Cemetery At Camp La Courtine
Pvt 1 Cl. Conrad Baffiel Standing at the Grave of Joseph A. Loughran.
CHAPTER XXV.
"ONE OF US."
The following is a reproduction of extracts from an article written by the author of this volume, on the afternoon of November 6, 1918, following the burial of Private Joseph A. Loughran, and published in the Standard-Sentinel, a daily newspaper of Hazleton, Pa., on December 11, 1918.
In general the article expresses the bond of feeling each battery casualty called forth.
"I have lost a friend; the United States has lost a good soldier; and Hazleton, Pennsylvania, has lost another flower of its noble manhood--was the total of my thoughts this afternoon as I stood, one of a military escort, and saw the remains of Joseph A. Loughran consigned to a resting place in the sacred soil of France.
"He was truly 'One of Us.' To the military records he was known as a Private First Class, but to us he was 'Al,' one in common and ever affectionate.
"Twenty of us, comrades-in-arms, all from the same city in dear old Pennsylvania, who formed the escort, listened in profound sympathy, as we, with the battery in line at our side, paid the last military honors to our deceased comrade.
"The sun was shining serenely overhead; all was calm and quiet as a moment of silent homage followed the last note of Taps sounded over the grave.