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Show - f a - Il fe fe'g 'g g ' s sADVENTURERS ADVENTURERS ' CLUBHEADLINES CLUB M HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELFl YOURSELFI YOURSELF YOURSELFl"The ! "The The " Bomb Bontb in the Boxcar Bo'tcar Botcar Bo"ccar Boccar ' " " TJ ELLO BLLO , , EVERYBODYYou EVERYBODY EVERYBODYn H HBLLO HELLO n . You know , sometimes there's theres ' a lot of difference be- be between between be between - tween what people may think of a man and what he thinks thinksof thinksof thinksof of himself lnmself In the case of John Feen of Miami , Okia 011a Okla , for formstance forInstance forinstance mstance Instance , there are people who think he is a hero During Duringthe Duringthe Duringthe the war , his lus Ins officers were all for recommending John for fordecoratIOn fordecoration fordecoration decoratIOn , , because they thought a certain brave act of ofI ofJohn's ofJohn's ofJohn's ofJohns I John's Johns ' deserved a medal if any act of heroism herOlsm ever didBut did didBut I IBut But that's thats ' what the other folks think thmk of it Just between betweenus betw betv . een eenus eenus us , John doesn't doesnt ' share their thclr views at all In John's Johns ' own ownestimatIon ownestimation ownestimation estimatIon he's hes ' just a doggone careless sap , and whatever whateverhappened whateverhappened whateverhappened happened was his own fault in the first place And he de deserved de- de deserved . < - served to be shot a heck of a lot more than he deserved amedal a amedal medal medalThat's That's Thats ' what John thm thinks ' < s about it He swears that what whathe whathe whathe he did wasn't wasnt ' heroism herOlsm at all Well-you Well you Well - you can decide that for foryourself foryourself foryourself yourself But there's theres ' one thing I m certain of It mayor may or It Itmay itmay itmay may not have been herOlsm-but herOlsm but heroism-but heroism heroism - but it sure was adventure adventuret adventuretNow ' ' Now let s take this yarn to Siberia and tag along with that IttIe little IttIebunch littlebunch ! littlebunch bunch of American soldiers who stayed over there after the war to toclean toclean toclean clean up some of o the tag ends ot of the Big Unpleasantness Two bat batLallions battallions battalllons Lallions tallions of the Twenty seventh infantry wantry were quartered at Berosovka Berosovkatrymg Berosovkatrying Berosovkatrying trymg trying to keep a bit of order in m a land where both law and order had hadbroken hadbroken hadbroken broken down The bandit leader Semmoft Semmoff Seminof ! with a large band of Cos Cossacks Cossacks Cossacks sacks was plundering plundermg and nd looting lootmg and murdering in m the region , , , usmg using usmgan usingan usingan an armored railroad trim tnm as a base of operat ons And on January 5 51920 1920 word came that he was headed toward BerosovkaAs Berosovka BerosovkaAs As He Leaned Forward , There Was a Sharp , Ominous Ommous ChckBoth ClickBoth Click Chck ClickBoth Both battalions were ordered to the field and John Feen was m in mthat inthat inthat that gang carrying carrymg a rz rifle . e and a knapsack full of hand glenades gienades I Idlike d dlike dlike like to tell you more about that scrap with Semmofl Semmoff Semmofi s Cossacks but butthat butthat butthat that s an adventure adenture ad\ ad adh \ enture story all m itself . . . All I can tell you here Is that the theYanks theYanks theYanks Yanks waited watted for Semmoff s armored tram train blew up the track in m front frontof frontof frontof of it it , , , and bombed and fought their way into the cars On the last lastcharge lastcharge lastcharge charge John took what few grenades he had left out of his knapsack r rHe \ He leaped forward and dropped on the pile of coatsand coats coatsand and stuffed them in his lus pockets Then the fighting fightmg was over and the theAmerIcans theAmericans theAmericans AmerIcans were climbing into the tiny box cars of a troop train that thathad thathad thathad had come out from Berosovka to get themIn themIn them themIn In the car John iras was In . in , the boys built a fire in th.e the . . tm tin stove stovepeeled stovepeeled stovepeeled peeled oft 011 off their sheepskin coats and threw them in 1D a pile on the thefloor thefloor thefloor floor Then they flopped on the floor and tried to get a little httle sleepThe sleepThe sleep sleepThe The fire lire blazed up and the little car became unbearably hot hotThe hotThe hotThe The coats were close to the stove and John was afraid they d be bescorched bescorched bescorched scorched He IIe c01 got up to move them As he leaned over and andsIJpped andslipped andslipped sIJpped slipped his arm under the pile there was a sharp ominous ommous crack cracknad , , and Instantly , everyone every one of those tired bred men leaped to lus his feet feetThey feetThey feetThey They knew all ail too well " nhat "hat hat shat that sound was-a was a was - a erenade grenade gettmg getting gettmgready gettingready getlmcready ready to explode Someone bad had left hat that ( erenade grenade in m bis hJS his coat coatpocket coatpocket coatpocket pocket and John In pickine picking up those coats had bad accIdentally accIdentallydislodged accidentallydislodged accidentallydislodfed dislodged the pin pm ' Faces says John became wax like as men asked themselves themselveswhose themselveswhose themselveswhose whose coat It was and how far down in m the pile the bomb lay We