The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1918-12-06
Tells How u. S. Marines
Held the Road to Paris

In the forest; n finer one / have never
seen--deer would scamper ahead and
we could have eaten one raw. At ten
o'clock that night, without food, we
lay down In pouring rain to sleep.
Troops of all kinds passed up in the
night---a shadowy stream. over n half
million men. Some French officers
told us that they had never seen such
concentration since Verdun. II then.
'"The next day, the 18th of July, we
marched ahead through jam of
troops, trucks. ETC., and came mt last
10 II ration dump where we fell to and
ate our heads Off for the first time In
nearly two days. When we left there
| the men had bread stuck on their bay
Onets. lugged ham. All were
loaded down. Here ! passed one of
Wass' lieutenants with his hand
wounded. lie was pleased as Punch
and told us the drive was on-the first
we knew of 1t. L then passed few
men of Hunts company bringing pris-
oners To the rear. They had Il colonel
and his staff. They were well dress
ed, clean and polished, but mighty
glum looking. ~
1--WE finally stopped Mt the far end
of the forest near u dressing station,
where Holcomb again took command.
This station had been big, fine stone
farmhouse, hut was now n csmplete
ruin--wOunded and dead lay all about.
Joe Murray came by with his head
all done up; his helmet had saved him.
The lines had gone on ahead. so we
were quite safe. Had fine aero bat
tie right over us. The stunts that
those planes did cannot be described
by me.
Field Covered With Dead.
Late in the afternoon we adj
vanccd again. Our route lay over an
open field covered with dead. We lay
down on n hillside for the night, near
some captured German guns, and UNI
/ til dark l watched the cavalry, some
1000, come up and take positions.
AT 3 80 the next morning Sltz woke
me up and said we were to attack. The
regiment was soon under way. and we
picked our way under cover Of n gas
infested valley to a town, where we
got our final instructions, and left our
packs. wished Sumner good luck, and
we parted.
"We formed up in sunken road on
two sides of valley that was perpen-
dicular to the enemy's front; Hughes
right. Holcomb left. Sibley support. We
now began to get few wounded; one
man, with ashen face. came charging
to the rear with shell shock. He shook
all over. foamed at the mouth, could
not speak. put him under II tent. and
he acted MS If he had n fit.
II heard Lieutenant Overton call to
one of his friends to send a certain
pin to his mother IL he should get hit.
"At 80 we jumped off with a line
of tanks in the lead For two kilos
the four lines Of marines were as
straight MS die. and their advance
over the open plain in the bright sun
light was n picture I shall never for
get. The fire got hotter and hotter,
men fell. bullets sung. shells whizzed-
banged, and the dust of battle got
thick. Overton was hit by a big piece
of shell and fell. Afterward heard
he was hit I'm the heart so his death
was without pain. He was buried
that night. and the pin found.
Lost II Out of 20 Officers.
at 80 we dug in; the attack
just died out. I found a hole or old
trench and when / was fiat on my
back I got some protection. Hol-
comb was next me; Wilmer some way
Off. We then tried to get reports. Two
companies we never could get In
touch with. Lloyd came in and re-
ported he was holding some trenches
near mill with six men. Gates,
with his trousers blown off. said he
had 16 men of various companies
another officer on the right reported
he had and could see some 40 men,
all told. That, with the headquarters,
was all we could find out about the
battalion of nearly 800. OF the 20
company officers who went In, three
came out. and one, Gates. was slightly
wounded.
Prom then on to about 8 p. m. life
was chance, and mighty uncomfort-
able. It was hot as furnace, no wa
ter. and they had our range to IT.
We had a machine gun officer with