Grand Forks herald., 1918-08-29
THE FIRST SHOT 3
65 CO2PQRAL OSBORNE DEAAPlLrA .IZ
RATTERY4c. SlxTftxO. s. FIELD ARTlLLERN iW
who Fired The First Shot of A74Aerea ArasJ Yv
nit unt,l We were threatened with

fruit until we were threatened with
The The yankee spirit Of exploration
and adventure got the best OF some
Of the boys that night, and they sild
down ropes to the dock. Some OF
them were grabbed by the marine L1ce
sentries and returned to the SNIP nu.
most of them penetrated into the CITY,
returning. before morning ana prlns-
I ing glowing reports OF the hospltanty
Of the French.
"Great place, this France" said
one of the night providers. 2 little
thickly, upon his return. folks IN
this burg wouldn't let me pay Tor
blamed thing; never saw so mucn
wine in my life. It must rain booze
in these parts"
The Landing.
We landed the following day, Aug
ust IA, 1917, and l shall never forget
the event. At this same port, the first
detachment Of General Pershings
forces put in nearly two Qonths pre-
vious,. on June '26, 1917, and they We're
received like a lot, of gods But the
novelty Of seeing Americans had not
yet worn off, and the inhabitants OF
the port gave us quite as rousing a
reception as they did the first arrivals.
| 1t was a clear, beautiful morning
as we marched down the gangplanks,
singing the "Marsellise' with an ar
dor that nearly prostrated Uncle
Sammy" our chaplain, with pride and
joy.
Well, say, those Trenches fairly
Shouting "v1ve rAmerique," they
made for us as if we were something
good to eat.
The first thing I knew, a middle
aged woman in peasant costume had
swung her arms around my neck and
was kissing me first on one cheek and
then another. Anybody would have
thought was long-lost son. tried
to pry her loose, but she had grip
like iron, and had to grin and bear
it until she let go.
But the thing was not over by any
means; 1t now developed into mat
ter Of taking turns. No sooner had
the elderly woman let go my neck.
when another pair Of arms Topped
around my collar, and I started to
got good look. =.
And you would have changed your
mind, too, if you had been in my
place. The prettiest girl in France
had annexed herself to my neck. My
eyes told me that there couldn't be
a prettier girl in France than she was
Her hair was as black as crows
wing; her eyes were big and> brown
and her red lips pouted up at me
invitingly.
am an American and do things in
a hurry. 4 gave her smack that
must have been heard at the Battery
in New York. She blushed and then
kissed me on both cheeks and let co.
And I am frank to say I was sorry
to see her go.
The next in the lineup was an ex-
citable, Frenchy-looking. chap with a
goatee and eyeglasses. He had his
lips pursed up like an Interrogation
point, and he was making for me, full
steam UP. I blocked his approach
with twist of my elbow, for I sus-
pected his design.
Nothing doing. Frenchy," said.
cover where we come from, men
don't kiss each other"
He evidently didn't understand and
I shock a fist warningly in his face.
Lay off," yelled, "pr I'll soak you
one" He saw I meant business and
abandoned his kissing offensive.
|. OF course I knew it was the custom
Of everybody in France to kiss, but
made up my mind not to get used to
|
That night we slept in an open field
in our blankets. 1t was bully~to feel
solid ground once more and know
that we were close to the fighting
zone.
We remained there week, stretch
ing our legs and resting from our
voyage. OF course we were impatient
at the delay for we wanted to beat
it to the front Immediately and take
hand in the, big scrap.
on to Barracks.
We were elated at the end Of the
week when we were loaded into funny
little box cars which were about half
the size of the American brand. We
were packed SO tightly that we barely
had standing room and had to shove
and squirm before we could create
space bis enough to sit down. Never
theless we were in high spirits and
were glad to be on the move.
VS. gambled for the positions at the
side doors, and was lucky enough
to win a seat in the open several times
Our chow on the trip consisted of
corn beef, tomatoes and hardtack,
and at some Of the stations on the
route we received handouts of steam
ing hot coffee. 80
We passed through pretty rolling
country. dotted with towns and viii
lagos. We saw very few young men,
for most of them were at the front
doing their bit against the HUM The
work on the farms was being done
mostly by old men, women and chill
dren. The Inhabitants gathered at
every station to see us pass through.
After travelling for three days we