The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-08-31

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an advance along the line. Al
along my platoon you could hea
the boys chuckling and whispering
and getting set, and some of then
were singing ever 30 softly. I re
and do They Miss Me-" Then, a.
4;S0 sharp, the barage opened. From
the sound of It think all the guns
big and little, French and Ameri
can, on that whole front had gone
off. They told me afterwards that Il
just what happened; the watches
were all synchronized. These gun!
spoke as If q single hand had fired
single gun, the biggest gun the
world has ever known. have beer
under guns or within sight of then
every day and ever night since the
middle Of May, or pretty nearly.
thought I knew what gunfire was
but I never knew real gunfire be-
fore.
And Then I'VE Began"
1t was 4:34. I could see the
captain crossing himself and say
ing a little prayer. Come to think
Of it he wasn't Catholic, but II
doesn't matter. 1 suppose we al
4:35-zero-the time to begin, and
we began. wish you could have
seen the way that platoon went over
the top; shouting, singing, some
swearing, but keeping straight
line; oh, very straight line. A wood
was our first objective. It was
scarce 200 yards away and in it
were Germans hiding in dugouts
Germans at machine guns, trying 10
stop US, but it couldn't be done.
You can't stop Americans. A few
men dropped; some dead. some
wounded. We kept up heavy fire
as we advanced on the wood. Sud
denly the firing ceased and 10 and
behold, in single file, one behind
the other they filed out-about 500
Germans in all and taken in the first
20 minutes!
A moment later and I heard the
colonefs voice behind US, us this
company NJ? Good work. great work.
Keep it up"
We charged the woods. A few
Germans were found in the trees,
dugouts, etc. Then I forget every
thing for a few minutes. When l
came to I felt something warm on
my stomach. reached up my hand
and saw 1t was blood. Ny runner
was kneelinE by me. / saw at once
that it was not serious. A first aid
packet strapped tightly around me,
drink Of water and then through
the woods after the platoon. We
found three Germans In it as we
went through. It was either them
or ourselves who were to stop and
they will bother no more. When I
came up to the company they were
In wheat field under heavy ma
chine gun fire. Pop Crane went
forward to put them out of business
He did 1t but he didn't come back.
1 sent runner to the captain; he
too was wounded I was in command
Of the company.
Wounded In the Stomach.
Forward again we went and I
came on to Pop Crane. He was
wounded. He took his re-
voIver from his holster, smiled;
handed it to me and said, do your
best with it boy, can't use it any
more" left him there with a man
to care for him. Inside Of ten min
utes the man was back. Pop had
smiled to the last and I had to stop
to wipe my eyes. There's a little
wife and three little children back
in Summertown, Tenn, who are GO
ing to be mighty lonesome. If I
wanted to define the word, gentle
man, I'd say, Pop Crane"
Boy Cries to Stay.
On We went. 10 kilometers I think
they say we advanced. We took
many prisoners. Had some men
killed, some wounded. A book
wouldn't tell all that happened. One
boy OF Is was Rassed. I ordered him
back; told him he had done his bit.
He cried to stay but started. back.
They told me when he reached the
dressing station he had six Boche
prisoners. He'd gotten them out Of
a dugout on his way in. About ten
we captured a major general. I say
we; as a matter Of fact there were
men from three regiments mixed UP
in 1T. He was very tall and was
standing with his great cape drawn
ABOUT him when we entered the
dugout. He rose and went up the
steps and out without saying any
thing. It's funny the little things
you notice. Behind us on the roof
OF building a signal corps private
was stringing a wire and a pal of
his was feeding the wire UP to him.
When the shell fell it knocked the
ground man against the wall, but
part Of it struck the man on the roof
with such force that 1t knocked off
the back half Of his steel hat. lie
wasn't hurt. He was merely
dazed. Three minutes later I saw
him still sitting on the roof hold
ing the end of the broken wire in bis
hand. Well" he called down to his
sidekick, Il guess we'd better splice
this wire,' and he went on with his
work.
About 4 o'clock in the afternoon, /
think 1T was, we were held up again
by machine gun fire. Our ranks had
been thinned pretty badly and I was
the only officer left. A runner came
to me with note from the major.
He was coming up with reinforce-
ments. Thankful, breathed a little
prayer. He was there in fifteen min
utes. We were organized in twenty
and ready to go forward again.
The mapor came UP to me. "You
~
mot badly, sir"
Well you get out. Go on back."'
Plead as / would he wouldn't let
me stay and so the Red Cross got
me and I had to leave my boys. I'd
have given my right hand to have
stayed. don't remember much
after that. I know we went two or
thre miles to a Red Cross aid sta
ton and was trucked here and
there in ambulances. Then there
was a doctor and a nurse. The nurse
was holding my hands and was
all clean and they had taken the
shell out and I was bandaged up.
She looked like an angel to me. I
kinda think she was one for she
laughed and told me / was not hurt
badly. Then / went 10 Paris to d
hospital and Gen. Pershing visited
us there, and then / came to Nantes
That was about two weeks ago and
I'm almost ready to 70 back now.
My physique was good I mend
rapidly and am anxious TO be back
again