
from death, considering the continuous fighting and unusual perils
through which they passed, was miraculous. The only officer who made the
supreme sacrifice was Lieutenant George L. Giles of 3833 Calumet Avenue,
Chicago. He was the victim of a direct hit by a shell at Grandlut on
November 1 while he was heroically getting his men into shelter. Lieut.
Giles was very popular with the men and with his brother officers. He
was popular among the members of the race section in which he lived in
Chicago, and was regarded as a young man of great promise.

One of the engagements of the first battalion that received more than
honorable mention was on the morning of November 6th, when the battalion
crossed the Hindenburg line and after extremely hard fighting captured
on St. Pierre Mont, three 77 guns and two machine guns. Captain James H.
Smith of 3267 Vernon Avenue, Chicago, commanded the company, and
Lieutenant Samuel S. Gordon of 3842 Prairie Avenue, Chicago, the assault
forces making the capture. The battalion continued across the Serre
river and when the armistice was signed was at a small place in Belgium.

Several of the officers passed through practically all of the fighting
with hardly a scratch, only to be taken ill at the finish and invalided
home. These men would have been greatly disappointed had the war
continued after they were put out of action. Conspicuous among them was
Lieutenant Robert A. Ward of 3728 South Wabash Avenue, Chicago, of the
Trench Mortar platoon; Lieutenant Benjamin A. Browning of 4438 Prairie
Avenue, Chicago, and Lieutenant Joseph R. Wheeler, 3013 Prairie Avenue,
Chicago.

Major Rufus Stokes led the first battalion on the initial raid at
Vauquois. They fired 300 shells from six trench mortars and scored a
notable success. In that raid Private William Morris of Chicago, the
only man in the regiment who was captured by the Germans, was taken. He
was reported missing at the time, but weeks later his picture was found
among a group of prisoners portrayed in a German illustrated newspaper
found in a captured dugout.

Three men were killed and a large number of others had a miraculous
escape while