All this had happened quickly. It was only in April that Archie had
been engaged to Grace Lockwood. Some five days after that he had passed
his examination for the Officers’ Reserve Corps. By April 15 he had
married. June 20 he left Plattsburg with confidential orders. June 25
his father announced that Archie and Theodore had left for France.
Archie did not stay long as a Second Lieutenant. By Christmas,
following distinguished service in leading patrols in No Man’s Land,
General Pershing recommended that Archie be promoted. In February
Archie was made a Captain. One month later Captain Archie was wounded
in the arm and leg by shrapnel. He received the French War Cross
while lying on the operating table. “He lay wounded for fourteen hours
unattended,” writes an American surgeon in a letter home. In May Archie
was reported able to walk again.
His wounds did not make Archie callous to the suffering of others. In
July (1918) we read that “Archie’s request for aid for Sergeant F. A.
Ross whose hand was amputated will be heeded by Colonel Roosevelt.”
A shrapnel wound of its nature usually results in more serious
complications than an ordinary bullet wound. On July 13 the Captain had
to undergo another operation for partial paralysis of the left arm. His
spirit never wavered. When wounded he had directed that the wounded men
in his command be attended first. Archie was hurt worse than he knew.
It would take eight months, at least, for him to recover. In September
he was brought back to the United States for special treatment.
[Illustration:
© _Underwood and Underwood._
Theodore Roosevelt and Family at the Time He Was Governor of the State
of New York]