Well-known newspapermen and short story writer Damon Runyon was working for William Randolph Hearst's syndicate of newspapers in the fall of 1917, when Hearst ordered Runyon to head to France and report on the war news first-hand.

This article published in the Arkansas Gazette on October 13th, 1918 reported on the escape from 'The Pocket' by the men of the 77th Division - to be known from there on as the 'Lost Battalion.' 554 men of the 77th had been encircled and trapped by the Germans since October 2nd. They had withstood intense casualties and horrible situations. Running out of ammunition, food and water, the men were desperate, yet continued on under the able command of Major Charles Whittlesey.

My grandfather, Pvt. Frank G. S. Erickson of Company H was one of these men. Frank was a runner / rifleman under the direct command of Lt. William J. Cullen. The affects of that week stayed with him the rest of his life.

The article below was written in his Runyonesque literary style he previously had brought to his reporting of New York City baseball. Before leaving for France he had wriiten on the disappointing loss of the New York Giants in the 1917 World Series for the Hearst newspapers. After that he had to move on to something new. The war called.

Written with a bold fiction flair, it brought to life one of the most horrific episodes of the U.S. involvement in the war. The heroic sacrifices the soldiers had incurred on the battlefield were enlightened by Runyon and others for the newspaper reading public.

A photographer / filmmaker was present as the survivors of the Lost Battalion marched out of 'The Pocket' of the Argonne into historic legend.

The beginning of Damon Runyon's article reads:
"At the Argonne Front - Out of the fog of fighting that hangs over the forest of Argonne came limping today Whittlesey's battered battalion, which made epic defense in the dark glades of beyond."

Finally on October 8th relief arrived and 194 men that were still alive and able to walk, headed to safety. The remaining 334 men were either killed, wounded or taken prisoner by the Germans. In the images here, one can witness the men that survived and in this odd moment and difficult to explain after their ordeal, posed for these photographs.

In that spirit the men that did not make it are forever remembered. These black and white images are the lasting time capsules of the men's heroics from this epic time along the battered Forest Argonne.