The Punta Gorda herald. [volume] (Punta Gorda, Fla.) 1893-1958, 1918-08-08

the machine gun hre OF our ma
chine.
A few days after our return to
our billets we were given a new
job. This time it was guarding
mined roads and bridges and
charging the mines in case of E.
mergency. The company was
scattered over a large area and
close to some pretty warm parts
of the line, and some of the boys
saw "Jerry" close up. On one
occasion some of the boys were
under a poison gas attack for
eight hours, but were lucky e.
nough to come out of it with only
a few of them very slightly gas
sed. 1t was estimated that over
10000 gas shells were fired on
that occasion, and they were ex-
pecting Jerry" to follow it up
with an infantry attack, but he
did not come. The company head
quarters was in a well known
town, and "Fritzie" used to shell
it pretty frequently. He only
shelled in our immediate vicinity
once, but on that occasion he
dropped them close enough to be
decidedly unpleasant. His aero
planes used to bomb the town al
most every night, and we used to
sleep in the cellar. The first night
or two we thought we would be
comfortable and slept in good
beds upstairs, but we had to make
so many trips to the cellar that
we decided to move our mattress
es down to the cellar and stay
there at night. Part of the town
was almost totally destroyed,
while other parts of it were hard
| ly touched. One night the search
light got one of "Fritzie's" ma
chimes picked out and the guns
got in some fine work, and finally
! hit him and brought him down
There were two men in the ma
chine, but they managed to come
down without being killed and
hid away before any one could ge,
to them. | don't know whether
they were ever found or not, but
| expect that they were.
One day when was going up
town on business, a shell hit a
building about 80 yards away,
but luckily it was "dud, " tho
| is, it didn't explode, and beyond
tearing a big hole in the wall
where it entered, it didn't do any
further harm. Shells play some
queer freaks at times. Just re.
Gently in a village where we were
camped, the Boche started to shell
us and we had to leave for some
shelter trenches. One of the boys
who was sleeping in his "dog
tent" in a garden, started out
when they started to shell, anc
was trying to get through hedge
onto the road when a she'll burst
only four feet away from him
without hurting him at all. II
was a Shrapnel shell and all the
charge flew to one side and lodged
in a stone wall.
Before we came down to the
place where we are now, the regi
ment got together in a small town
and stayed for a few days. II
was the first time the whole regi
ment had been together since we
left the states. While there we
were reviewed by Gen. Sir Henry
IRawlinson, commanding the 4tf
British army, and our colonel wa>
given the Distinguished Service
Order Of the British Empire, and
several others of our officers and
men were decorated for bravery
These were British awards, but
some of our men have also beer
granted our own Military Dis.
Itinguished Service Cross. Our
regiment has been congratulated
several times, and you may have
seen some accounts of us in the A.
merican papers. | hear that some
papers have published accounts OF
some of our work. And with il
all we have been exceptionally
lucky, and our casualties have