THE BOYS OF WHITMAN COUNTY
William Norris Born September 21, 1891: son of Mr. and Mrs. E.M. Norris; entered the service from Farmington at Spokane September 22, 1917; rank Corporal; branch of service, Infantry; Ist Division; 18th regiment; C Company; Trained at Camp Lewis and Camp Mills; sailed overseas December 12, 1917; returned September 3rd 1919; engagements, Soissons; wounded and taken prisoner; discharged September 30 1919.
EXPERIENCES IN CAMP AND TRENCH
SGT. G.W.NORRIS IN GERMAN PRISON CAMP Severely Wounded on Battle Field and Captured By Enemy - Mourned as Dead by Relatives. Sgt. George W. Norris, son of Mr. and Mrs. E. M. Norris of Seltice, six miles south of Tekoa, is probably the only service man of Whitman county who was an inmate of a German prison camp. Of his experiences the Tekoa Blade said; "Sgt. Norris was a member of Co. C, 18th Infantry, of the famous 1st Division, General Pershings' own, as it is sometimes called, and said to be the hero division of the American expeditionary forces. Sgt. Norris spent only six weeks in the trenches, and but four days in the front line before he received a machine gun bullet through the neck, and was unable to fall back with his companions. When he struggled to his feet he saw a large number of German guns staring him in the face. One fellow shoved the barrel of his rifle against the wounded man's breast and was about to discharge it when a lieutenant stopped him. Sergeant Norris says that he had arrived at the point where he didn't care whether the fellow shot or not, for he couldn't hurt him any worse. He surrendered his gun and was carried through the woods to a first aid station, then transferred to a field hospital, and switched about to four or five different hospitals until he fell under the care of an old German doctor who treated him well and succeeded in healing the ugly wound. "His company was sent over the top in the Soissons offensive on July I5. 1918, with Sgt. Norris in the first wave. On the fourth day he received his wound after undergoing hardships difficult to describe. They crouched in a wheat field where the straws were clipped off with bullets as though a scythe had mowed them down. He saw two companions struck by a high explosive shell, or rather saw them before they were struck, and never again saw a piece of them large enough to tell what it was. "After he had convalesced from his wound and was transferred to a German prison, he spent four months and nine days there with nothing to eat but soup. He says the Germans had no better food than the prisoners. He was made to work, but the labor was light and he received six cents per day for it. On Saturday night he had enough saved to buy a cabbage head, and a veritable feast followed. He saw many prisoners die around him, and heard his comrades bargain for the clothes and shoes of a fellow prisoner in the death throes. The hardships of prison life were horrible, but he does not blame the Germans entirely, for they fared but little better. "While confined in the German prison he was reported to the folks at home as among the missing, and for months was mourned as dead, until word finally came that he was a prisoner. He has been decorated for bravery by both the French and the American governments. After the armistice Sgt. Norris was returned to his division and spent several months with the army of occupation, coming home with General Pershing and marching 132 blocks in the big parade at Washington, D. C."
William Norris Born September 21, 1891: son of Mr. and Mrs. E.M. Norris; entered the service from Farmington at Spokane September 22, 1917; rank Corporal; branch of service, Infantry; Ist Division; 18th regiment; C Company; Trained at Camp Lewis and Camp Mills; sailed overseas December 12, 1917; returned September 3rd 1919; engagements, Soissons; wounded and taken prisoner; discharged September 30 1919.
