The Mena weekly star., 1918-05-30

Ing, seemed to be stupe fled. while son. had the tears running down their cheeks. It was bitter disappointment to all
 How we blinded at the engineer of that train; 1t was all his fault (so we reasoned) ; why hadn't he speeded upa tIttle or been on time. then we would have gotten off before the order ar riyedf Now 1t was no BAghty for us.
 That return journey was misery to us; l just can't describe it.
 When we got back to rest blllets, we found that our brigade was in the trenches (another agreeable surprise) and that an attack was contemplated.
 Seventeen of the forty-one will never get another chance to go on leave; they were killed in the attack. Just think II that train haS been on time, those seventeen would still be alive.
 l hate to tell you how was kidded by the boys when got back, but it was good and plenty.
 Our machine gun company took over
  their part of the line at seven o'clock, the night after l returned from my near leave.
 At 80 the following morning three waves went over and captured the first and second German trenches. The machine gunners went over with the fourth wave to consolidate the cap tured line or 'dig in." as Tomm, calls 1t.
 Crossing No Mans Land without clicking any casualties. we came to the German trench and mounted our guns on the parados of same.
 never saw such a mess in my life punches of twisted barbed wire lying about, shell holes everywhere, trench all bashed In, parapets gone, and dead bodies. why. that ditch was full of them, theirs and ours. It was a regu- far morgue. Some were mangled hor- ribly from our shell Are, while others were wholly or partly buried in the mud, the result of she'll explosions cav ing In the walls of the trench. One dead German was lying on his back, with rife sticking straight up in the air, the bayonet of which was buried to the hilt in his chest. Across hIs feet lay dead English soldier with bul- let hole in his forehead. This Tommy must have been killed just as he ran his bayonet through the German.
 Rifles and equipment were scattered i about, and occasionally a steel helmet could be seen sticking out of the mud.
 At one point, just in the entrance to communication trench, was a stretch CT. On this stretcher a German was lying with white bandage around his knee, near to him lay one of the stretcher-bearers, the red cross on his arm covered with mud and his helmet filled with blood and brains. Close by, sitting up against the wall of the trench, with head resting on his chest, was the other stretcher-bearer. He seemed to be alive, the posture was so natural and easy; but when I got closer l could see large, jagged hole In his temple. The three must have been killed by the same shell-burst.
 The dug0uts were all smashed in and knocked about, big sQuare-cut timbers splintered Into bits. walls caved in and entrances choked.
 Tommy, after taking a trench, learns to his sorrow that the hardest part of the work is to hold 1t.
 In our case this proved to be so.
 The German artillery and machine guns had us taped (ranged) for fair ; it was worth your life to expose your self an instant.
 Don't think for minute that the Germans were the only sufferers; we were clicking casualties so fast that you needed an adding machine to keep track of them.
 Did you ever see one of the steam shovels at work on the Panama canalf We'll, 1t would look like hen scratch ing alongside of Tommy digging in" while under fire. You couldn't see day light through the clouds of dirt from his shovel.
 After losing three out of six men of OuF CHEW WE iuduuEtu tO otl up ONt machine gun. One of the legs of the tripod was resting on the chest of a half-burled body. When the gun was firing. it gave the impression that the body was breathing. This was caused bs ;he excessive vibration.
 1Ares or four feet town the trench, about three feet from the ground, foot was protruding from the earth. We knew it was German by the black leather boot One of our crew used that foot to hang extra bandollers of ammunition on. This man always was a handy fellow; made use of little points that the ordinary person would over look.
 The Germans made three counter attacks, which we repulsed, but not without heavy loss on our side. They also suffered severely from our shell snl machine gun fire. The ground was spotted with their dead and dying.
 The next day things were somewhat qnicter. but not quiet enough to bury the dead.
 We lived, ate and slept In that trench with the unburied dead for six days. It was awful to watch their faces be- come swollen and discolored. Towards the last the stench was fierce.
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