Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1917-07-26
lhallow graves Of the dead. Most Of

lhallow graves Of the dead. Most of
the soldiers legs are Scared to the
knees with bites.
The one thing of which we constant
~ lived in fear was a gas attack.
used to wake in the middle of the night
In a cold sweat dreaming that heard
the clatter and whistle blowing all
along the line which meant that the
gas was coming. And finally really
did hear the terrifying sound, just at
a moment when it couldn't have sound
ed worse. was in charge of the daily
ration detail, sent back about ten miles
to the point of nearest approach of the
transport lorries to carrS in rations,
ammunition and sand bags to the front
trenches. We had lot of trouble re-
turning with our loads. Passing n
point which was called Shrapnel Cor
ner, because the Germans had precise
range Of it, we were caught In ma
chine gun fire and had to lie on our
stomachs for twenty minutes, during
which we lost one man, wounded
sent him back and went on with my
party, only to run into another machine
gun shower half mile farther on.
While we We're lying down to escape
this a concealed British battery of
five inch guns, about which we knew
nothing, opened up right over our
heads. 1t shook us up and scared us SO
that some of our party We're now worse
off than the man who had been hit and
carried to the rear. We finally got to-
gether and went on. When we We're
about mile behind the reserve trench,
stumbling in the dark through the last
aid most dangerous path overland, we
heard a lone siren whistle, followed by
a wave of metallic hammering and wild
footing which seemed to spread over
all Of Belgium mile ahead of us. All
any of us could say was:
"Gas!"
All you could see in the dark was a
collection of white and frightened
faces. Every trembling finger seemed
awkward as thumb as we got out our
gas masks and helmets and put them
on, following directions as nearly as
we could. l ordered the men to sit
still and sent two forward to notify
me from headquarters when the gas
alarm was over. They lost their way
and We're not found for two days. We
sat there for an hour, and then VEN
tured to take my mask off. AS nothing
happened, ordered the men to do the
same. When we got into the trenches
with our packs we found that the gas
alarm had been one of FritZ's jokes.
The first sirens had been sounded in
the German lines, and there hadn't
been any gas.
Our men evened things up with the
Germans, however, the next night
Some of our scouts crawled clear up
to the German barbed Wire, ten yards
in front of the enemy fire trench, tied
empty jam tins to the barricade and
then, after attaching small telephone
wires to the barbed strands, crawled
back to our trenches When they start
ed pulling the telephone wires the
empty tins made clatter right under
Fritz's nose. Immediately the Germans
opened up with all their machine gun
and rife fire, began bombing the spot
from which the noise came and sent
up IS o s" signals for artillery fire
along a mile of their line. They fired
a $4,000 salute and lost nights sleep
over the noise made by the discarded
containers of 5 shillings' worth Of jam.
1t was good tonic for the Tommics