The Weston leader. [volume] (Weston, Umatilla County, Or.) 189?-1946, 1918-12-27
FIGHTING AND FEASTING
ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Interesting Excerpts From Letter
Of Lieutenant Smith.

Slnltn Ol tnt ablht lHlhHNlg Hhu
Thanksgiving dinner with the OIL.
GERS of the Second Battalion in
Dcynxc, Belgium. For such n
stricken land they Jared we'll al.
though -gccsc came at Sl2 each.
The financial output for a dinner
Of Is plates was $40 and the menu
follows:
Celery. houillon, roast goose.
chicken fricasec. mashed potatoes.
crcamed cabbage. bread and butter.
blackberry jam, baked apple with
cream. coffee. cheese, cigars. wine.
In the course Of an interesting
letter to Mrs. Smith descriptive Of
fighting in the Argonnc the licu-
tenant says.
The road entering Very leads
along the side of hill fifteen or
twenty feet from the top and Fritz
tried real hard to get us there.
Shell after shelf swiShed over our
heads and burst in the bottom Of
the draw 50 yards away. The col.
umn was being held up while nd.
vance companies were distributed
along the protected side Of the hill,
Just before entering the town the
road made Il right.anglcd turn and
His NihS began trying for the bend
in the road, Fortunately h. missed
by about 20 yards, but il was he'll
to stand there while she'll after
she'll broke In cloud Of brick dust
and refuse right beside US. All
night long Fritz shcllcd this road
at periods Of from l5 minutes To
half an hour, For about two hours
until my extreme fatigue was worn
of | slept. Then | froze out and
had to walk to keep warm, Next
morning about ten We took position
on the line and heavy resistance
was encountered. All day long
our troops fought against SglpeTa
and machine guns with the enemy
artillery shelling us constantly and
most Of our own not caugh, up yet.
What did seemed 60 have difficulty
in getting the range at times FIRE.
dropping shells into our
own troops and creating much con.
stcrnation. | thought my career
was probably over when our own
artillery dropped n number Of
shells along the road where | was
dressing wounded and tagging dead,
At last the cry. Raise the Artil.
Ieryl' was productive ot result.
much To our relief. Again that af.
ternoon got into q nice little bar.
rage put over from only a few hun.
ired yards at point blank range
upon troops advancing 70 the At.
.ack. thought sure they bad my
address that time. but ,hey onisS
got within half a numbe. And 10
ve went on for eight dRa with
escapes nearly svcTy
lay. For four days We condu.ted
/ dressing station in the woods lust
,ack Of the front lines whilaour
roops simply held. waiting forthe
10 mass and for arraRe.
nents to be completed for q en-
ral advance. Our station was inn
limsy split log building along ar
asst and west road between the
Of two north and south
Dads with this road. about 100
ards apart. Enemy airplanes con-
tantly reconnoitered the woods
nd whenever they could spot any
ccumulation Of men on these roads
put.put.put sound would be
card: and before we had time to
,ok for cover whang-whang shells
'ere bursting all around. Regu-
lrly all night the Hun guns start
d on the position Of our troops
nd covered II thoroughly"
Lieutenant Smith writes In lighter
Elm Of life in the battalion billet
fter the armistice. Among other
rings, he says:
"As TO my trunk locker--with all
" white shirts and collars, pa.
mas, extra shoes, cap and sundry
her things various misguided in.
advised us to bring over
We had as little use for II as for
le spurs issued Ine in Camp Lewis.
,ver having had access to horse
nee landing h France. One thing
m thankful for is that | fell for