Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1918-12-24
OTTAWA BOYS SAVED
ON LAST DAY Of WAR
BY MAUSOLEUM
CORP. HAROLD DUNCAN TELLS
OF The MANY DANGEROUS
BATTLES THROUGH WHICH
THEIR COMPANY PASSED
WRITES SHORT HISTORY OF
THE COMPANY'S SERVICE.

Corp. Harold Duncan, in letter re.
ceiyed from him this morning by his
uncle, w ID. Duncan, gives one of the
most thrilling descriptions of the bat.
ties through which Company G. passed
yet to be received in Ottawa The
letter is original and historically cor
reject, and nothing like it has ever
been published in ottawa before. It
tells how some OF the Company G.
boys sought shelter from the barrage
fire OF the Huns on the last day of
the war in an old mauseleum which
the enemy's shells had partially de
stroyed, leaving open the crypts and
exposing to view the collins 1t was
among the remains Of the dead the
Ottawa boys many of them, heard
the last shell fired and in a speech.
less thanksgiving returned 10 their
own lines over the ground their com.
pany had just gained
The letter reads
Rupt, France, Nov. 27, 1918,
Dear Uncle Will:
Just received your paper today and
surely appreciated it, ! read the col
umn you marked off and that young
fellow surely deserves a V. c., which
Is the highest sonor that can be paid
a man by the British We were with
the British and Australians for quite
a while During the first part OF July
we marched a long distance 0orI
four days) through the ruined City Of
Amiens and up into the trenches de
Tending that city and went in with
Of men and some Of the most feared
fighters of Fritz. They are greatly
like the Yanks and we soon became
pals. There was nothing too good for
the Yanks, they figured, and the
Americans in turn thought the same
Of the Aussies
Some of them were detailed with
us as instructors, and from them We
learned more about trench warfare in
the short time We were with them
than we could have in year with the
French. They Thought the Americans
were sure some scrappers and gave
them all the credit due them. and the
Yanks looked at an Aussie as an au
thority on anything that had anything
to do with fighting. Wherever you
saw a bunch Of Americans you saw
a bunch Of Aussies with them, eating
together, swapping souvenirs ana
feeling stories.
They were used mostly as "shock
troops'-Nhat is, only for attacking
purposes and did not always hold
the line. They were sure shock
troops, too, a great shock to Fritz
when they started after him. Their
English to us was peculiar and vice
versa. They tried to talk like us and
we tried to talk like they did They
called themselves "diggers" or digs
and always called the Americans
"Yanks." It was always Hello, dig,
or Hello, Aussie' and in return it
wXs Good day, Yank.'
For mess we saw chow" or grub,
etc; they call it tucker" Far hard
tack they say Amaze wafers,' and
that Is the way it went. God pals al.
ways.
| on the 4th of July part of our diyie
| hoped the bags with them and took
their objective with ease, which
called forth great praise from the
digs and gave us the credit of being
the first Americans in history to fight
side by side with the Australians
This was on the Amiens front, to the
left of Nillers Brettonneauz. The last
of July we were shifted to the Eng
lish sector in front of Hamel and Al
bert For many weeks we sent on
patrols Through Hamel and many
close sliaves were experienced by on
fellows. The trenches were all dui
in white chalk and irregular, bu
free from mud.
We got along great with the Enc
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