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Image provided by: New York State Military History Museum
6 GAS ATTACK NO MEXICAN MEDALS FOR N. Y. GUARD Veteran of the Border Service Points Out the Injustice of the Awarding—-Letters to the Editor E d itor Gas A ttack: The m o st welcome news to the soldiers of this division th a t has appeared in the columns of the Gas A ttack since its initial issue, was th a t heralded by the headlines of the article on page six of the last num ber, which read, “D e coration for m en who served on the border.” All over this camp veterans of the division who w e n t through the trying m o n ths of tropical heat, hurri canes, sand storm s and cold northers along the Rio Grande, settled down on their cots to read the details of the news thus heralded and to commend the W a r D e p a rtm e n t in finally recognizing this service. Im agine the disappointm e n t and disgust of your readers, however, when they found, upon reading the article, th a t it in no way justified the headlines. A superficial reading of the article con taining the W a r D e p a rtm e n t order showed th a t its camouflaged verbiage apparently m ade provision for all those entitled to rec ognition, but closer analysis showed th a t the decoration is NOT to be aw arded to guard troops. This conclusion is based upon the phraseology of the four sub-divisions of the first paragraph of the order quoted, which define the conditions to be m e t before the decorations can be aw arded. These sub- paragraphs are as follows: “ (A) In Mexico, afloat or ashore, as mem bers of the Vera Cruz Expedition, betw een April 24, 1916, and F e b ruary 7, 1917.” This m eans regulars only, as no guard troops participated in the V era Cruz Ex pedition. “ (B) In Mexico as m em b ers of the Puni tive or other authorized expeditions betw een M arch 14, 1916, and February 7, 1917.” This m eans the sam e thing for the sam e reason. “ (C) Those who were actually present and participated in an engagem e n t against Mexicans betw e en April 12th, 1911, and February 7th, 1917, in which there w ere cas ualties on the side of the United States troops.” It is not known w h a t units or detachm e n ts this lets in. U n d o u btedly it recognizes and rew a rds the defenders of Columbus, N. M. On the other hand, it is generally known th a t when our division arrived at McAllen, Texas, and th a t vicinity, relations betw een th e Texans and the Mexicans in our sector w e re strained to the limit. To have started “an engagem ent in which there w ere cas ualties on the side of the U n ited States troops” would have been a “cinch,” except for the fact th a t the division comm ander, unfortunately for us, evidently construed his orders in such a way to carry out their spirit and avoided arm ed contact and cas ualties am ong his own men. Therefore, hand in hand w ith the m o st rigorous train ing, including a hundred mile practice march and other divisional exercises, there were established such relations w ith the Consti tutional forces opposite us th a t the Mexican forces becam e friendly to such an extent th a t they would line the bank to adm ire our soldiers in m aneuvers, and they even re turned cattle th a t had been stolen six months before as a delicate m a rk of their confidence and good will. Accordingly, it would seem th a t because we had not let loose at them and in retu rn suffered useless casualties, we are barred under the provi sions of this paragraph “C” from receiving the decoration for our service. An interesting sidelight affecting the ap plication of this paragraph “C” is th a t if our division com m ander had found it neces sary and justifiable to have engaged a de tachm e n t of the Mexican forces opposing us and had done the job in so effective a m a n ner th a t the opposing force was wiped out I completely, w ithout a casualty on our own side, even then we would be barred from the decoration under the language of p a ra graph “C,” because our general had not been sufficiently astute to have had one or more of his own men killed or wounded. The last sub-paragraph, nam ely “D,” pro vides for “those who were present as m em bers of the Mexican Border Patrol, betw een April 12, 1911, and February 7, 1917, in prox im ity to an engagem e n t betw een Mexicans which resulted in casualties among their own company, troop, battery or detachm e n t.” It is not known w h a t forces or detachm e n ts this paragraph covers. T a k e n in connection with the preceding sub-paragraph which rew a rds those who had casualties w h e ther they w ere due to neglect or not, it will be seen th a t sub-paragraph “D” provides for the onlookers. For example, if two detach m ents of our own troops had been stationed to prevent contesting Mexican forces from trespassing or firing upon our territory under orders to take cover and avoid un necessary casualties while perform ing such duty, and one detachm e n t had obeyed its orders and had no casualties, while the other perm itted their curiosity to see the scrap to get the better of their discipline, the form e r would not be entitled to the decora tion while the lack of discipline of the la t ter would have won the decoration for it Very respectfully, A V e t e r a n o f t h e M e x i c a n S e r v i c e . The fact is th a t in June, 1916, the condi tions along the M exican Border w ere com pletely out of hand. Our border was con- tinously raided by Mexican banditti. Co lum bus and other places had been raided, Am ericans killed and property destroyed, in spite of the troops on hand to prevent such outrages. It was under these circum stances th a t the guard troops of the country w ere rushed to the border, and from the date of their arrival until the date of their departure quietness and peace prevailed along the border from one end to the other. It should be rem e m b ered th a t it was then the an nounced policy of our governm ent to avoid conflict w ith Mexico. It would have been very easy for troops to have com m itted overt acts which would have brought on wrar, if they had lacked discipline and loy alty to their governm ent’s policy. The guard troops m e a sured up in handsom e fashion to this responsibility and it is to be rem e m b ered th a t this responsibility was fulfilled by troops th a t w ere straining at the leash to cross the border and pacify the unruly elem e n ts of our neighboring country on the South. The real, big accom p lishm e n t to be recog nized and rew a rded in connection w ith the Mexican disturbance was the readiness and efficiency w ith which the guard troops re sponded to the nation’s c all; not the sporadic bush rows on either side of the river, re quiring special definition and verbiage to classify. And this has been the policy of other gov ernm e n ts and of our own governm ent in the past. For example: the Civil W ar Cam paign Badge is aw arded by the governm ent “for service in the regular or volunteer arm y or in the m ilitia in the service of the U nited States during the Civil W a r betw e en April 15, 1861 and April 19, 1865.” Many of the soldiers who won and wore the Civil W a r Campaign Badge w ere soldiers for but 30 days, and received little or no training and had never fired a shot, even in practice. The guard troops, on the other hand, who served on the Mexican border, had been transported, in m o st cases, from very distant stations and had patrolled and hiked and had been trained for m any weary months amid cactus and desert land of the Rio Grande Valley. This was really cam p a ign ing, cam p a igning th a t resulted in the death of a num b e r of the men of this and other divisions of guard troops. Again, a service badge w ith ribbon is issued to officers and enlisted men of the regular arm y who visit ed Cuba w ith the Army of Cuban Pacifica tion betw een October, 1906, and April, 1909, during which period there was no fighting. Who would not have preferred life in H a vana or other Cuban cities to the desolate w a stes and terrific heat of the Rio Grande? (Continued on page 34)
