Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1918-08-09

~
Gunner Depew IN French Sailor Uni
form.
number OF heavy guns from Brest
and were given the job of running
them ashore. It was day and night
work and a great job for fun, because,
while you never knew when you
would get Vt, you had good reason to
feel you would get damned by cute
little shell or a dainty bit of shrap-
mel before the job was over.
Aboard ship 1t was deck work, Of
course, and 1t was not much better
there than ashore with the guns, be-
cause the enemy trenches were near
the shore and they amused them
selves trying to pick us Off whenever
we showed on deck. guess we were
a regular shooting gallery for them,
and some of our men thought they
did not need all the practice they
were getting. for quite q few of us
acted as bulls eyes.
But we did not mind the bullets so
much. They make a clean wound or
put you away entirely; shrapnel
tears you up and can play all kinds
of tricks with various parts of your
body without killing you. AS for
shells-well, mincemeat is the word.
The Narrows were thick with mines
and there had been a great deal of
damage done there, so after while
the British detailed their Yarmouth
trawlers to go in and sweep up. They
had to go up unprotected, of course,
and they started Off one night all
serene.
Everything went well until they
turned at the Narrows and started
back. Then. before you could tell it,
five or six searchlights were playing
on one of the trawlers and shells
were splashing the water all over her.
Both banks were simply banging away
point blank at them and l never
thought they would get back.
They did get back. though, but
some of them had hardly enough men
left to work ship. But that is like
the Limeys. They will get back from
anywhere while there is one man
alive.
A chap aboard one Of the trawlers
said shell went through the wheel
house between the quartermaster and
himself and all the Q. NJ. said was,
"Gaw blimey, that tlckled."
But / Know their shooting was
very bad said the other chap to me.
"Tlfose Turks must have thought the
flue was behind Them
Coming back from the DardanelIes
a gold stripe sent for me and asked
me whether thought there were
other ex-navy gunners In the States
that. would serve with the French.
/ told them the country was full Of
good gunners and he wanted me to
write to all I knew and get them to
come over. He did not mean by this,
and neither do I, that there were not
good gunners In the French navy, be-
cause there were-lots Of them. But
you can never have too many handy
boys with the guns and he was very
anxious for me to get all I could. I
had no way Of reaching the ex.garbies
l did know, so I had to pass up this
opportunity to recruit by mail.
While we were In Brest / got per-
mission to go aboard a submarine
and a petty officer showed me around
This was the first time | was in the
interior of sub and / told the officer
that would like to take a spin in the
tub myself. He introduced me to the
commander, but the petty officer said
he did not think they would let me
stay aboard. / showed the COM
mander my passport and talked to
him for while, and he said he
would take me on their practice
cruise two days later If the Old Man
gave me written permission.
So l hot-footed it back to the Cas-
sard and while ! did not promise that
/ would get any American gunners Tor
him In exchange for the written per-
was so thick, and the combers were
breaking over our bows three a min
ute. The coast here is pretty danger
Gus, so we went in very slowly and
had the sounding line going until its
whir-r-r-r sounded louder than a ma
chine gun In action.
l was on the starboard bow at the
time and had turned to watch some
garbies poking at the scuppers to
drain the water off the deck. But the
scuppers had been plugged and they
were having hard time of 1t. The
officer on the bridge, In oilskins, was
walking up and down, wiping Off the
business end of his telescope and try
ing TO dodge the rain. All of the gar
bies but one left the scuppers on the
starboard side and started across
decks TO port. The other chap kept
on foolng around the scuppers. Their