Grand Forks herald., 1918-09-02

nightfall. We could almost tell to
the minute when the methodical
boches would, start hell going, and we
arranged our chow hours SO that the
Smelling would not interfere with our
digestions. Most Of the buildings in
the town had been reduced to mere
shells. but the Germans kept popping
knock down the laN brick. 4
There We're about twenty five In
habdtants In the town and most of
them were olds most Of them lived in
the cellars of 4 she'll battered home-
steads. An old woman there had lost
three eon1 in the war; she still re-
tained a COW. q pig and several hens.
When the, Huns tossed over shells she
philosophically retired to her cellar
and remained there until the death
shower was over.
OF course, q you can imagine, each
Of the batteries $of our regiment
coveted the honor Of firing the first
gun for Uncle Sam. We made, up our
minds that our battery. and no other,
would do the trick.
But We got q bad shock on the
night OF October ~, when informa-
ton reached sus that another battery
was out TO steal the bacon. We
howled with rage and apprehension
when we got tho news
Are ye going to let them get away
with 'it?" cried a gunner.
Wed be sick lot Of hounds II
we did," said.
hound to Get the FIRST Shot.
I Our battkry commander was ter
ribly aroused. for he had set his
heart on that first shot. But it was a
bad night for any kind Of All opera
ton. Rain fell with tropical violence,
and mud lay everywhere, foot or
more in depth.
If you lads have the guts," said
our commander. well fire that first
shot Who will volunteer to pull the
gun into position by hand?"
Every man-jack in the battery vol
unteered with a whoop.
1t vas JOB that would have taxed
the utmost strength and courage of
any body Of men. Before the gun
could be placed in position to fire the
first shot, We must drag it through
distance OF three-quarters Of a mile
over an almost impossible country
swamp, pocked with mud checked
shell holes.
But We huskies were fired by the
fierceM kind Of enthusiasm, and the
thought that another battery was
planning to cut in ahead os us was
Just the incentive we needed. So we
bent to our task with a will.
| Though the night was black as ink.
we were not allowed lanterns to light
our way over the quagmire. The fash
| OF light would have imme mediately
drawn fire from the batteries Of the
enemy.
So we stumbled along through the
rain and muck, perspiring and ours
ing at our job, but not relaxing one
iota in our determination to land the
| gun in place where we could pot
the Hun. a
was filled with kind of fierce ex-
hilaration. as tugged and pulled un-
til I thought my arms would jump
| gun into position I knew 1 would be
the one to fire it. and the very
thought of sending the first shot over
Tor Uncle Sammy made my noodle
swim withSjoy. Drenched with muck
and rain. as l was, could hardly re-
frain from giving whoop after whoop
of happiness.
Once I stumbled and plunged into
a shell hole filled to the brim with
sand. sank to my armpits and
would have undoubtedly slipped in
over my head, had not a comrade
grabbed me by the hair and pulled
me to safety.
A little later, another man sank in
to one Of these death traps, and we
had to feel around quite a bit in the
darkness before we located him. He
was actually gurgling with the mud ia
his lips when we.s yanked him out.
h Several times g, gs,s ss.,narrowly eseap
Eted dropping ttnfn one Of the crateIS
and rfit had, tho Jig would have been
up for that night, and probably
D would have never f1red the. first gun
u .BrushSa and stumps of trees imped-
ed our progress. Frequently we
would fall over these distractions,
and would curse in regulation United
States while we picked ourselves UP
and felt for the gun ropes again. We
barked our chins. tore our uniforms
and lost our tempers, but our de-
4 termination remained as iron-clad.
Ready to Do or Die.
i felt that would rather die than
fail in the attempt to place that lit
tie Is in position. s *
i Thoughts of the ambition Of the
rival battery spurred all Of us to give
| the best in u.s.
| "Going to beat us to it, are they?"
| srowled an artilleryman who had
barked his shins against distractions
until they bled. We'll. they have a
fat chance with this bunch of huskies
T.. =.