Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1916-07-19
For Kink, for Law and Liberty.
For King, for Law and Liberty,
For King, for Law and Liberty.
m, dearest mother

4 IoO lIEy SttuS ~, tucc0 lI-8u go SOO1
going back, perhaps TO die that
thou nightest live" Then we sep
arated, and We returned to our 10.
tel with our heart made warm and
tender, by the remembrance OF the
gratitude Of five Belgian soldiers.
The days Of their cpnge soon pass
ing, the I've turned to the front,
an save for an occasional post card,
we lost ali touch with them, all save
Maurice the Sergeant Major. For be
had become one Of our family, and
before returning to the front, spent
several days with u ct our hotel.
His own family refugees, were also
living In London, and he divided his
dme between them and us. Their eas,
was identical with many others; we
soon came to- know q the brave fight
this cultured family, % cruelty ejectet
from their own home, were making q
gainst the odds Of poverty and mis-
fortune. The father. who had been
at the head ct large business. him
seK the proprietor: In London was
performing for pittance the task
Of an :,Fdinary.workman; the daugh-
ters. for the first time becoming
wase-earners in tasks none too con-
geninal; ana Maurice the only son
fighting for his country.
How did yon win your decoration?
We soon asked him. We knew what
would be has answer. "Only by
doing my duty But we knew
there was more to It than that. But
the most satisfaction that he would
give us, was to permit us to read the
account Of the acts that won for him
the Military Cross.
At Lombartyde, Maurice's COM
pany had been occupying q trench
actically made from shell holes. a
dangerous section Il was. with the
Germans not very Tar away. All one
pight, the Germans bcmbarded. pre-
patory to an attack, pdtil when 4 lull
came, they f0nnd u $50 men only
eighty remat tned not ns ya.and
"a. S5 " eat Was. me rs1h that Wl1ex
IN the morning at three clock,
the bombardment was resumed some
Of the men unable longer 70 bear the
strain Of It, leaped from the trench
to almost certain death. Maurice. as
Sergeant Major. must supply the men
with ammuniation. This he could not
do passing along the trench - It was
too narrow: but from hin end Of the
trench he must pass along outside.
distributing the ammition to the sol,
diers below him. HIS position was 90
periIious that his Captain called out
to him. .Dey Mey come back you will
surely be killed. But Maurice saw It
was the only way, 50 continued until
at last the ammunition was exhausted
then reluctantly they retired to the
second line trench
Another time at another place in
the line heavy bombardment. was
followed by an attack. Maurice. had
been able to find in the bottom OF
theS trench some crevices In which
the men crouched, while the shells
were whizzing over them. Rnt at last
believing that the bombardment was
the preface for an attack, Maurice,
had investigated. and sure enough
there were the gray forms creeping
along the ground toward their trench.
The men were given the order and
they rallied to their posts and met
the oncoming tide with such fusil-
lade that they turned and went back
However another contingent OF Ger
mans, had succeeded in reaching the
end Of the trench, and turned q ma.-
chine gun, upon It enfilading It, and
killing and wounding all the men at
that end Of the trench. One Of Maur-
ices men succeeded in killing the gun
ner whereupon, the others abon-
ded the gun, and fled; but still an
other group Of the enemy had succeed
ed in planting a machine gun in q
house near by, and this was raining
such q deadly fire upon them, that
they had again to retreat before It.
Maurice was the last to leave. and
only when he felt a great blow upon
his shoulder which sent him reeling
and his rifle dropped from his woun-
ded arm, did he follow the others.
On he stumbled, the blood from his
wound soaking into his coat and
finally after an hours march, almost
he was picked up by a cart
and taken to the nearest dressing
station. He knew little else. until he
came to himself In a hospital In Eng
land, There he lay, lowering between
life and death with the fewer: until az
the end of four months he found him
self strong enough to leave and re-
join his family in England.
But he was not content to be idle.
Despite the fact that never would ne
able to lift his light arm, or en-
ploy it in,anything but writing, he,be-
lieved that he could be useful IN
some way at the front, SO again vol
unteerei and was accepted. He Was
having his first congo, after his re-
turn to the front when we met him
in London. He was wearing, too the
medal, that had been given him, upon
his return, for the bravery OF his for-
mer conduct.
But Maurice was to find that ne
had counted too much upon ms
strength, when he again endeayored