Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-01-29
FORMER FIGHTER TELLS OF WAITING TO &
GO OVER THE TOP AND OF THE WAY THE
SOLDIERS FEEL BEFORE THEY START OUT

Los Angeles, Cal, Jan. 29.-With all
the talk of food conservation at home.
speeding up of war industries and
greater loans to the allies, it will be
the American army in the field which
will be the determining factor in the
present conflict 1t will be the num-
Der of men-well equipped divisions,
new and greater guns-but above all,
the pluck and dash of the men from
/ here-thinks Larry Lasher, former
Australian boxer, which will drive the
only private with the Australian
forces, but he knows the meaning of
Over the Top" and what it means to
break through Fritz guard. He ad-
mits that money. facilities. shipping
and other necessities of war are the
real background of success, but he is
, just as insistent that it is the men
men in large numbers, who must pre-
vail in the end.
Lasher, with l.. r. Cridland, both
/ discharged men, are among the latest
arrivals in San Francisco from the
Antipodes. Lasher was sent home q
victim of rheumatism as the result,
, of long service in the trenches, while
Cridland was put out of commission
! by bullet from a sniper that took
him in the leg.
Was Good Boxer.
| Before the war Lasher did some
good boxing around Australia, while
Cridland was carpenter. One en-
listed for work, the work of hauling
munitions up to the trenches, the 9th
er was assigned to the engineers
Cridland was through the fighting IL
| the Dardanelles, where so many O
| Australia's foremost sportsmen were
killed, and has known the feeling tina
comes to the man shipping barbet
wire under the fire of the enemy.
artillery
! Upon receipt of request for i'm
mediate service the Australian officer'
sent Lasher and Cridland abroad will
the first draft. They were on the fir
ing line at Ypres, saw long servic,
in Belgium and on the French front
Their experiences in winter convince
them that little actual progress Cal
be made under the heavy rains, il
the snow and mud. But in the sprin.
/ and summer, when Americas fresl
troops begin operations, these tw,
fighting men say the odds of the allie
will be asserted.
up to the time we left, Ypres wa
one mess of ruins. and Fritz wa
sending shells over to do more dam
age. but it was of no avail" sal,
Lasher.
Received Orders Soon.
"The only harm he did was to xii
a few soldiers, who happened to b
in the way of those death dealers. A
l said before, We expected orders L
move, and in a very short time tina
prophecy proved correct, because on
Sunday we were marched away bac
behind the firing line and entraine
in cattle trucks. about thirty or fort
Of us in each truck. After two day
and two nights of bitterly cold travel
ing we detrained at a small villag
just outside of Amiens. very larg
town. about sixty miles from Paris
Amiens road about this time wa
about the busiest road in France.
"Brigades and brigades of artillery
field ambulance corps. motor an
horse transports. engineers and infan
try and motor busses where all NOV
ing In the one direction. That nigh
We camped at small village abou
five kilometres Tor two and hal
miles, from the firing line. In tn
morning We shouldered our rifles, an
were only about half mile from tn
village, when we heard a shell screech
ing over our heads; then another an
another; and what we were expectin
, happened Just on the outskirts @
the village was a large ammunition
dump. Shells ranging from the littl
1S-pounders up to the large II an
II inch Jack Johnsons were stacke
there Well. it happened that one c
Fritz shells found its mark, and tn
la ,sest explosion ! ever heard wa
when that dump went into the ali
And how lucky were We. because man
a poor fellow went UP with IT,
/ Asks Many Questions.
! I'VE went up to the trenches an