Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1918-11-20
WAS IN THE BIG DRIVE FROM END TO
END-ENERY MAN IN THE COMPANY
I.

Rad PRISONER
tBy Private Elmer Clements, CO. l.. 356 In
fantry, Somewhere in France. September "a.
Dear Brother: just few lines to let you
know that went through the big drive from
one end to the finish. l was in the bunch
who went over the top first, what we cali
the first wave. And never got a scratch.
Our casualties were very light. We run up
against few machine guns, but put
thom out OF order, and took them prisoners
Our company got two hundred prisoners
enough so we had one for every man in the
company. Most of them give rp quite easy,
but some never give Up till We finish them
will tell you thing, Charley, and that
IS when we went over the tap there some
OF the greatest fire works ] saw, CT ever
expect TO see Our artillery started in at one
O'Clock in the morning and went over al
five. There sure was some roaring noise
The big guns and our machine guns playing
Yankee Doodle from right and left and
over cur heads, And the Germans, what we
and burst in the air | realize l had greal
many close calls but came through fine. We
ned il quite hard as il rained most all the
time. We went ten miles the first day with
| our light packs and rations. We only got
about four hours stay in ~. so you can see We
are tough bunch. We sure had them the
run right. We walked ten miles the night
before the battle. ! could have gotten plenty
of souvenirs. but the dough-bOys have plenty
10 carry without them.
The Germans sure build some great dug
outs TO stay in. | saw one bunch come out
with their clothes off. with their hands up
shouting ''kamrad". We had good old
I
We could plainly they left in a hurry.
And 10 tell you the truth, | don't know as
blame them. We sure got lot of stuff. every
thing you could think of. When they retreated
could plainly they didn't carry any
extra clothing, so made Of them.
Words will never express the work done by
our artillery. They have been sending quite
lot of shells back here lately at u.s. but you
can bet they get FIVE back for every one they
send over. could see great bunch of am
unition burning the night after the battle in
good many places. There were a good many
boys tGermans) taken prisoners. Some Of
them did tlook to be over is years old
They have held this sector so long that they
sure had everything fixed up fine to stay in.
There are good many dug-outs all fixed up
with electric lights. They ran out of some
fine places tn stay in when the Yankees put
them on the run. They may be brave. but our
boys have got more nerve in one minute then
they ever will have. When you try to take
one of our boys prisoner you have got
good scrap coming. / don't know of one who
has been taken prisoner in division. 1hvs
have tried hard Few times but always get
left. ] suppose you get the news in the pa
pers, all about it. They getting hit hard
all the time and we don't give them any rest.
When | went over the top | thought what
Wilson said Hell, Heaven HOboken by
Christmas" And that is the spirit of the
American boys. They want TO get through
with II and be done with it.
Well, brother, | am somewhere in France
IN dug-out writing you this letter. This is
the first chance ] have had TO write to you
or anyone ] am having little rest at pres
ent, and tell you it certainly good.
am tired out and worn out. War is great
thing. So much more than any person can
imagine by reading about it. 1t is wonderful
to see how everything moves when you are in
battle. And how fast light artillery
up: II seems like they were right
behind all the time and they were.
Well, brother. you would laugh to hear some
of the boys talk. Those big shells bursting
do get at times. When they
don't shoot at some of the boys will saw
Wake up Fritz. we getting little lone
some" We never let him get that way. We
keep him awake all the time. We captured
some big guns and ammunition. and you can
guess what do with it. We are having
nice weather here the last few days
bat the nights quite cold. We can use
three blankets over every night.
We a good many air fights One thing
that fine and in cur favor was cur flying
machine. II had control of the air all the
time. They play wonderful part in bat
tie. They show the artillery just where we
are all the time