Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 19??-1918, 1916-12-28
EXCITING TRIP TO
NO MANS LAND
Irish 0tticsr Tells Of His Ex-
perlencss Thsta
TRIES TO FIND BODIES

Heavily shsllsd BY GWswy and, With
Men, Several Times Narrowly e.
eapss Observation-Disclosures 0uns hlt
Two sf parsy---oi,shsy- wsleems to
rsmulss.
A trip into "No Mans Land" the
strip Of ground between the battle
lines on the Somme front In France
10 described In the following letter.
written by second lieutenant In an
Irish regiment 20 the London Times:
All day long the wounded were
streaming down the road, but they
were all pretty cheerful | met one
man who had been buried and shot
through the right wrist. but he was
wearing a German helmet, had been
recommended for. the u. Z. NJ. knew
he had "bligbty" tieave TO 80 homer.
and did not care snap for any one.
The irst Of our boys 10 come through
was riding ON an ambulance with q
bandaged arm. He waved II to us and
shouted "Blighty" as he went by.
Then there were the German pris
oners. The officers very superior"
but the men looked badly shaken As
one party went by Tommy shouted.
tits nne day. Fritz" and Fri,z
laughed and said. You're right"
To Search For Bodies
On Tuesday I had to 70 mp to No
Mans Land with a n. c. O. and ten
men TO try TO mud the bodies OF two
Of our officers and get Identification
disks Of any of the men. One Of the
men collapsed en- route from the ef-
fects OF gas attack OF the previous
week. and then we plowed through the
awful mud looking for the dead-a hor
rible task.
When we got near our ground the
enemy commenced sheliing. 30 I left
my men In trench and went up
alone. They planted one on each side
OF me. and there wasn't fifteen yards
between the two. II was only the soft
ground that saved me. Altogether ]
had to dodge about fifteen OF the beau
ties, and when rot up in front all
the bodies had been either buried by
shells Tor the special pioneer parties,
so the journey was In vain. To add to
the festivities II rained quite hard. and
they turned two machine guns on me,
On the return journey We had mile
and a half OF open country to negoti'
ate, and It was pitted with shell holes,
so progress was slow. We had been
crawling along trench. and before
leaving its shelter I ordered the men
to walk IN single file with six PAGES
Interval between them. |. of course,
bringing up the rear This formation
saved MS from being wiped ont
Struck by Shell Fragments.
The Germans shelled US all across
the open ground, and when halfway
across a shell burst quite near us, aud
the man next but one IN flont OF me
was hit. We got him into shell hole
and found he had been shot clean
through the neck. and also hit In the
right shoulder and Ave places In III,
right arm. The y. c. q. and ban
dnged him up. but we were covered
with blood. and another shell burst
three Yards away and covered us witt
dirt We carried that boy on stretch
er Oh our shoulders for over two'miles
and he never complained or grunblel
although the ground was rough and Va
had TO jolt him sometimes.
There was also another man h..
In the shoulder. but he coul1 wall
and smoked his plle and talked o'
"Bllglity." These men nre wonderful
and we should think Of them and wllu
they suffer when we grumbc whci
our little fingers ache. The doctor tolt
me that our landagine was successful
and that the boy would live, but nev
er thought that he or any Of ny woult
ever get through alive.