Omaha daily bee., 1918-05-05
CHAPTER X-Continued.

On the whole we IdQ II CuSHy Oil
that 10 days training. Each morn
ing reveille was at $50, breakfast at
7, and at 8 parade in full fighting
order to the training field two miles
away. Here they put us over the
jumps by battalions. The duplicate of
the German trenches was laid out on a
spmie-square field, with every detail ex-
ssactly as we, would find it when we
n went over. A platform surrounded the
field, and here and there were wooden
sstowers, from which every detail could
ssbe seen. We would spend the entire
samorning up to l o'clock, going
sssthrough extended formations and the
ssssstudy of objectives of each company.
= Getting through at o'clock made
sslt a Short, cushy day, but we made
s.up for that by the care with which
awe learned every move. Thee first
Thing in the morning we would line
ssup and study the terrain. An officer
( would point out each strong point,
Msach spot where machine guns would
sbe likely to be emplaced, each sepa-
serate traverse and every extra dam
Egerous bit of ground.
N Then the companies would be put
$ oser the ground examining every inch
& u it. After that we went over again
MHl exactly the order we would go an
ssthe attack. On certain days we had
afternoon rehearsals. This consisted
aof studying photographs. We would
sgather by platoons in big barn, and
~sthe officers who understood the air
..splane pictures would go over them
sssor us. These photograph were about
.stwo feet square. They would hold
s.them up against the wall and point
sout this. that and the other point and
sscross-examne the men. Shortly We
saashad that terrain down so fine that
7every man could go to his own place
with his eyes shut
. Every Man Knew.
c Every man knew his objective how
-,he wassto reach it, how fast he was
slto go. what he had to go through to
s@..get. there, what he was to: do at each
-sstage Of the advance. He knew just
..s1low things were going to look when
g,be went over. Almost, it is no exag-
sEperaton to say, he knew just where
~shis feet were to be set down on
e,each step from the beginning to the
s1end of the Show. The only thing that
could not be reckoned with was shot
eand, she'll. :
81 Like rehearsing anything else, most
ssof the men got letter perfect in few
ss--days; but there were some, as there
salways are, who were stupid and who
.-needed an awful lot of work to get
sthe things into their heads. Two or
sthree such men in platoon may
srqueer the, whole game and are dam
s.gerous. The blockheads in rehear-
..-sal Of this sort nearly drove the Of
ssTicers mad.
!. = On the whole, however, the re-
s4iearsals went smoothly enough. And
II think that the excitement and inter
..est, and the afternoons on our own,
sssonditioned the men to a point of
@keenness that proved valuable when
s=sh, time came for the big attack.
AZ s We played foot ball or cricket al
symost every afternoon. At least the
--otl.er men did. Personally l never
cou1d get up an appetite for cricket
srBritish foot bali | never could get
..nsed to. They always put me, in as
sRoal tender When l saw the ball
.scoming I would grab it and start on
IAN end rum. Then there would be a
row. | used to try to get the gang
Ito play base ball, but they couldn't
ssee it any more than could see
cricket,
Tommies Were Curious.
s. I was the only American in my
soatt and / continued to be a good
IDEAL of curiosity to the Tommies
Throughout my service. The opinion
sis, solidly grounded in the British
sxnind. it seems to me. that Americans
ARE all ,swank. They think that we
ARE buffers, braggers and hot-air
smerchants.
i They used to delight to get me
started on the size of things over,
.here.
= "Sye. Shellproof," somebody would
call out, low big is the Blooming
Styles"
= Then would start in to tell them
how you could drop England down
an the middle of Texas and lose it,
and they would look at each other
anl grin. 81
nIhcn somebody would say, "'Oow'
Abs's. Ugh 'ouses. Mackie"
= Wf2reupon l would tell all about
Ihe Woolworth building,
e This always brought the same frank
comment.
"Shellproof, yer blipkin' liar.