tions. It left them on October 9th for positions further forward, about half a kilometer to the right of the village of Lançon,
The entire regiment on October 10th moved forward through the Bois de Lançon to the vicinity of Grand Ham. Regimental Headquarters was established at Malassise Farm on the Aisne. The First Battalion took up positions to the east of Grand Ham, while the Second went a trifle further to the north to Hill 208. In these positions the regiment remained, by shifting its ranges, always within reach of its targets until the 77th Division was relieved on October 17th.
The regiment had a real mystery on October 10th, and it was not a pleasant one. Sergeant Orville C. Cooper, of Battery B was the victim. He had served as First Sergeant of the battery since the early days in Upton, and had been much appreciated by Captain Ravenel. On the night of the 10th, according to the report made by the battery clerk, Sergeant Cooper was called from his quarters at the battery echelon near La Chalade by a soldier unknown to anyone in the battery. The soldier said that the sergeant was wanted by Captain McKenna at the Supply dump, about 500 meters away. Sergeant Cooper took a short cut. About half an hour later he was brought back to the echelon by an infantry guard detachment. He had been badly slashed in the throat and about the body, evidently by barbed wire in falling from a narrow foot bridge after his assailants had beaten him on the head with a club. He was in a semi-conscious condition, and was evacuated by Major Miller. Captain McKenna had not sent for the Sergeant, and a searching examination of property, and a careful questioning of the personnel in the vicinity of the echelon failed to yield the slightest clue to the assault. Sergeant Cooper was so badly hurt that lie was invalided to America.
