The following is my grandfather's written account of his experiences in World War I. He does not mention having volunteered for the mission which eaned him his silver stars, only that he took three German bullets in his cartridge belt.

Boys in the Marine Corps Have Exciting Times

Philip Hodapp of Madelia Tells of Numerous Narrow Escapes While Fighting Through the Argonne Forests

I enlisted in the Marine Corps, Feb. 12th, 1918, at Minneapolis and went from there to Paris Island, S. C., where I was put in Co. 10 for recruit training. I remained there until June 20th, when I was sent to Quantico, Va., and put in the 2nd Casual Bn. I sailed from New York June 30th, on the Henderson, transferred to the transport Von Stueben at 12 o'clock at night. We lost all of our clothing and equipment on the Henderson. I landed in Brest, France, July 9th, 1918, and went to Chatillon for on week to be re-equipped. On Aug. 3rd I was transferred to the 20th Co., 5th Reg. Marines, and went into action on the Toul sector at Pont-a-Moussant about Aug. 7th, 1918. After coming out of this sector, we went in reserve at St. Mihiel for 10 days an then on Sept. 12th we were sent into the front lines in this sector. We were about in line with our artillery when they began the bombardment at 3 in the morning. This bombardment lasted two hours. At 5 was our zero hour to go over the top and the enemy sent over a rolling barrage. Quite a few of our men were killed or wounded by airplane bombs that morning. We had some American and French planes with us and considerable damage was done by some German planes with American insignia on them before we could distinguish between them. Our tanks preceded the infantry in this drive and did their share of the damage necessary. While crossing some barbed wire entanglements a German observation balloon spotted us and killed some of our men. We were bombarded heavily during this whole drive and there were plenty of German snipers and machine gunners busy all of the time.

From this drive we were sent to the Champagne sector, where we participated in the battle of Blanc Mont Ridge, as well as other battles.

On Oct. 2nd we went over the top, following a rolling barrage. Ten minutes after we started over the German prisoners were beginning to come in. We set them to work bringing in our wounded, giving our litter bearers a much needed rest. We advanced steadily in this drive till 4 o'clock, when we took up a position in one of the trenches the Germans had vacated. We found that we were ahead of the units on our left flank and that they needed help. The Germans had many machine guns around this place and between them and the artillery we were kept busy nearly all night. At daybreak we went over the top again, this time without a barrage and succeeded in capturing a number of machine gun nests. The German airplanes located us and gave their information to their artillery men and in a few minutes we received such a bombardment from their artillery that it nearly wiped out our machine gun company. One big shell landed about five feet from me, killing three and wounding several others. Another fellow and myself decided to move away out of danger. We moved forward about 10 paces and just then another shell landed and made a four-foot hole in the ground where we had been lying. We were then ordered to move forward and take a position about a kilometer in advance of where we had been. We made a place in the side of a ravine where we were safe. That night the Germans tried to get our position by circling around our weak left flank and trying to form a skirmish line in the rear of us, but we stopped them and forced them to retire.

We stayed in this sector for fifteen days, then went to the Meuse-Argonne front. We began our fight on the 31st of Oct. At 3:30 in the morning the bombardment began and lasted two hours, followed by a two-hour machine gun barrage. At daybreak the barrage began to lift and we went over the top. We followed this barrage all day, running into a nest of machine guns in nearly every thicket and building. This meant more work for us as they would have to be cleaned up before we could advance. Often when we were lying waiting for the barrage to lift, we would see how many Germans we could get while they were running ahead of the barrage. One bad feature following a barrage so closely was that some of our guns would fall short and our men would get killed with our own artillery. We could watch our shells tear whole towns to pieces. We advanced steadily all that day, passing through villages or rather what had once been villages. Now they had just a wall or two standing. In every village we captured many prisoners, but would often have to seek old cellars to avoid the barrage. About 3 o'clock we ran into a nest of 28 machine guns, which played havoc with our company for a while till we could quiet them. It was at this place that I received three bullets through my cartridge belt.

We advanced steadily from the 1st of Nov. till the armistice was signed. The night of Nov. 10th we crossed the Meuse river on pontoon bridges that had been constructed that night by our engineers. There were hundreds of our men killed that night on a spot not larger than a couple of acres. The Germans were strongly entrenched on the opposite bank of the river, but we routed them out and when the armistice was signed we were holding strong positions.

There was no sleep the night the armistice was signed as we celebrated by shooting up flares and rockets nearly all night. Two days later we began our hike to the Rhine, going through Belgium, Luxemburg and Alsace-Lorraine. We were about a month on the road and crossed the Rhine Dec. 12th, and were in the Army of Occupation for 5 months. I came back as a casual on G. O. 13, sailing from Le Havre the latter part of June on the Rochambeau, and on July 1st, 1919, I was put on reserve status at Quantico, Va.