New Britain herald., 1916-07-14
PITTSFIELD MAN IS BACK FROM VERDUN
|i0Ut. AddamsOn Relates Thrilling
 Tale of Life at Front

0AANO III T Id1lCG OH IllS Slu0 M the allies, awaiting orders to pro- Med to the Mexican border to join KS command.
 M Lieutenant Anderson had many @r1ll1ng experiences in France and ys it was well worth all he had to @ay Tor 1t. He can boast, without ex- gerauon, that he has had an ex- s8serlence that no other boy in this Mcinity has had He volunteered his MrY1ces, did not receive a cent of KY, paid his own transportation ex- Enses both ways, and bought his ntform and equipment, besides con- AN1puting little for food. His experi- nce cost him about $500, but he says M was cheap at that price.
 m He sees of the war nothing but a Sctory for the allies, and believes it 1ll end before the winter is over. #S Seutenant AdamsOn got special leave & absence from militia duty in Janu- @y and has been in the vicinity of M@erdun most of the time since. He $ seen the road torn up by German %S els a few yards in front of him, has &&en soldiers suffer all sorts of agony & knows what 1t Is to work sixty purs with only ten hours sleep. He Rver lodged any responsibility, and M result had many close calls. He @aaved excitement and got it, and was aer ready to go close to the German Renches to get wounded men,
 @ Believes War Will End Soon. & Had not Company F been called to service Adamson would have re- gained in France, but he does not Ink the American ambulance drivers #N Il be needed much longer, as the hr ds nearing an end. Speaking of ss5 experiences, Lieutenant Adamson i'd: II have seen lots of suffering. lave carried scores of soldiers both Hench and German, in my ambu-
 nee. l saw them with arms and 84gs shot off or faces badly shattered
 soon became hardened to the sight # blood. l had one French soldier BSsed to death in my ambulance @ey are most courageous lot of lows and seldom complain, no mat
 how intense the pain The
 unded Germans are given just as
 cd treatment as the French. I was rrying a wounded German and 8 unded French soldier from the Rnches one night. The Frenchman
 just enough tobacco for two cigar Fes and he handed the German the K uch for the first cigarette. This H. #trates the feeling that exists be-
 een wounded enemies
 * The German prisoners are allowed W work, although it is not compuI-
 y Those that work receive five 8l Its a day, a little better food and tigar They start at 73O a. m. and
 TX until 4:30 p. m. The French z diers over 40 years of age work
 m a. m. until D. m. The Ger
 ms are kept busy breaking rock to # up holes in roads made by Ger m shells. I soon mastered enough & the French language to converse z n the soldiers. 1 was in Lorraine N while and the men I met could
 speak word of English. I had
 b years of French in school, but z&% did not help me much in my talk
 h Frenchmen. All French soldiers b very courteous to Americans on
 ty. We always got the best piece of TX bat when it was to be had, and
 ny other attentions were bestowed
 lon US. It was customary to wash
 plate with a slice of bread and an
 ra slice was used in washing the 8 te of an American to insure clean 8 less.
 
 W but the size of the American wharf
 When sleeping, we covered our ads leaving just enough space for s&M nose and mouth. The rats are E ne and crawl all over the men, one M whom had his uniform chewed up
 ile asleep and had to get a new
 e. Uniforms, when taken off. are
 apped in raincoats to keep them W m rats. If a fellow went to sleep
 a trench with a piece of chocolate & his person. he would soon have a len rats fighting to get the sweet &S5 at. Bullets arc never used on rats.
 ley are needed for the Germans. 8e soldiers kill the rodents with sa-
 fs, or else put a good dog into the nch to kill them bat the latter
 tom has been abandoned es it was ind that a spy was sending mes Iss ses to the Germans by using deg. z Was in House Hit by Shell.
 tOne time I was sitting in Q house
 iting for orders when it was struck @ a German shell. All but one man & de a dash for the dugouts He rted to rise as a second shell hit W building and his head was taken 2a I never saw real charge made m I was where l might have seen @A, had l dared to walk 200 feet. s was the result of a few French
 unteers being sent to capture two
 rman soldiers to learn just what #rnan regiment opposed the French Eng line. The volunteers returned
 n jured, save that one man lost a 4B ad I was at a poste de secour just
 side Verdun for two weeks, being
 ailed there June 20. Several Amer
 gns were wounded around Verdun,
 being shot through the stomach
 Ee French soldiers duty is four days Sbhe trenches and four of rest. There Ire no first line trenches around
 rdun. The Germans fear the French
 konet charge. When a bayonet
 rces a breast, the man bleeds to
 ath internally. All soldiers are pro-