The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-04-07

men needed no second invitation TO
lie low. They rolled into the shell
holes and burrowed where there was
no cover.
I drew a pretty decent hole myself.
and man came pitching In on top
OF me. screaming horribly. II was
Corporal Hoskins, close friend OF
mine. He had 1t in the stomach and
clicked In a minute or two.
During the few minutes that / lay
in that hole j suffered the worst men
tai anguish | ever knew. Seeing so
many OF my closest chums go west
had nearly broken me, shaky as /
was when the stunt started. I was
dripping with sweat and frightfully
nauseated. A sudden overpowering
Impulse seized me to get out in the
open and have 1t over with. / was
ready TO die.
HOLMES BADLY WOUNDED.
Sooner than / ought, for the sec
ond wave had not yet shown up.
shrilled the whistle and lifted them
out. 1t was hopeless charge, but /
was done. / would have gone al them
alone. Anything to close the act, To
blazes with everything!
AS scrambled out Of ths shell hole
there was a binding. ear -splitting ex-
down. did not lose consciousness
entirely. 4 red-hot iron was through
my right arm and someone had hit
nae on the left shoulder with a sledge
hammer. i felt crushed--@hattered.
My remaining Impressions of that
night are. for the most part, vague
and tndlstinct: but in spots they stand
out clear and vivid The first thing
knew definitely WAS when Smith bent
over me. cutting the sleeve out of nay
tunic.
It's "A BIigthy on" says snithy.
That was some consolation. / was
back in the shell hole. or in another,
and there were Ave OK six other fell
lows piled in there. too. All of them
were dead except Smith and man
named Collins. who had his arm clean
Off. and myself. Smith dressed my
wound and Collins, and said
Wed better get out of here before
B'rItg rushes us. The attack was a
rudy failure and they'll come over
and bomb us out of here"
Smith and got out of the hole
and started to crawl. 1t appeared
that he had e. bullet through the
thigh, though he hadn't said anything
about 1t before. We crawled a ways.
and then the bullets were flying so
thick that I got an insane desire to
run and get away from them. got
to my feet and legged 1t. SO did
, Smith, though how he did It with a
wounded leg I don't know.
The next thing I remember was
on strstcher. The beastly thing
Ewayed and pitched. and / got sea
sick. Then came another crash di-
rectly overhead. and out 1 went again.
When / came to my head was as clear
as a bell. A shell had burst over us
and had killed one stretcher bearer.
The other had disappeared. Smith
was there.
He and I got to our feet and put
our arms around each other and stag
gered on. The next knew I was
In the Cough Drop dressing station,
so called from the peculiar formation
OF the place. We had tea and rum
here and a couple OF flags from a SER
geant-major of the r. A. III c.
ORDERED RACK TO ENGLAND.
After that there was a ride on a
fiat car on light railway. and another
in an ambulance with an American
driver. snatches of conversation
about Broadway and a girl in Newark
fioated back, and / tried to work up
am bition enough to sing out and ask
where the chap came from. So far
I hadn't had much pain. When we
landed in regular dressing station