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| | PVT. OLLIE DISOTELL
Serial No. 2,983,385
443 W. Ridge St., Marquette, Mich.
Inducted June 25, 1918. Ollie had been a railroader all his life on the South Shore Line Railroad, in the Upper Peninsula, yet he had never traveled very far and the ride to Custer was the longest train ride be had ever taken.
He was gifted with nimble Irish wit and his quaint observations describing how strange his surroundings were to him at Camp Custer amused and interested the boys. He was talkative and friendly, and it was not very long before the other members of the outfit got to know him.
At Coetquidan, with others of the regiment, he was sent to a school of construction to be taught how to make dugouts and sap trenches. After completing this course he was detailed to Chief Mechanic Horton’s section.
At Farm Vaurot he was put on duty as guard. Air raids were very frequent at that point and in a moment when things looked ominous and shells were a little thicker than usual, Disotell called to the boys in a high, emotional voice, indicating his fear, “Everything is all right. Don’t get scared,” yet while giving this advice he hugged a tree for shelter more fervently than he would his best girl. In the Puvenelles he was one of the cannoneers in reserve position, living in a dugout with gun crews. In our story on Coffman is told the incident of being left behind in the Puvenelle Woods and having to hurry without packs to join the Battery.
At Pont-a-Mousson he was Provost Guard for a while. These jobs were considered soft snaps but Ollie lost his by investigating the products of neighboring wine cellars and, with others who had done the same thing, he was sent back to the Battery and set at grooming by detail.
One funny thing about Disotell was that he could not keep step when time come to do so:
“The centipede was happy quite,
Until the toad, for fun,
Said, ‘Pray which leg goes after which?’
This stirred his mind to such a pitch
He lay distracted in a ditch,
Considering how to run.”
Ollie was always accommodating and well liked. He furnished some smiles for the fellows. |