Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-08-14

Fleury Metz. who boasts that he
killed thirty-ive Germans in hand-to-
hand conflict. participated in seven en-
gagements, was wounded often by rifle
IRE and bayonet thrusts. and was for
eight months in hospital severely
wounded. has returned to Washington
and is today back at his old job as as
sistant chef of the Shoreham Hotel.
Mr.. Metz has thirty-five notches cut
on his musket as evidence of his
achievements in the cause of the allies.
His home Is at $50 l street northwest
and for three years he was assistant
chef at the Shoreham until he decided
to take a vacation in July, 1914. and
60 back to see his parents in Lam
Guedoc.
That was when his troubles began.
He arrived at Cherbourg July "a,
and scarcely had time to reach the
land Of olives and wine on the Mediter-
raneah shore when the bugles sounded
the call to the defense of the nation.
August 6 he was in railway car
with thirty -nine other men and each
man wore the uniform of the 312th In
fantry and carried a Lebel musket.
The second day, after arriving at st.
Mihiel, Fleury Metz began to find out
what war was. He thus describes his
experiences today:
Describes His Experiences.
''Ah. those first days. monsieur. We
were in the midst of a giant tornado.
We knew nothing. except that there
were Germans everywhere, that the air
was blue with choking smoke, that a
constant roar dinned in our ears, that
officers hurried to and fro shouting
commands nobody could hear, and that
Frenchmen were dying all around us.
We saw them carried away, endless
professions of them. but where we did
not know. We had lost all sense of
direction, all sense of everything ex-
cept that somehow the guns In our
hands and the bayonets at the end of
them would save us if nothing else
could.
German Bayonet Took Out Tooth.
II don't remember anything of my
first fight. except that when it was
over noticed that my right hand was
covered with blood. There-you see
the scar-a Mauser just grazed me.
That was my first wound-I have six
of them, besides a tooth missing, where
q German bayonet struck home. That
Germans bayonet will do no more dam
as e.. sauce 0,ouante seemed to be of
about the right consistency and flavor,
for Fleury rolled his eyes and smacked
his lips as he gave it final taste and
took 1t off the FIRE. That suggested
the thought that perhaps the eating on
the firing line was not up to the stand
ard of the metropolitan hotels.
''Oui, there was plenty to eat One
never lacked. but sometimes there were
other things to do about mealtime
that seemed more important. And the
cooking was not all it might have been
at first. You see. monsieur, we
French were not prepared. After a
little all went smoothly. The Ger
mans had everything at the start.
Il fought seven engagements OFTEN
I was wounded by rifle fire, but never
seriously. In those days there were no
trenches and rife wounds were COM
mon. All we had for shelter were
mounds of earth we threw up ourselves
with spades II we had them, or with
our bare hands and bayonets if we did
not But We were always advancing
or retreating. There would have been
no use for trenches then.
TT was in the seventh fight that I
got the wound that put me in the hos
pital for eight months. You want to
see it? There"
Wounded by Shell.
or came the white jacket. revealing
. deep cash in the right shoulder. new
~ healed.
That was a shell at Vitry lie Fran
squad Of twenty-one mentor am
a corporal, you know. Suddenly came
the scream of an obus. and we all
dropped on our faces. Then-but how
shall ] say it? 1t burst within a yard
and a half of me. You cannot imagine
what that is like. l don't know how
long ! lay there before they picked me
up, with my shoulder torn to shreds.
But I was lucky. Six Of our twenty
two men were killed outright by that
hal nd oil =
much worse than /.
II was six days at the poste de Sc
cours before they could get transporta-
tion for me to the base hospital. There
were so many wounded that day-out
of 1900 men in our battalion only 1900
came back whole. And for all that we
lost our position and were chased back
by the Germans"
He paused refiectively and looked out
Of the window q moment Then-he
must have thought Of the thirty-five
notches on the musket he left in
FFance-his eyes sparklsd as he said:
HS.,As 49, =