OCR Text |
Show Irishmen at the Front. The first American officer to oe killed in France was Lieutenant Fitz-simmons Fitz-simmons of Kansas City, who lost his life when German airmen bombed hospitals hos-pitals in the rear cf the British line where he was stationed as a medical officer in charge of wounded. The first American noncommissioned officer offi-cer to lose his life in the overseas expedition ex-pedition was Sergt. Patrick Cassidy of Syracuse, N. Y. The first American Ameri-can private soldier to give up his life for his country ia France was Private James Tracy cf Philadelphia. The first American soldier to win the French war cross with palms, awarded for conspicuous gallantry, was Private John McCiain of Peekskill, N. Y. All these young men, as their names m-dicate, m-dicate, were Americans of Irish descent de-scent which is a fair enough record, says the San Antonio Light, for the descendants de-scendants of the Emerald Isle. All of them are said to have Deen oative- j born Americans, too. i |