Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1918-09-17


hole-l did not look around to see how
close 1t was-and / remember now
now the old minstrel joke had heard
on board ship came to my mind at the
something about fellow feel
Ing so small he climbed into a hole
ana pulled 1t after him-and l wished
l might do the same. / flattened my
self as close against the wall of the
crater as 1 could and then 1 noticed
that somebody had made a dugout in
the other wall of the crater and ]
started for it.
Inc shells were exploding so fast
by that time that you could not listen
for each explosion separately, and just
as jumped into the dugout regular
hail of shrapnel fell on the spot l had
just passed. 1t was pretty dark in
the dugOut and the first move l made
l bumped into somebody else and he
let out yell that you could have
heard a mile. 1t was a Tommy who
had been wounded in the hand and
between curses he told me 1 had sat
right on his wound when I moved.
asked him why he did not yell sooner
but he only swore more. He surely
was a great cusser.
The bombardment slackened up o
bit about this time, and 1 thought
would have look around. l did not
get out of the crater entirely, but
moved around out of the dugout until
| could see the road l had been on
The first thing l saw was a broken.
down wagon that had just been hit
in fact, it was topping over when my
eye caught it. The driver Jumped
/ from his seat and while he was in the
air his head was torn completely from
his shoulders by another she'll dc
not know what kind. This was enough
for me, so back to the dugout.
How the Germans did it 1 do not
know, but they had found out about
that road and opened fire at exactly
the moment when the road was Gov
cred with wagons and men. Yet there
had not been a balloon or airplane in
the sky for some time.
After a while the bombardment
moved away to the east from which
direction 1 had come, and I knew our
batteries were getting it. The Tommy
and came out of the dugout. AS ]
started climbing up the muddy sides
| saw there was man standing at
the edge of it, and ] could tell by his
puttees that he was a Limey. l was
having a hard job of it, so without
looking up hailed him.
''That was sure some Smelling,
wasn't it?" 1 said. There's a lad
down here with a wounded fla; better
give him a hand"
"What Smelling do you mean," says
the legs, without moving, There's
been none in this sector for some
time, think"
The Tommy was right at my heel
by this time, and he let out string
of language. / was surprised, too, and
still scrambling around in the mud.
Then the Tommy let a "Gawd 'elp
us % and / looked up and saw that the
| legs belonged to a Limey officer, a
major, think. And here we had been
cussing the eyes off of him
But he sized 1t up rightly and gave
us hand, and only laughed when we
tried to explain. 1 got ratified and
! told him that all saw was his legs
and that they did not look like an off,
GERS legs, which might have made it
worse, only he was good-natured about
~ Thnn hn co{d hot no
asleep in battalion headquarters dug
out, about q hundred yards away, and
only walked up when part of the roof
caved In on him. Yet he did not know
he had been shelled
went on down the road a stretch,
but soon found it was easier walking
beside it, because the Huns had shelled
it neatly right up and down the middle,
Also, there were so many wrecked
horses and wagons to climb over on
the road-besides dead men.
After l had passed the area of the
bombardment and got back on the
road sat down to rest and smoke. A
] couple of shells had burst so near the
crater that they had thrown the dirt
right into the dugout, and l was little
dizzy from the shock While l was sit
ting there a squad of Tommies came
up with about twice their number of
German prisoners. The Tommies hid
been making Fritz do the goose step
and they started them at 1t again when
they saw me sitting there. 1t sure
is good for laugh any time, this
goose step. l guess they call IL that
after the fellow who invented 1t.
One thing / had noticed about Fritz
was the way his coat fiared out at the
bottom, so / took this chance to fad
out about it, while they halted for a
rest just little farther down the
road. found that they carried their
emergency kits in their coats. These
kits contained canned meat, tobacco,
needles, thread and plaster-all this
in addition to their Regular pack.
Then l drilled down the road some
more, but had TO stop pretty soon to
let column of French infantry swing
on to the road from field. They
We're on their way to the trenches as
re-enforcements. After every two
companies there would be a wagon.
Pretty soon l saw the uniform of the
Legion. Then company of my regi-
ment came up and wheeled In with
them. We were in the rear of the coll
uma that had passed. Our boys were
going up for their regular stunt In the
front lines, while the others had just
arrived at that part of the front.
Then for the first time my feet be-
gan hurting me. Our boots we're made
of rough cowhide and fitted very well,
but it was days labor to carry them
on your feet. began tagging behind.
/ would lag twenty or thirty yards
behind and then try to catch up. But
the thousands OF men ahead of me
kept up the steady pace and very few
limped, though they had been on the
march since a. m. 1t was then about
IL q. N. Those who did limp were