EXPERIENCES IN CAMP AND TRENCH
SGT. G.W.NORRIS IN GERMAN PRISON CAMP Severely Wounded on Battle Field and Captured By Enemy - Mourned as Dead by Relatives. Sgt. George W. Norris, son of Mr. and Mrs. E. M. Norris of Seltice, six miles south of Tekoa, is probably the only service man of Whitman county who was an inmate of a German prison camp. Of his experiences the Tekoa Blade said; "Sgt. Norris was a member of Co. C, 18th Infantry, of the famous 1st Division, General Pershings' own, as it is sometimes called, and said to be the hero division of the American expeditionary forces. Sgt. Norris spent only six weeks in the trenches, and but four days in the front line before he received a machine gun bullet through the neck, and was unable to fall back with his companions. When he struggled to his feet he saw a large number of German guns staring him in the face. One fellow shoved the barrel of his rifle against the wounded man's breast and was about to discharge it when a lieutenant stopped him. Sergeant Norris says that he had arrived at the point where he didn't care whether the fellow shot or not, for he couldn't hurt him any worse. He surrendered his gun and was carried through the woods to a first aid station, then transferred to a field hospital, and switched about to four or five different hospitals until he fell under the care of an old German doctor who treated him well and succeeded in healing the ugly wound. "His company was sent over the top in the Soissons offensive on July I5. 1918, with Sgt. Norris in the first wave. On the fourth day he received his wound after undergoing hardships difficult to describe. They crouched in a wheat field where the straws were clipped off with bullets as though a scythe had mowed them down. He saw two companions struck by a high explosive shell, or rather saw them before they were struck, and never again saw a piece of them large enough to tell what it was. "After he had convalesced from his wound and was transferred to a German prison, he spent four months and nine days there with nothing to eat but soup. He says the Germans had no better food than the prisoners. He was made to work, but the labor was light and he received six cents per day for it. On Saturday night he had enough saved to buy a cabbage head, and a veritable feast followed. He saw many prisoners die around him, and heard his comrades bargain for the clothes and shoes of a fellow prisoner in the death throes. The hardships of prison life were horrible, but he does not blame the Germans entirely, for they fared but little better. "While confined in the German prison he was reported to the folks at home as among the missing, and for months was mourned as dead, until word finally came that he was a prisoner. He has been decorated for bravery by both the French and the American governments. After the armistice Sgt. Norris was returned to his division and spent several months with the army of occupation, coming home with General Pershing and marching 132 blocks in the big parade at Washington, D. C."
THE BOYS OF WHITMAN COUNTY
William Norris Born September 21, 1891: son of Mr. and Mrs. E.M. Norris; entered the service from Farmington at Spokane September 22, 1917; rank Corporal; branch of service, Infantry; Ist Division; 18th regiment; C Company; Trained at Camp Lewis and Camp Mills; sailed overseas December 12, 1917; returned September 3rd 1919; engagements, Soissons; wounded and taken prisoner; discharged September 30 1919.
EXPERIENCES IN CAMP AND TRENCH
SGT. G.W.NORRIS IN GERMAN PRISON CAMP Severely Wounded on Battle Field and Captured By Enemy - Mourned as Dead by Relatives. Sgt. George W. Norris, son of Mr. and Mrs. E. M. Norris of Seltice, six miles south of Tekoa, is probably the only service man of Whitman county who was an inmate of a German prison camp. Of his experiences the Tekoa Blade said; "Sgt. Norris was a member of Co. C, 18th Infantry, of the famous 1st Division, General Pershings' own, as it is sometimes called, and said to be the hero division of the American expeditionary forces. Sgt. Norris spent only six weeks in the trenches, and but four days in the front line before he received a machine gun bullet through the neck, and was unable to fall back with his companions. When he struggled to his feet he saw a large number of German guns staring him in the face. One fellow shoved the barrel of his rifle against the wounded man's breast and was about to discharge it when a lieutenant stopped him. Sergeant Norris says that he had arrived at the point where he didn't care whether the fellow shot or not, for he couldn't hurt him any worse. He surrendered his gun and was carried through the woods to a first aid station, then transferred to a field hospital, and switched about to four or five different hospitals until he fell under the care of an old German doctor who treated him well and succeeded in healing the ugly wound. "His company was sent over the top in the Soissons offensive on July I5. 1918, with Sgt. Norris in the first wave. On the fourth day he received his wound after undergoing hardships difficult to describe. They crouched in a wheat field where the straws were clipped off with bullets as though a scythe had mowed them down. He saw two companions struck by a high explosive shell, or rather saw them before they were struck, and never again saw a piece of them large enough to tell what it was. "After he had convalesced from his wound and was transferred to a German prison, he spent four months and nine days there with nothing to eat but soup. He says the Germans had no better food than the prisoners. He was made to work, but the labor was light and he received six cents per day for it. On Saturday night he had enough saved to buy a cabbage head, and a veritable feast followed. He saw many prisoners die around him, and heard his comrades bargain for the clothes and shoes of a fellow prisoner in the death throes. The hardships of prison life were horrible, but he does not blame the Germans entirely, for they fared but little better. "While confined in the German prison he was reported to the folks at home as among the missing, and for months was mourned as dead, until word finally came that he was a prisoner. He has been decorated for bravery by both the French and the American governments. After the armistice Sgt. Norris was returned to his division and spent several months with the army of occupation, coming home with General Pershing and marching 132 blocks in the big parade at Washington, D. C."
