Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-07-30
HOW AMERICANS FIGHT
Monroe Man Writes of Experiences in
France.

Monroe (N. c. Enquirer.
The Enquirer is hcholdcn TO Mr. J.
J. Parker for the following interest
ing letter, written him by his brother.
Lieutenant Sam /. Parker. who has
been in France several months:
The past two months have been fill
ed with adventure and II ended in
glorious climaX-thc first attack OF
the American soldiers in the war. No
doubt you have had quite minute
details OF the attack in the papers;
so | will fight shy of things that the
censor might cut. ] will tell you just
about my personal experiences. My
platoon was in the first wave Of the
attack: so ! was one of the very first
to go "ovcr the top" | had held n sec
tor Immediately in front OF the town
for several days which gave me n
splendid opportunity TO know what
was TO 20 up against. knew where
machine guns were located and prac
tically every point where the enemy
nelu tHe llIlc Will amy ioiS'S' INV
day before the attack was to como off
I was sent into the sector as an adj
vance officer for my company TO make
the necessary arrangements for tho
jumping on" On this day the Ger
mans pulled n nasty deal which they
paid for on tho day following. They
made n raid on our sector and killed
quite n number of men. ! was in the
trenches at tho time the raid was
pulled. This little stunt of tho enemy
didn't do much but raise the wrath of
the Americans for the day following.
In this scrap l saw some real fight
ing. Our men put it all over the
Roche. After n severe bombardmcnt
of the trenches. about seventy-flv Of
the square heads attempted to- come
over. They did not get across No
Mans Land and very few got back
alive into their own positions. Their
efforts failed, and worse than that.
1t put more red blood in the boys eyes
for the next day. In this scrap I got
little scratch on my left arm. y
fragment OF q shell flew past my arm
It cut quite n slit in the sleeves Of
my coat and shirt, but only graZcd
the flesh.
On the morning OF the attack. Of
course. everything was all set. The
boys were in the trenches. ready to
go "ovcr the top at Zero hour. This
was our first real attack and natural
ly everyone was not chatting as If Mt
n dinner party; however. every one
was in good spirits and waited anx-
iously for the minute to hop over the
parapet. For an hour before the
curtain for the show to raise. our ar
tillcry hammered the enemy posi-
tions: then came down our barragc
Everyone was on his toes and when
the top" every man sprang out of the
trenches. Attack formation was quick
ly taken up and We began moving off
in proper order. Every man was still
quiet. not knowing just what to OK
pcct. We had not advanced very far
before Germans began jumping out of
shell holes and beating 1t for tho
rear. The boys couldn't stand IT,.
They let out n terrible "rabbit-hunt-
ing" yell and began cutting them
down h their rifles. II was great
sport then. all the seriousness was
over.
You have wondered why chose
the infantry to all other branches OF
the service. Now YOU know. ! want
ed the satisfaction Of meeting the
Boche face to face. and this Is the
only branch of the service where one
can have this superb satisfaction.
know now that l am a better man
than he Is, and that the average
American soldier is far superior to
the best German in q hand to hand
encounter. My men can count on an
average Of ten of the enemy per man.
In other words, / started the scrap
with 35 men and I estimate that my
platoon can easily account for $50 OF
"turn-in" with the satisfaction Of
knowing that ! have done as much as
the average officer to put an end to
Prussianism. But they are not going
to get me. l hope to cause them much
more grief when I have another op-
portunity. The Boche Is n brutal.
bloody being as long as he is behind
a machine, but when you go at him
with a determined bayonet he Is n
coward. On one occasion in the scrap
was rushing one of Fritz's strong
positions. I was doing the operation
with about twelve men. one section OF
my platoon. The enemy saw me rush
in. One big burely cuss. with whis-
kers. thought he would stay us Off.
He threw a grenade right between
my sergeant and me. but 1t did not
explode until we had rushed past.
The big brute saw that his grenade
did not phase our bunch, that we
were coming on after him: so he
jumped out OF the trench with his
hands up yelling "kamerad." Sergeant
said, Yes. n hell Of a kamerad." and
shot his bayonet clear through him.
About fifteen of the square heads then
came running out with their hands
up. I will never forget the express
sion Of one Of them. He was scared
plumb to death. His hands were just
about as near heaven as he could get
them. He cried out in English. II
have a wife and five children" took
him prisoner. Didn't have the heart
to shoot him.