IRISH REGIMENT SAVES THE DAY.

New Zealand Tablet, 15 May 1919, Page 28

IRISH REGIMENT SAVES THE DAY.

The New York World writes as follows of the 69th Regiment of New t York, (Irish), forming part of the Rainbow” .Division. of the U.S. Army: c ; Down at Camp Mills were a number of old Rainbow men who welcomed with cheers the place where they got their intensive training. Because ,of the quarantine regulations they were not able to talk to relatives and friends, but all were buoyantly cheerful. he spirit of all was put in the ecstatic words of one: “Wo can close our eyes and see a big strip of h , but this is sure a little bit of heaven!” A combined impression gained by those who were permitted to talk to the returning warriors on the boat emphasised the realisation that the “fighting Irish” of New York’s Old ,69th are the feted heroes of Trance. No matter where they swept into battle, .whether brigaded, with Hie British or French, or fighting as a 100 per cent. A met unit, no matter what the odds against them, they always gave the Germans more than they could handle. Almost single-handed, eye-witnesses said, they saved the day at the Battle of Champagne. They fought in the Argonne and elsewhere. Always the scene of their bravery was carpeted with German dead. .1 heir own losses were appalling, one non-commissioned officer placing the casualties, hilled, wounded, and missing, at 2000. Private Ray Davis, of Chicago, attached to the famous 149th Artillery, told how the French christened the 69th the “Green Devils.” He explained: “We furnished the artillery support for the 69th. You folks have heard a lot of this bunch of New York Irish. But 1 was there—in the Champagne—and I tell you the Light Brigade had only a skirmish in comparison with their task ! The Bodies were sweeping forward, and it seemed impossible to stop them. The French Blue Devils were fighting in the line. They retreated —no disgrace to them—and said to the Irish, ‘Come on. Ton can’t stop them.’ The 69th replied, ‘To with the Germans; follow us!’ “They stayed right there, and with the aid of our artillery, held, and then swept' back the German hordes. The 69th was cut up, but they exacted terrible cost. In front of their positions one could see nothing but dead and dying men in the grey-green Hun uniform.” Corporal Walsh said he was standing near “Jim” McKenna, beloved major in the 69th, when the latter cried, “Oh, my God!” and collapsed. When Walsh cached him he was dead, a victim to shell-shock. Father Duffy, the famous regimental chaplain, was wounded slightly in the Argonne campaign. Walsh said ho is recuperating in a base hospital in Bordeaux.