Wewere Wewere Wewere were all praying praymg it 1t was on the bottom where the whole pile of coats would wouldcover wouldcover wouldcover cover it It . . Then maybe icrne some of us might have a chance If it wasn t- t tif t11 t tit - it if 11 it blew up high wide and handsome in m the crowded quarters of that thatllt1le thatlittle thatlittle llt1le little car-the car the car - the slaughter would be appalling"The appalling appalling"The ' "The The 'The " ' swaymc swaymg swaying boxcar seemed to creak the fatal words Ten Tea Tenseconds Teaseconds Tenseconds seconds to live bve ten seconds to live hve * ' Ten seconds seeonds more- more morethen morethen more morethen - - then nwe-then nwe then nine-then nine nine - - then eicht eIght The deep rumble of the wheels on the thetracks thetracks thetracks tracks below sounded like muffled mumed drums and the wind wmd outsIde outsIdehowled outsidehowled outsidehowled howled a mournful mourntnl Litany of the tbe Dead ' ' The tiny tmy candle that thatb thatht thatlit b ht & the car nickered flIckered spasmodically for a moment and died dJed TheCloom The Thegloom Thegloom gloom closed m-and m and in-and in in - and still we waited ' Up to that t me everyone had been too stunned to move A crowd crowdat crowdof crowdof at of tight tzght hpped llpped lipped doughboys stood motionless waiting waitrng for death John JohnFeen JohnFeen JohnFeen Feen was the first one to recover his senses He screamed to that thatbunch thatbunch thatbunch bunch heavybodies of men to 1e 1 e down-and down and down - and that broke the spell A dozen heavy bodIes thudded to the floor door One man swore aloud Another sobbed sobbedand sobbedand sobbedand and a third thud muttered a woman s name But John was still stzll on his feet feetHe feetHe feetHe He wai was standing standmg right over that bomb and tor for a brief bnef second his 1 ps psmoved psmoved psmoved moved He was prayingJohn's praying prayingJohn's John's Johns ' Body Protects Others From Grenade BlastBut Blast BlastBut But It was only for tor a moment There was hardly any time for forpraye forpraye forpraye praye praye- prayeThree " - Three or tour four seconds more and that bomb would be gomg going gomgoft goingoff goingoff hardlyleft oft off And he had a job lob to do before that happened . . The prayer had hardly left his lips I1ps when he leaped Ieaped forward-dropped forward dropped forward - - dropped on that pile of coats Ius his Iusarms hisarms hisarms arms hugging them to him hun like a hen mothering her brood That Thatdeadly Thatdeadly Thatdeadly deadly engine ot of destruction buried buned somewhere in that pile of coats coatsmight coatsmight coatsmight might blow him hun to bits but the other fellows m the car would have havea havea a chance chanceOne One second-two second two second - two seeonds-and seeonds and seconds-and seconds seconds - - and then there was a roar that thatsounded thatsounded thatsounded sounded to John as 11 If It had come from the bowels of Hell itself itselfBnght itselfBright itselfBrifht Bnght Bright scarlet flashes Dashes stre&Led streLed streaJ.ed streaJed streaked . & the interior mterror of the car He felt feltthe feltthe feltthe the pile of coats heave beneath him-and him and him - and then John Just doesn docsn t tremember tremember tremember remember any moreThe moreThe more moreThe liftinghim lftrnghun liftingbun The first thing thmg he remembers after that was that someone was l/ftrng l ftrng lifting / hun bun He heard someone else talking and the words sounded taint famt faint and andfar andfar andtar far away and hollow as it 11 if the man who wa was > speaking them was talking into talkinginto a barrel . Slowly consc connc ousness came back bock to hm h m H Hc He ( . . opened openedhis hIs eyes He remembered now now-that now that - that bombi bomb I ! Anxiously he counted thewhite the thewhite thewhite white faces that were bent over him They were all there those bud buddIes buddies buddies dIes of his He sighed in m relIef-and relIef and relief - and fainted famted famtedJohn faintedJohn faintedJohn John woke up In the hospital hospJtal at Berosovka-a Berosovka a Berosovha - a bit surprised surprisedto to find that he was still stIlI alive abve Ue lIe probably wouldn t have been beenalive beenalive beenalive alive If that bomb hadn t been bcen down at the bottom of the pIle pIleof pileof pileof of coats-IIJJck coats IIJJck coats-thick thick coats - tlnck shcepshm sheepskIn coats that tbat stopped ti tJ tie e fijins flying 11 } Ing bits of oC steel . , steeLAs teeL teeLAs . As it was his arm was "as as " shattered bhattered and full Cull of bits of corrugated corrugatedmetalnd corrugatedmetaland corrugatedmetal metalnd metal-and metal and _ - and it would have to come oftA offA off oft offA A few days later while he was recuperating from ( rom the amputationot amputatzonof amputationof amputatzon amputation of that arm an officer came to his bedside and told him he was going goingto oflHe layoffHe to be recommended tor for decoratzon-but decoratzon but decoration-but decoration decoration - but John told that off ofTeer offcer eer to layoff lay of ! He didn dldn t want any ony medals He d dn do t think tJunk he deserved any All he hehad hebad hehad had bad done was v hat he knew darned well it was h s duty to doYou doYou do doYou You see be he says it was my coat pocket that held that erenadcl grenade ! erenadclCopyright CopyrightWNU Copyright -WNU WNU - WNU Service SCJ\lce SCJ lce \ |