Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1918-03-14

~
intosh, steel helmet, two blankets, tear.
shell goggles, q balaclava helmet.
gloves and a tin Of antifrostbite grease
which is excellent for greasing the
boots. Add to this the weight Of his
rations, ind can you blame Tommy for
growing ut a twenty-kilo route march3
Having served as sergeant major In
the United States cavalry, I tried to
tell the English drill sergeants their
business, but 1t did not work. They
Immediately put me as batman in their
mess. Many n greasy dish of stew was
accidentally spilled over them.
would sooner fight than be a waiter,
so when the order came through from
headquarters calling for q draft Of
$50 re.enforcements for France, l vol.
unteered.
Then we went before the NJ. O.
(medLcal oficerl for another physical
examination. This was very brief. He
asked our names and numbers and
said eft" and we went out to fight.
W. were put Into troop trains and
sent to Southampton. where we de-
trained, and had our trench rifles Is.
sued to us. Then in columns Of twos
we went up the gangplank Of n little
steamer lying alongside the dock.
At the head of the gangplank there
was an old sergeant, who directed that
we line ourselves along both rails Of
the ship. Then he ordered us to take
life belts from the racks overhead and
put them On. I have crossed the ocean
several times and knew I was not sen
sick, but-when I buckled on that life
belt I had a sensation Of sickness.
After we got out into the stream all
I could think Of was that there wer a
million German submarines with a tor.
pedo IN each. across the warhead Of
which was inscribed my name and nd.
dress.
After five hours we came alongside
a pier and disembarked. I had at.
tanned another one Of my ambitions.
I was somewhere in France" We
slept in the open that night on the side
Of the road. About six the next morn
ing we were ordered to entrain. !
looked around for the passenger
coaches, but all I could see on the sid.
ing were cattle cars. We climbed into
these. On the side of each car was
a sign reading "Hommes 40, Cheveaux
g." When we got inside Of the cars.
we thought, that perhaps the sign
painter had reversed the order Of
things. After 4S hours in these trucks
we detrained at Rouen. At this place
we went through an intensive training
for ten days.
The training consisted Of the rudi.
ments Of trench warfare. Trenches
had been dug. with barbed wire en-
t~anglements, bombing saps, dugouts,
observation posts and machine gun EN-.
placements, We were given a smat'
tering Of trench cooking, sanitation.
bomb throwing, accommodating, listen.
ing posts, constructing and repairing
barbed wire, carrying in" parties,
methods used In attack and defense,
wiring parties, mass formation, and
the procedure for polson-gas attacks,
On the tenth day we again met our
friends "Hommes 40, Cheveaux 8"
Thirty.six hours more Of misery, and
we arrived at the town Of F..
After unloading our rations and
equipment, we lined up or the road In
columns Of tours waiting for the order
to march.
A dull rumbling could be heard. The
sun was shining. I turned to the man
on my left and asked, "What's the
noise, BlllT" He did not know, but his
face was Of Q pea-green color. Jim,
on my right, also did not know, but
suggested that ] "awsk" the sergeant
Coming towards US was an old grlz'
zled sergeant. properly fed up with
the war, so I "awsked" him.
"Thlnk it's going to rain. s~ergeant?'
He looked at me In contempt. and
grunted. "'Ow's II a.goin' ter rpin with
the bloomin' sur a-shinin'T" I looked
guilty.
"Them's the guns UP the line, me
lad, md you'll get enough Of 'em be-
fore you gets back to Bllghty."
My knees seemed to wilt, and ]
squeaked out q weak "Ohw
Then we started our march up to the
line In ten.ltlo tricks. After the FIRST
days march we arrived at our rest
billets. In France they call them rest
billets, because while In them Tommy
works seven days q week and on the
eighth day Of the week be ID given
| t~wenty.four hours ION his own"
Our billet was q spacious affair. a
large barn on the left side Of tho road,
which had one hundred entrances,
u~inety.nins for shells, rats, wind and
rain, and the hundredth one tor Tom