William Norris Born September 21, 1891: son of Mr. and Mrs. E.M. Norris; entered the service from Farmington at Spokane September 22, 1917; rank Corporal; branch of service, Infantry; Ist Division; 18th regiment; C Company; Trained at Camp Lewis and Camp Mills; sailed overseas December 12, 1917; returned September 3rd 1919; engagements, Soissons; wounded and taken prisoner; discharged September 30 1919.
EXPERIENCES IN CAMP AND TRENCH
SGT. G.W.NORRIS IN GERMAN PRISON CAMP Severely Wounded on Battle Field and Captured By Enemy - Mourned as Dead by Relatives. Sgt. George W. Norris, son of Mr. and Mrs. E. M. Norris of Seltice, six miles south of Tekoa, is probably the only service man of Whitman county who was an inmate of a German prison camp. Of his experiences the Tekoa Blade said; "Sgt. Norris was a member of Co. C, 18th Infantry, of the famous 1st Division, General Pershings' own, as it is sometimes called, and said to be the hero division of the American expeditionary forces. Sgt. Norris spent only six weeks in the trenches, and but four days in the front line before he received a machine gun bullet through the neck, and was unable to fall back with his companions. When he struggled to his feet he saw a large number of German guns staring him in the face. One fellow shoved the barrel of his rifle against the wounded man's breast and was about to discharge it when a lieutenant stopped him. Sergeant Norris says that he had arrived at the point where he didn't care whether the fellow shot or not, for he couldn't hurt him any worse. He surrendered his gun and was carried through the woods to a first aid station, then transferred to a field hospital, and switched about to four or five different hospitals until he fell under the care of an old German doctor who treated him well and succeeded in healing the ugly wound. "His company was sent over the top in the Soissons offensive on July I5. 1918, with Sgt. Norris in the first wave. On the fourth day he received his wound after undergoing hardships difficult to describe. They crouched in a wheat field where the straws were clipped off with bullets as though a scythe had mowed them down. He saw two companions struck by a high explosive shell, or rather saw them before they were struck, and never again saw a piece of them large enough to tell what it was. "After he had convalesced from his wound and was transferred to a German prison, he spent four months and nine days there with nothing to eat but soup. He says the Germans had no better food than the prisoners. He was made to work, but the labor was light and he received six cents per day for it. On Saturday night he had enough saved to buy a cabbage head, and a veritable feast followed. He saw many prisoners die around him, and heard his comrades bargain for the clothes and shoes of a fellow prisoner in the death throes. The hardships of prison life were horrible, but he does not blame the Germans entirely, for they fared but little better. "While confined in the German prison he was reported to the folks at home as among the missing, and for months was mourned as dead, until word finally came that he was a prisoner. He has been decorated for bravery by both the French and the American governments. After the armistice Sgt. Norris was returned to his division and spent several months with the army of occupation, coming home with General Pershing and marching 132 blocks in the big parade at Washington, D. C."
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