Gunnison news-champion., 1918-04-19

E4l Ils A4EIg "NEA lALsl faH ~ arIA4N-
This may be for twenty-fOur hours or
twenty days. according TO the gravity
Of the ocruss.
Then comes "pnck drill" or default
ers' parade. This consists Of drilling.
mostly at the double. FOR two hours
with full equipment Tommy hates
ribs. nrrau-. Il Is hard work Some
times he Hills his pace with straw to
Ueh'rn Il. and sometimes he gets
rnrsht. II he gets caught. he Er0uses
az everything In general for twenty
one days from the vantage point Of
'rrl.r wheel.
Next comes 60. B." meaning icon
fined 10 har-ncks." This consists Of
erayluE lu bIllets or barracks for TWEEN
Iy-CUuE hours to seven days. luU also
gel an occasional dcfaul'er-' parade
. nj dirty jobs around the quarters.
Tie sergeant major keeps hat Is
-u.wu Us the crime sheet. When
man commits an ofsnse, b" IS
.criucd." TINT i. his name. number
and Offcuse Is entered on the crime
-h-,t. Next day at . q. m. Il. g""s q"
'na ''Urd.riy room" before the captutu.
Who either Furnishes him With &C r.
.rr sends him before the o. 9. ("fiicrr
-u.umnnding bHvfullon). n" Cup;uIu
Z the company can only award "C. Il
7, mmy many tm" has thanked
'ha King for making that provision In
al~ regulations.
To gain the lrlc Of u smart soldier
Tommy ha, 10 keep clear of the Grim"
-h"r'. mud you have TO be darn"d suar;
20 do It.
have been on II few times, most
IS snr "IauE"r lupgdeurr"
pur'ng our stay u ivo weeks In
rest hIG.t- our captain put u ,hr"u-h
% course ur warh.rr gun drills. T-.ug
rut new stunts and theories.
After rurndrs were over. our guns
--rsvs got together and uI,p tried out
some theories uf their own IA r,f-r"uc"
90 handling guns. These courses had
nothing 90 do gI'h the ndvulr,u'ur ~
the war. rs.msls'ed mostly ~ cnuslnc
tricky jum- = rh,- lgn. nui lh"u ~"
-,-' ~ rnr crow would ,rd,ayur 20 Io
cate AZ qu,rsiy AS p"ssihle the caus"
II The stvppug. This amused them
for fru days and then things came tc
sinudstLl.
Our "f the boys on my gun claimed
that he could play a tune Will" the
a,un WINS nCtuully firing. and demon
struted this fact on" day on tn" target
range We were very enthusiastic and
decided to heCom" musicians.
After constant practice became
In, h.s nnGltf.al 4 ~
Conductors Have Big Feet"
When had mastered this tune. our
two weeks rest came to m end. and
once again We went up the line and
took over the sector In front of c.
wood.
At this point the German trenches
run around the base Of n Hill. on the
top of which was a dense wood. This
wood was infested with machine guns
which used To traverse our lines at
will. and sweep the streets of little
village. where we were bllleted while
In reserve.
There was one gun In particular
which used to get our goats, IL had the
exact range OF our elephant" dUgout
entrance. and every morning. about the
time rations were being brought up, It's
bullets would knock up the dust on the
road; more than one Tommy went
West or 20 Blighty by running into
them.
This gun got our nerves on edge,
and Fritz seemed to know 1t, because
he never gave us on hours rest. Our
reputation as machine gunners was at
stake; we tried various ruses to locate
and put this gun out of action, but
each one proved TO be failure, and
/ Fritz became Verse nuisance than
ever. He was getting freshcr and more
careless every day. took all kinds OF
liberties with us-thought he was In
vincible.
Then one Of our crew got brilliant
idea and we were all enthusiastic to
put II to the test.
Here was his scheme:
When firing my gun, I was to play
my tune. and Fritz, no doubt, would
fall for 1t, try to initiate me as an
added Insult This gunner and two
others would try. by the sound. to To-
cate Fritz and his gun. After having
-ot the location. they would mount
two machine guns in trees, In little
clump of woods to the left of our ceme-
terry. and while Fritz was In the middle
nf his lesson, would open up and trust
to luck. By our calculations. 1t would
take at least a week to pull OF the
| stunt
If Fritz refused to swallow our bait
1t would be impossible to locate his
/ special gun. and that's the one we were
/ after, because they all sound alike, n
| slow pup-pup-pup.
Our prestige was hanging by q
thread. In the battalion we had to en-
dure all kinds of insults and fresh re-
| marks as TO our ability in silencing
| Fritz. Even to the battalion that Ger