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the company for duty.  They were given permission to do so and worked their way forward to the
bereft organization under intense fire, and so persistently that each was cited in division orders. 
The conduct of Sergeant Moreland, who conducted A company until those two officers
reported, was an example of the efficiency of the early training of the regiment and of the
splendid courage which that young man possessed.  Not only did he continue to advance with his
company,  but he organized and repelled a counter attack at one stage of the fight.  The success
of this was aided in no small measure by the bravery of Sergeants Ed Queen, William N. Britten
and Weaver Shafner and Privates Edward W. Wright and Earl Fulfer.  These men were out in
front of the company when it was counter attacked and they took up the challenge with gusto. 
Sergeant Shafner and Private Wright paid with their lives and Private Fulfer was wounded,
although not before he had killed a German machine gunner with his bayonet as that foe knelt
firing while two of his team stood by the side of the gun with upraised hands, crying “Kamerad”
at the top of their voices.  By their exceptional work at such close quarters these men broke the
weight of the counter assault. 
With the first lines established well in front of the objective the attention of all the men
who could be spared from the defense that night centered on aiding the wounded.  First aid work
went on all night, and in this all the men from battalion headquarters joined.  The work of Private
Kenneth Watts of Company B and Private Arthur E. Joiner of Company A, battalion runners,
may rightly be called examples of the missions of mercy carried on silently that night.  Private
Joiner started from battalion headquarters with a message and was severely wounded, but he
crawled forward and called until he attracted the attention of another runner, who delivered the
message.  Private Watts, after he had carried his message, heard of the plight of Joiner and
searched until he found him, and carried him to safety. 
And first battalion headquarters furnished still another example of exceptional fidelity to
duty that day.  Lieutenants G. A. Shuman and G. D. Wright of C company became casualties at
almost the same time, leaving that organization without an officer.  When this report reached
battalion headquarters Sergeant Major Luther M. Oakley, who at one time had been a sergeant in
the company, begged permission to return to his comrades in the front line.  This granted, he
reported immediately and assumed command of the company until Lieutenant G. H. Whipple
reported the following day.  Lieutenant Whipple remained in charge until November 4, when
Captain Andrew J. Carr was transferred to the command.  Captain Carr led C company through
the remaining days of the war, and into Belgium.
 
The advance of the third battalion was equally successful, despite strong obstacles thrown
in its course.  Companies I and K were put in the front wave again and men from company I kept
abreast of the first battalion throughout, although reduced to fifty men. 
At one stage of the fight Captain Curtis of I company spotted a party of Germans and
personally led the remnants of his company in a bayonet charge, which effectually broke up the
enemy.  Lieutenant Gerald Gunst, of the same company, volunteered to carry a message from
battalion to regimental headquarters, although wounded at the time, and successfully
accomplished this important mission. 
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