The twice-a-week Twin Falls times. (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1916-1918, 1917-11-20
AN AMERICAN SOLDIER IN FRANCE
EXPERIENCES ON The FIRING line
An Interesting Letter From an American Volun-
teer, Who Now Wears u S. Buttons on the
French Uniform He Has Worn for Two Years

The Postes de Secours at r. is
a large poste in large cave, dug near
the top of HILL just under the crest,
and extending deep down into the clay
and limestone formation. The cave !
consists of four large rooms, with a
large center air shaft and hand power /
fan ventilator supplying the fresh |
air" and is lighted by electricity.
On the way up from the car to the
cave, Rodg indicated the various pOilIls
of interest, namely, the observation
poste above; the klaxOn gas alarm
the place where the shell landed a few
days before not over 25 yards from
one of the men, showering him with
mud and rocks and the conclusion
nearly knocking him down; and, most
interesting of all a few old shell holes
filled with water from recent rains
and which the men, taking advantage
of these benefits of nature, were using
as bath tubs in which to perform their
morning additions.
This was very interesting and with
out any particular danger or excite
ment, l was beginning to think, when
suddenly l became cOnciOus of a very
strange sound similar to what one
llE4Io WItu 0Atdll 10 toAu lllI6f WIN q
bit Of a whistle, or when someone
somewhere is tearing a heavy piece
of sheeting, the noise fast becoming
louder and nearer.
Under Shell Fire
1t took me only a brief moment to
realize the source and true signifi-
canoe and meaning of the sound
shell was arriving somewhere in our
very near vicinity And while / felt
no particular alarm, possible this was
due to the fact that a Frenchman
stanoing quite near me was quite calm
and composed and / must have alb
sorbed some of his composure Most
of the pOilus have ears well tuned TO
the whistle so that they can tell from
the sound just about where an arrival
is going to land But probably my
feeling was that of more or less help
lessness, and being a novice l could
derive 10 comfort whatever from the
situation in which some BOche gunner
had certainly placed me. My one main
'dea, reyerting to the prime instinct OF
self preservation was to duck, lie fiat
beat it somewhere, and get under COW
err But following the example of my
Gallo neighhor, I stuck to the spot
and fortunately had occasion to be
bit thankful for it a little later, be-
cause the shell fell short and eXplOd-
ed on top of the hill, and an otherwise
humorous situation, at my expense
was thereby averted.
This may sound like folly to you
but not all We have all learned to do
as the Frenchmen do, only more So
we duck twice as often. When alone,
we duck all the time. In this case
experience would have told me that
this particular shell was not intended
for us. and ! promise you, if that
poilu hadn't been standing near, l
would have been flat on the ground
OF in a hole, if one had been cOnven-
iently near OF this | am positive, be-
cause not two minutes after the first
arrival, a second came whining over
and being close to a poilu who hap
pened to be a bit nearer the haven
and stepped in just ahead of me-but
only Just. The shell struck about so
yards from us.
The SamOli's Wriss Watch
This closed the excitement at r
because the rest of the morning was
quiet as a New England Sunday and
I found nothing more to interest me
beyond a trivial conversation with
young lieutenant who was making an
effort to speak English, equally as
painful as mine to speak French, and
the conversation turned to the usual
topics-how many Americans are
there in France; when we came and
where we landed, and how long do we
think the war will last? But l GER
tainly did derive home amusement
from seeing a coal black native from
SamOl land come walking out of the
cave, and in passing. he raised his
wrist, turned back his coat sleeve
and took the time of day from a little
silver wrist watch he was wearing.
Can you beat it? Imagine Ed. Eleanor
or Gardeners Henry in a similar po-
sition.
At noon, just as we were ready to
eat our lunch, they brought in a
"couche," in other words a man so
badly wounded he has to lie down, and
this of course meant a trip to the hos
pital After dressing his wound Che
had been hit in the knee) they carried
him down to the car. And that little
procession of four brancardiers with
the stretcher on their shoulders, went
down the hill, stopping once at group
OF men in a little dug out to lower
the man for handshake and last word
of parting cheer from his comrades.
was most impressive. And for some
strange reason it called to mind that
picture of Siegfried's death in that old
book "StOries From the Opera" we
used to read when kids, long ago
(Remember, mother?). Again, after the
stretcher had been put into the car
and the door closed, another comrade
came running up to have us open the
door again, so he could climb in and
add his word of farewell cheer. All
of which cheer was we'll added, be-
cause a man in pain certainly needs
something to buoy up his spirits, for
an ambulance at best is not comfort
able over that long and somewhat
rough trip back to the hospital, driv-
ing as slowly and carefully as we do
when a "couche" is in the car
From the hospital we came back to
v where, according to our system,
we were third on call