| | BUGLER THOMAS G. ROSE
Serial No. 2,026,601
450 Lycaste Ave., Detroit, Mich.
Thomas Rose joined the Battery in the fall of 1917. On his qualification card he had mentioned that music was his hobby, so to the Buglers’ School he was sent, and a little later Rose bloomed into a bugler for the Battery.
He was particularly noted for his clean and neat appearance and radiant disposition. In keeping with the other sensuous shades of temperament, he enjoyed the inspiring delights of cognac, and was a prominent promoter of many nice little companies organized to enjoy that popular French product. The social instincts were strongly developed in Rose and those in command recognized his gifts in that direction. At Pont-a-Mousson he was assigned to special duty as an actor in the A. E. F. Theatre Circuit under direction of Lieut. Bertling and Private Dale, of Battery A. Among the towns where he played were Remacourt, Coblenze, Mets, Pont-a-Mousson and Chamount, as well as at Army Headquarters.
He had a loyalty for his own Battery, so decided to become a theatrical manager on his own account, confining his productions to Battery B. In his troupe were Corp. Wilson, Sergt. Allen, Private Brown of Brigade Headquarters, (Stormy) Corp. Waters, Private Klein, Private Fred Roy and Sergt. Schultz.
During inspection Rose would amuse the boys by saying witty things under his breath. All things considered, he was well liked and had many friends, which, on one occasion at least, saved him from the unpleasant pastime of grooming horses. It happened at Camp Faurot, near Liverdun, in the Toul sector, a temporary rest camp established at the end of the first lap of our entry and movement into the fighting lines. Rose thought he could make Liverdun for a supply of chocolate and return before the outfit could pull out. On this expedition he was accompanied by Private Hamm. Orders were received sooner than expected and the Battery pulled out minus these two. However, through the resourcefulness of Rose, both joined the Battery the following morning. The Captain, nevertheless, for punishment, ordered Rose to groom horses for a week. This was where friends proved very convenient for the Bugler, consequently, Sergt. Housel put him on kitchen detail under Mess Sergt. Belbeck, whose love for cognac rivaled his, and we will leave it to the boys if “he groomed horses for a week.”
Rose had a good singing voice, was one of the Battery Quartette and could play any kind of an instrument. The legend of the Pied Piper of Hamlin did not occur to us or we might have matched our Bugler’s musical abilities against those of that mythical character, who charmed a plague of rats from the town with •his violin. Rose might have experimented on the cooties.
At Coetquidan he was detailed as Captain’s orderly and provided with—well, a horse. His duty was to follow the Captain and be on hand to execute orders. If he was a descendant of the famous Pegasus be certainly had been de-winged previous to meeting with Rose. The poor animal had been gassed and was suffering with a worse malady than the heaves, characteristic of horses that had been through gas. Consequently, though he had orders to keep with the Captain, he and his charger were always too far in the rear when wanted. If he desired his orderly to do anything for him, the Captain had to wait or ride back to him, which naturally irritated the officer very much.
At Pont-a-Mousson his room was too near the street for Rose to get out of bed to blow the bugle in the morning, so he would open his window facing the street and give the first call. He was in the execution of this act one morning when the Captain caught him and he was detailed to dig a trench, not a dignified, war-like trench, but one whose lowly use modestly forbids us to describe.
In the Puvenelles Woods, where we took up our first reserve gun position (92nd Division),
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Rose was left with the combat Train about a mile in the rear of the guns. At this point the Battery lived in their pup tents. Rose and his professional contemporary, tlnnking they would remain there a week at least, had established themselves in comfortable quarters when, one night, orders came suddenly to pull out. The Captain had sent forward the Cannonecrs and his detail for reconnaissance, leaving men in the rear to gather up the telephone wire. He was short of men, so Bailes and Rose were unceremoniously routed out and ordered to go through the woods on the detail to gather up wire. The woods had been under shell fire for over four years and were extremely dangerous, as one might at any instant come in contact with an unexploded hand-grenade or unexploded shell. This night the woods were being shelled incessantly but Rose and Bailes did their part safely and successfully. On his return from carrying out orders, Captain Chcrrill made some ironical remark to Rose, which roused his resentment. The rest of the boys had a sympathetic understanding of such incidents and it was soothing and beautiful to them to listen to Rose murdering good U. S. English in an effort to relieve his mind. It is said he was in the humor to go gunning for the Captain for a little time after that. However, this attitude of mind passed, and he willingly went with the ration wagon to Thiacourt for rations. The outfit was sorely in need of these. On this trip he was constantly under shell fire and had to adjust his gas mask seven times.
Rose will be pleasantly remembered by all the boys for his optimistic outlook on life. |