When the Great War ended, Augusta had done its part

Nov. 11--When World War I broke out in Europe, Augusta's best and brightest answered the call.

Some were wealthy, like Pendleton King, who would survive the battles but die of illness months after he returned.

Some were not so fortunate, like Marvin Wright, a Catholic technical student who was still a teenager when he became the first local soldier to die in action on a French battlefield.

Some were black, like Milton Parker, who left his job as a driver for a prominent local doctor to join the Army and give his life fighting for his country.

And some were realistic, like Maj. Tom Barrett, who would tell how his fellow Augustans marched into battle with "a yell and a song ... and fell in masses."

All soldiers have a story, and here are five from newspapers accounts.

THE LEADER

While still in his early 20s, Louis LeGarde Battey became a member of the Augusta City Council and president of Augusta Builders. He was popular and charismatic, and people would follow him.

That happened the final time one month before the end of the war, when the young infantry captain led his men through bullets across a road in the Argonne Forest of France. One of those bullets killed him, the only commissioned officer from Augusta to be killed.

On Oct. 11, Battey's company was part of the assault ordered to sweep the Germans from the region. Lt. Herman Ulmer, who had trained with Battey, said the captain calmly shared his orders beforehand, telling him, "You will carry on, if they get me."

While marching into position, the company came to a forest road covered by German marksmen. The advance stalled until Battey turned to Ulmer and said, "To hell with the snipers -- we have got to attack."

Ulmer described Battey "stepping out onto the bullet-swept road as calmly and unconcernedly as though he were on parade. He carried his company across, though it cost him his life."

THE MODEST HERO

Charlie Stulb Jr. lived in or near Augusta all his life. He ran a number of business ventures and was active in his church and civic affairs, attracting mention but not much attention in the pages of The Augusta Chronicle.

Except once. That was when his hometown newspaper reported that this most modest of citizens would be the first Augustan awarded the Silver Star for battlefield heroism.

What did he do? Perhaps the impossible.

As a second lieutenant in the Argonne Forest, Stulb was part of three units that abruptly became exposed to the German front when the American force suddenly and strategically turned to its left, smashing into the enemy on its flank. It was a brilliant tactical feat that would make the textbooks, but the maneuver did not help Stulb. The unit on his left had withdrawn, and the one on his right was cut to pieces.

Alone, and under heavy machine-gun fire, Stulb reorganized his platoon and the remnants of another. Then, for six hours while virtually surrounded, they held their ground, stopping the German counterattack.

Hubert van Tuyll, an Augusta University history expert, once explained it this way: "One platoon gets wiped out and the one on the left retreats, leaving Stulb's platoon ... and somehow he hung on. That is how wars are won."

THE PERSUADER

Ed C.B. Danforth Jr., a one-time Augusta high school teacher, helped turn a reluctant World War I soldier into a battlefield legend.

The soldier was Alvin York, credited with killing at least 25 German soldiers and capturing 132 in October 1918.

Danforth was both York's battlefield commander and training camp instructor, where he learned of York's devout religious beliefs.

"He was still troubled in regard to war," Danforth said in a Chronicle interview. "His conscience bothered him."

Danforth, an Episcopal layman, counseled York on duty and faith. Several passages of Scripture have been cited in finally persuading York that a soldier had a responsibility to fight.

He took that responsibility Oct. 6, 1918, into the Argonne Forest when Danforth led an attack against a German position west of Chateau Thierry. He ordered York to cover the left of his advance, and although York's platoon had only seven able men, their shooting was accurate enough to cause the Germans to surrender. York captured 132 prisoners and "put 35 machine guns out of business," The Chronicle would report.

Although often overlooked, Danforth himself was credited with capturing 44 prisoners.

Both men were promoted and cited for bravery, and Danforth would receive the Silver Star, as his commander said, "Capt. Danforth displayed marked leadership in all the operations of his regiment. His bravery, self-sacrifice and devotion to duty was an inspiration to his men."

After the war, Danforth returned to Augusta, served as commandant at the Academy of Richmond County and then entered the insurance business. He returned to duty during World War II, was promoted to brigadier general and became president of the secretary of the Army's Disability Review Board.

He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

THE RESCUER

When Augusta businessman Sam Silverstein died in 1983, he was praised for his community service and philanthropy.

He was the first Paul Harris Fellow of the Augusta Rotary Club, and the first Distinguished Citizen Award recipient of the local scouting council. He was active in the United Way, the Salvation Army and Junior Achievement, and was a longtime member of Adas Yeshurun Synagogue.

But Silverstein had another achievement. As a young American soldier fighting in the Argonne Forest, Silverstein and four companions volunteered to enter German territory to rescue their captain, Robert Patterson, who was trapped behind enemy lines.

According to an account in The New York Times, Patterson was on a surveillance probe when he became cut off. He feigned death but couldn't move to get back because German soldiers would notice. Five of his men, all volunteers, armed themselves with grenades and began to worm on their bellies in his direction.

Patterson saw them coming and waved them away, whispering that he was OK, but this alerted the enemy, who opened fire. The five rescuers hurled their grenades with what one later described as "lucky aim," killing their opponents and rescuing their captain. Patterson -- who would go on to become a federal judge -- never forgot them. When he died in 1952, The New York Times reported that in his will, he left a financial bequest to each of the five soldiers who had rescued him on a battlefield decades before.

Four were identified as residents of the New York area, but one was Samuel Silverstein, of Georgia.

THE WARRIOR

For most of his life, Robert Walton was known as a courtly gentleman, a downtown businessman and church leader who happened to be related to George Walton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

But in October 1918, Walton was a 25-year-old lieutenant with a challenge. He and 16 men had to control the French village of Cornay. Germans had taken the heights above it and fortified them with machine gun nests.

But not for long.

When it got dark, Walton and his men began to remove them. A private in his unit spoke very good German and would call out to the enemy, demanding they surrender or die. Perhaps thinking they were overwhelmed, many did.

Walton hastened such decisions. When he came upon a large group of Germans sheltered in a dugout, he leapt down among them and all immediately held up their hands and gave up.

Walton and his men made it back to the American lines with 65 prisoners. For his efforts he would be awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the French Croix de Guerre and the French Victory Medal.

"I was thinking about so many things," Walton later said, "but I was thinking mostly about getting back to Augusta."

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