ARMY CHAPLAIN SCHOOL

Chaplain Elwood C. Nance, a member of the faculty at the Army Chaplain School here, has received the Order of the Purple Heart for a singularly meritorious act of essential service during the first World War, Chaplain William D. Cleary, Commandant of the School, announced this week.

On October 13, 1918, Chaplain Nance, then an 18 year old private first class assigned to Company B of the Fourth Division, was carrying messages between his Company Command Post and the First Battalion Command Post in the Argonne Forest near Montfaucon.

Gassed and Machine-Gunned

On his way to the higher headquarters, he was gassed but he was determined to return to his company. On the way back he was held in a water-filled shell-hole by enemy machine gun fire for six hours. As dusk fell, he endeavored to creep out unnoticed.

Just as he was doing so, a mortar shell exploded beside him, wounding him, rendering him unconscious, and burying him in the shell-hole. Extricated by comrades. Nance was invalided to the rear and after 17 days in the hospital, rejoined his unit for the march into Germany.

Was Chapel Dean

Nance was Dean of the Chapel at Roline College, Winter Park, Florida, when he was commissioned a chaplain in the Army of the United States in July, 1942. He was ordered to the staff of the Chaplain School last December, and in April of this year he was promoted to the grade of Captain. In addition to the Purple Heart, which will be formally conferred in the near future, Chaplain Nance wears the Mexican Border Service Medal, the Victory Medal with five battle clasps, the Medaille de la Verdun, the Chateau-Thierry and St. Mihiel Medals, the Army of Occupation Medal, and the Third Division Service Medal. He is a member of the Disciples of Christ and has thrice been cited by his denomination for distinguished service in the field of civics and religion.