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April 23, 1918 - Don Martin learns of misunderstanding on his accreditation, and reports a heroic war story

Don Martin diary entry for Tuesday, April 23, 1918: 
Went to Epinal, Baccarat and Nancy. Got nothing much. At Baccarat saw the 69th New York regiment (now the 165th) starting for the trenches. Gregg and Adams and a lieutenant were in my car. Got back at 7. Met [Henri] Bazin who had just come from Paris. Spent part of the evening at the club with Gregg. Got a letter from the Commodore saying he had cabled Ohl to have me accredited, and to go wherever I thought the news might be. The Commodore’s signature doesn’t indicate that he is nearing death as some reports have had it.

Weather miserable.
        On April 23 Don Martin got some news about the progress in his accreditation in a  short letter from James Gordon Bennett, written on April 20 from his Villa Namouna in Beaulieu, Alpes Maritimes, France.

          Dear Mr. Martin,
          Through a misunderstanding, application for you to be accredited to the American Expeditionary Forces was made to General Pershing, instead of having been made to Washington. Colonel Nolan has written me on the matter, and I have cabled to Mr. Ohl [head of Herald New York office] to take the necessary steps immediately in Washington. I hope everything will be definitively settled very soon so that you may be quite free to direct your movements as may seem best for the Herald’s interests. The essential detail is that you be on hand wherever good news may be obtainable...
          Yours truly,
                   J.G. Bennett          
       Don Martin reports on and cables a heroic, human interest story, dated Tuesday, April 23 and published in the New York Herald  on Wednesday, April 24, 1918.
GERMAN WITH IRISH REGIMENT WINS CROIX DE GUERRE FOR SAVING PAL AND SEVERED LEG
Soldier of Teutonic Extraction Carries Wounded Comrade and Lost Limb Back of Lines—Hun Bullet Aimed at Both Hits Leg Under Rescuer’s Arm
By DON MARTIN
[Special cable to the Herald]
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY IN FRANCE, Tuesday
              The Croix de Guerre has been recommended to a private of German extraction who is a member of a regiment composed largely of Irish-Americans. It is one of the best stories of the war. The German and an Irishman, who are pals, were on a small raiding excursion when a shell struck the Irishman, tearing off one leg at the knee. The German private make a tourniquet, threw the wounded pal on his shoulder, put the severed leg under his arm and walked three hundred yards with machine gun bullets spattering everywhere. Depositing his unconscious pal at the dressing station, he said:--
             “Here’s his leg. I thought maybe you could do something with it at the station.”
             Later the German private saw his pal in the hospital and said:--
           “I did everything I could to save your leg for you, Bill. The Boche were after it, for a bullet hit it while I had it under my arm, so maybe your leg saved my life.”

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