The Hattiesburg news., 1916-06-09

/ tAEob L4Hugu EARtD 4 CSC NhSsf
and was one Of them. l think that the
same thing will apply to the soldiers
of all the other armies, too, with the
possible exception of the French and
the Belgians Those fellows have a
real grievance, and don't believe that
the rawest and most homesick recruit
in either the French or the Belgian
army ever would voluntarily lay down
IA gun, unless forced to, until the last
Fritz falls to his knees and asks for
mercy.
Il went into the army because / had
Ito. It was either fight or starye.
was rer-unskilled England
at the outbreak of the war. had a
Iwife and baby. The war clouds COW
Tered the kingdom, and business began
going to blazes. went out in search
of work. applied, and my would-be
employer would size me up, and would
ask: Are you an able-bodied man.
If / truthfully replied, Yes his an
.lswer every time would be, You don't
want to work for me- The army's the
tplace for you Such an answer met
every application for a job. And so
the army it was.
/ "Once ON the firing line, and once
hardened, the average soldier then is
!. man enough to stick it through. He
\ gets utterly disgusted with the whole
matter, however He's shooting and
killing men against whom he has no
bitter feelings He's being shot at re.
peatedly by men who are merely obey.
ling the orders Of the men higher up
who are suffering none of the physical
or mental hardships of such a cam
paign But he's game, and he sticks
till he gets his, or is carried away per
manently disabled, and unfit for fur
ther military service"
O'Brien is the sole male survivor oi
family of seven. His father, si'
brothers and his father-in-law all have
given their lives for their country no
not their country, O'Brien says, bu
because they were ordered to-
/ "rm patriotic, just as patriotic nov
! as ever was,p he continued, "but m!
patriotism runs in another way. !
there was some manner of dividing
the hardships, and not throwing 81
per cent OF them on the man in tn
trench, or the gunner of the artiller
J corps, wouldn't mind. But no sucl
way has been devised"
at the battle Of Ypres, O'Brien wen
through 1t all. II was there, in one 6
those desperate charges, where thor
: sands upon thczsands of men wer
moved down in the space Of fe'
hours, and whe -e streams Of acyus
i, blood flowed II some places, nearl
? knee high, tina O'Brien's last brothe
fell
"A dum-dum caught him squared
!. in the center o. the forehead be SAT-
"I saw him drcp. But in Il charge, it
fatal to stop for anything.
paused for eTen moment, 1 woui
have been shot down by my own off
GERS. SO continued carrying out til
orders assigned me, and when the ba
I, tie ended, was allowed to return an
Ir search for my brothers body. I foun
h it. The hole in the center of the for
head was small, and smooth. But IL
stlum-dums OF the Germans had dor
Htheir work. The rear OF the skull ha
been blown away. ! buried my brot
er with my own hands, and place
above his grave smell cross.
= could 80 back there today sr
walk to the very spot where his boz
is buried
~, O'8rien's worst experience althous
he escaped unwounded In this fightin
was during the battle OF the Marn
despite what the special writer's in Il
!. New York Times and other papers 81
: about 1t, The battle was fought on Il
thanks Of TIE Marine, OBrien say
sHiVe attempts q string pontof