Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1918-11-22
OUR VS.
OUR COUN1RY'S SERVICE

, The first man among the boys who
left PASSPORT with Company or any
! other unit to return to Eastport after
seeing service i'll France. is Sergeant
Ralph Colwell, who arrived there
! Thursday to spend a furiOugh with
/ his mother, Mrs. Stuart Colwell, at
the North End.
Sergeant Colwell left Eastport with
| Company l late in the spring of 1917.
| and went with it overseas to Eng
land, and finally to France where the
Company, as unit Of the 26th
, Division, has been stationed since.
He says that they were in training
until early in February, when they
were sent into the front lihe. in
| which or near which, they have been
ever since. They have been sta
toned in several different sectors.
the first being town south and east
of Laon, in territory now being ap-
preached by the French in their
drive north from scissors. They
! spent several months also in the st.
Mihiel region, south east Of Verdun.
In all this time they were not en-
gagged in actual fighting, but were
under shell fire a great deal.
/ The first actual fighting in which
they took part was the attack made
by the Germans or June 16 when 600
Boches came over under smoke
screen, and only 275 went back, after
they had been stopped by the rifle
fire of the Americans. Sergeant Col
well states that the men lost by the
Company in that attack were mainly
? killed by shell fire.
They also took part in the drive on
the Germans in the Marine salient,
their position then being north and
west of Chateau Thierry. and their
advance almost due east against the
flank of the Germans. from tho town
of Torey to Epieds. A few men
! were gassed in this advance, but
from shell gas only. no cloud gas
having been used. The company was
not in actual fighting during the ad-
vance. but in pursuit OF the enemy
who was retiring rapidly. He left
the Company July %, and four days
later embarked for this country ar
irving here August IL.
/
contains only about IS or 20 Eastport
boys, the remainder of the number
that were enrolled in it having been
transferred to other uits, or assigned
to different service. Sergeants Brown
and Porter have heen recommended
for commissions as lieutenants and
Sergeants Spear and Corbett are
now in officers instruction camps,
and will probably soon be given COM
missions.
Sergeant ColwelI, when questioned
about Elmer Griffiths, said that n
she'll fell on the roof of dug.out in
which he was sheltered, and that a
mass Of wreckage caved in, some of
which caught the young mans legs
and crushed one SO badly it had to
be amputated.
The Indians in the Company are
excellent fighters he said, and are
well liked by the other men. All the
men are well-fed, and are the best
clothed. paid and equipped soldiers
in France.
Sergeant Coiweli is soon to return
\ to Camp Devens where he expects to
act as instructor for an indefinite
time. but hopes eventually to be sent
back to France for duty in the field
The following letter has just been
received by Mrs. 3. l.. Blakney OF
Fairfield FROM her son Herbert who
is in France
Oct. 10, 1918.
Dearest Mother:
ting down to my little table writing
ny the light OF lantern. Barker
and John Barnes are sitting here
talking and some of the boys arc
playing cards outside or are arguing
the war problem. We are living in a
barrack Ga barrack is a wooden
structure 100 ft.-30 ft.) and in the
four corners there is small portion
partitioned off for non commissioned.
! am living in one and across the
way are Hack and John. l have a
stove and these rainy days q fire
feels good.
| Well, we are in new section
from where we were but not far from
it. To get here We hiked about "a
KIN. and now are in reserve. We are
in the woods only about KIN. from,
the historic city of this war. Was
over the other day with Hack
Blonde, Barker and Lambert and
looked the city over together with it's
famous Notifications. The Boches
were putting in some pretty big
stuff about every five minutes hut
we didn't worry about them This IL
/ Madeline's old home, you know.
from our little training village, so it
was doubly interesting 10 me. We
all bought 4 tiny gold plated souvenir
with the famous French "On ne passe
pas" on one side and the famous two
4 towers on the other.
/ The news is SO cheerful lately that
every body is on tiptoe. Tonight,s
paper says the Germans accent our
terms and will evacuate all invaded
! territory but by the sound of the
guns at this minute it doesn't sound
like peace. Doubtless we will assist
! them in their evacuation.
The other night l saw q fleet of
$50 bombarding machines 20 over
1 here in formation. How would Won
like to see a sight like that And
! they all had pills" for Fritzie.
i Yesterday we gave two concerts
and today we played for a review Of
our two battalions ana decorations of
five OF our men by our division COM