Runner (soldier) wounded twice and received both the Iron Cross first class and second class during the war. Runner (soldier) A runner was a military courier, a foot soldier responsible for carrying messages during war. Runners were very important to military communications, before telecommunications became commonplace. The Ancient Greek semi-historical character of Pheidippides is said to have been the runner bringing the news of the Greek victory over the Persians from Marathon to Athens in 490 BC. Even though field telephones were widely used for the first time during World War I (1914–18), they relied on copper wire lines, which were often
1593 transported soldier legend being a deserter and with charges of being a servant of the devil. Months later, news of the governor's death came to Mexico on a galleon from the Philippines. One of the passengers recognized the imprisoned soldier and said that he had seen him in the Philippines a day after the death of the Governor. He was eventually released from jail by the authorities and allowed to go back home. Thomas Allibone Janvier, an American folklorist living in Mexico, recounted the story as "Legend of the Living Spectre" in the December 1908 edition of "Harper's Magazine", naming the soldier as