Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-07-26

ed alongside and bossed them and felt
,s big as "A general. They were glad
to do il. We were carrying stretch
.rs from the dressing station that
time. so they weren't under fire.
One thing that always seemed prct
tv fin. TO me was the way our artil-
lcry would hold up If We had to carry
a wounded man across in front of
them. The noise is something fierce
when YOU arc in front of big guns,
especially ii you arc in the open. 10
they wouldn't fire Il shell until We
were well Icy them.
Theirs Was one time when | did give
a wounded man Il bad shaking up, but
IT wasn't my fault. Another man ana
were carrying Il stretcher through
little wood when German shell shot
rast and burst just in front Of us. The
man in front was knocked down and
the concussion spun me around
against a tree. OF course. We had to
Irop the stretchcr. When We pulled
ourselves together and got up, the fcl-
low On it just said:
well. come on! We amt dead
yet"
Plenty Of us were killed, though. ii
YOU have an idea that strctchcr car
r,ing is a "cushy" job. you're making
a grand mistake. The bearers don't
carry any weapons. not even Il reNoi-
yer. And they can't stick in the
trenches, either. When there mas
been IN advance they 40 out and get
the wounded who have. fallen in the
open: and as FritZ's guns have the
range of that section and are sending
shells into 1t all the time, II is no fun
To bc walking around there.
My chum in the ambulance unit
dared me to join the inrantry-so
did: And | saw u hot time at Mani
ctz-that's certain. But l had one
s,sll OF 81 days up at Vcrmcllcs that
WAS Il cinch compared with the work
we had in the Il. \. NJ. &. 1t isn't
any soft snap. Once | carried q
wounded man on my back for two
miles. through trenches most OF the
way. lie was badly hurt and | hur-
ricd to get him back-but he was dead
when | got him there.
They told me aftcrwards-somc OF
his comradcs-that ne said he had
seen the Angel OF Mons" That was
4. sort OF spirit. or ghost. that lots OF
solditt!S> SAVIOR said they saw. Gee!
You hear Il, lot of queer stories over
there. They had ,anc about dog
that used 10 run around in No Mars
Land at night and get you by the
throat. They said the Germans had
taken the brain of Il man who hated
the English and put ii in place of the
dogs brain and turned him loose. be-
cause they knew that no Tommy
would shoot Il dog. The fellows used
TO tell about seeing bodies with the
marks Of the dogs teeth in their
throats. If a dog had come around
while the story was being told. hc
wouldn't have known what struck
him! Fer once Tommy would have
forgotten to he kind To animals.
AS IL was. never did see him when
ne wasn't good to them. The English
certainly do love most anything that
goes on four feet. Except rats! They
have good reasons for hating them.
Isut anything else was sure OF a good
time with Tommy.
And that reminds me of one thing
saw that certainly did make me, and
every other man that saw 1t. want to
Kill every German between us and
Berlin. II was when we went into Il
ruined village which the Germans had
just evacuated. Anu there we found
q kitten. pinned to broken tree
trunk by three bayoncts. one through
rlch OF three paws: one was free.
The little thing was mewing-oh. II
was like bah! crying! couldn't be-
lievc II. But there they wcre-Gcr-
man hayoncts, And men that called
themselves soldiers had done ii. Any
body that could sec that little kitten
and not want to fight the kind OF
brutcs that put it thcrc-well. /
guess they'd he about rs bad. That's
the way 1t seems to me. First. ]
to cry. and them wanted to
kill. suppose the! thought it would
guess. We went ahead and we drove
them on. And l believe, in the end.
wen give them what they deserve.
don't want to end with story
like that, so I'll tell two incidents
that particularly impressed me.
was in an attack one time when
man said to me: 81 say. Something's
wrong with my back! Wish you'd see
what II is."
put my hand inside his tunic and
felt something like marbles under
the skin. II was five bullets from
machine gun. You see. sometimes
when we make an advance we go by
places where n couple Of Germans
have hiddcn--in a shell hole, perhaps
with n machine gun. When we are
hy they turn II on us. So that n
man may get hit in the back even
when he is going forward.
Well. this Tommy had got a whole
bunch of bullets, but he had no no
tion of quitting the game for that! He
kept right on: and after a while he
got another dose from in front. Pret-
~ bad ones this time: got him in the
I'll never forget the way
he looked down at himself. He look
cd kind OF funny and kind OF mad.
But then. he just laughed a little and
went on--and he kept on till we were
through the job. tell you, they're
Tommies.
The other story is about IN Ameri-
can: a funny little Jew from New Or
leans. He carried in his pocket n
picture of an American flag he had
cut out of a paper and he was al
ways talking about the "only coun-
fry IN anrfb" ond m on Moyhe his