100 years ago in Spokane: Reports of injuries trickle in from the Front

Two Spokane brothers, Lyman and Edwin J. Buzard, were both injured in the same battle in France.

Edwin, 19, was stricken with poison gas and, a few days later, Lyman, 18, was struck by shrapnel in the foot.

Both were recovering in a hospital behind the battle lines. A third Buzard brother, Alfred, was in the U.S. Navy.

In a different battle, another Spokane soldier, Pvt. Byron Barrett, also was injured.

“Well, mother, Fritzie got me at last, but not bad,” he wrote home. “I am in a base hospital and the chances are that I will be out of here before the roaches.”

However, Barrett did impart a somber piece of bad news.

“You remember my pal ‘Mose’ (Leon) Clausner? He did not get a chance to come to the hospital. He got his at the same time I did. Call his sister … I don’t remember her first name, but it is Miss Clausner. Poor Mose died a few minutes after he was hit.”

From the military aviation beat: The Inland Northwest was providing perhaps the most crucial item for winning the war: spruce.

It was vital for building American warplanes. An expert said it was not only light and strong, but had one other key quality.

“When a bullet strikes it at 147 miles per hour, it passes through it as if it were a piece of cheese, without shattering in the least.”