River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1918-12-19

cloudy. They were only letting
Fritz know that the Kaiser had told
them a yarn when he said only So
900 Americans were in France.
I'll bet Fritz thought sure there
were more cannon than that number.
We were packs, rifles and all just
the color of clay and one couldn't
have detected the difference.
The first big bruiser that went off
behind me scared me so that | jump
ed clean over the 2 squads ahead of
me and | landed in the third. Then
I realized they were good natured
noises on our side so I poked my
heart down my throat with my
bayonet and went onward. Bravely,
yes, Ell ahem, shivering but not from
cold any. longer, but-well | suppose
| may as we'll say fear. They say in
American papers that Americans
have no fear and the Heinies, Fritzies
or Huns are all afraid but sum the
matter fairly and give each his just
dues and I'll swear that under a
commandment there isn't man who
won't admit he's scared. III tell
you it's plain, common, ordinary
hell, in box-car letters, if my idea
of hell is correct.
I'll tell you when you sit in a hole
you've dug about 5 feet long, l or 2
feet wide, and widened out to feet
at the bottom and 4 or feet deep
or as deep as Fritzies' guns permit
you to dig, and shells ranging from
AZ feet long and l foot in diameter
down to inches in length are whizz-
ing, banging, busting and exploding
around before, befront, under, on
top of you and every other direction
imaginable, you can't tell me that
human being don't lose some Of
his bravery. Of course we stick to
our dug out and when Freddie's
cannons get warm we chase him to
~ I'd better say the next stopping
place, but if Bill don't ask decently
for a decent sort of peace he Won't
have a piece left Of his dear beloved
fatherland, and the Huns will all
land in the place | refrained from
mentioning in the above phrase.
We'll, I'm Qet ting off of my subject
so will go on. About 6 o'clock in
the morn1ng, over the top we went,
we were the second battalion in line,
the LIST line bearing the brunt Of the
battle. We followed up and reach
ed our objective at 4:30 Fritz shot
over a bunch of whiz bangs and
killed two men about 10 feet or so
from Whes a fellow named Lee and
were digging our hole. Both OF
our buglers were wounded too, in a
short space OF time Lee and |
would hear one coming and the darn
thi gs were on a direct line; our
hole was only six inches deep and
believe it or not though he was fat
and rosy we both could get into it
in one leap and not be seen. | never
was such an acrobat before and
when | get home I'm going to join
Barnum & Bailey as contortionlst,
because | sue can double up some
do hope that mother doesn t
drop a dish pan when | get home be-
cause sho' as Use liven the first
thing she knows her son will be out
in the yard crouched up in hole in
the ground thai he can make in five
seconds less than no time at all.
We got ready for counter attack
and we laid in a small ditch along a
road just outside the town we'd
taken, with our ammunition all laid
out on the bank wishing they would
come up for their walloping that we
had ready for them Fritz didn't
come. We had no blankets but laid
out in the rain all night and the next
day. Oh, we didn't get wet under
stand, because Lee Bender and my
self were in a hole and | had rain
coat. Fritz hates town he has to
leave because he shells them fierce
and fires them too
We went to one town on our right
and one on our left and got all the
black German bread and honey W.
could eat. Fritz had made it for
US, or at least we ate it. We ate
honey and bread until~we were 50
full we got silly and acted like a
bunch of tipsy men. One of the