Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1918-08-02
A Regular Hail Of shrapnel Fell.

A Regular Hail Of Shrapnel Fell.
hail of shrapnel fell on the spot had
| just passed. 1t was pretty dark In
the dugout and the first move made
1 bumped into somebody else and he
let out yell that you could have
heard a mile. II was Tommy who
had been wounded In the hand and
| between curses he told me l had sat
right on his wound when / moved. /
asked him why he did not yell sooner.
but he only swore more. He surely
was great cusser.
The bombardment slackened up Il
bit about this time, and l thought
would have a look around. l did not
get out OF the crater entirely, but
moved around out of the dugout until
1 could see the road ] had been on.
down wagon that had just been hit
in fact, It was topping over when my
eye caught IL. 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 do
not know what kind. This was enough
for me, so back to the dugout
How the Germans did IL ! do not
know, but they had found out about
that road and opened fire at exactly
the moment when the road was COW
cred with wagons and men. Yet there
had not been n balloon or airplane in
the sky for some time.
After while the bombardment
moved away to the east, from which
direction l had come, and / knew our
batteries were getting 1t. The Tommy
and l came out OF the dugout. AS l
started climbing up the muddy sides
saw there was man standing at
the edge Of 1t, and ! could tell by his
puttees that he was a Limey. was
having a hard job of 1t, so without
, looking up l hailed him.
"That was sure some Smelling,
wasn't IT." I said. "There's a lad
: down here with a wounded fin; 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 ut my heel
, by this time, and he let out string
OF language. was surprised, too. and
l still scrambling around in the mud.
, Then the Tommy let "Gawd 'elp
! us !" and looked up and saw that the
legs belonged to IA Limey officer, n
. major. think. And here we had been
,riiGSipp tho ayns off of him
) But he sized 1t up rightly and gave
us II hand and only laughed when we
tried to explain. l got ratified and
told him that all / saw was his legs
2 and that they did not look like an Off
. GERS legs, which might have made II
= worse, only he was good-natured about
IL. Then he said that ne had been
: asleep in battalion headquarters dug
Y out, about hundred yards away, and
G 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 stretch
but soon found 1t was easier walking
s beside II, because the Huns had shelled
= 1t neatly right up and down the middle
s horses and wagons to climb over OF
& the road-besdes dead men,
e After | had passed the area OF the
J. bombardment and got back on the
r road ! sat down to rest and smoke. A
n couple of shells had burst so near the
# crater that they had thrown the dir
II ripSt into the dugout, and ! was littl,
1 =
i ting there Il squad Of Tommies came
e mp with about twice their number OF
: German prisoners. The TOmmies haC
It been making Fritz do the goose stcI
o and they started them at ii again wheI
y they saw me sitting there. 1t SURF
It is good for laugh any time, thii
- goose step. / guess they call 1t tina
after the fellow who invented II.
e One thing l had noticed about Frit
n was the way his coat hared out at tn,
t bottom, so | took this chance to fin'
,r out about 1t. while they halted for
10 rest just IL little farther down tn
y road. | found that they carried thei
Is emergency kits in their coats. Thes
W kits contained canned meat, tobacco
W needles. thread and plaster-all thi
"a In addition to their regular pack.
he Then ! drilled down the road som
IL more, but had to stop pretty soon I
lie let column of French infantry swim
ID on to the road from a field. The
y were on their way to the trenches n
ne e-enforcemcnts. After every tw
"a companies there would be II Wagon
In Pretty soon | saw the uniform of In
Legion. Then company of my reg
ment cam" up and wheeled in Wit