El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-11-29

BILE, including a bullet hole through
my coat sleeve and being blown down
{ the mouth Of a dugout by the ex-
/ plosion of a shell.
4 don't mean to brag in any way,
but just for your own relief and sat
/ isfacti0n I can truly say that I WASH
! once afraid. IN fact, it was just the
! opposite. 1 never enjoyed a day more
I in my life. nor had so good a time.
1 OF course that feeling came from the
! realization that I wasn't afraid. and
/ the absolute relief that that knowl-
edge brought me. Incidentally, I was
/ recommended for a D. S. c.
Brother Hears News.
And from another source, far from
| the other on the tragic stage, came
the letter of a brother. Capt. J. c.
Hawkins, the missive following a few
hours later into the office of the
father. who is chief counsel of the Ell
Paso & Southwestern railway and its
corporate interests
Thus. each line glistening with
pride at the achievement Of the little
brother. it reads;
7 have some good news for you.
mother. dear. in regard to your young
est soldier lad. I ran into a wounded
marine in an evacuation hospital who
is in Cards company and I immedi-
ateIy inquired about the youngster.
Yes he said, the last time 1 went
over the top, I went with Mr.. Haw-
kins.' Well, you know that was in
teresting to me, so 1 talked for some
time with him.
sdH Going Strong.
He said Gard was a mighty fine
fighter and they were all awfully
proud Of that kid. The marine was a
trumpeter and his job was to carry
word back and forth from the front
to the major, and the last word he
had Of Gardiner was that Mr.. Haw-
kiHs had less than a squad Of men
left. and was still going strong
We'll. you know that brought tears
OF pride into my eyes, and, Lordy,
Lordy, I'm proud Of that kid
And I'm proud Of all our soldiers.
Ye gods, if you'd only seen what I
did last night Men all shot to pieces
with these terrible high explosive
shell wounds. and yet never word Of
pain Believe me, I'll never do any
more complaining about anything"
Death stalked in the battalion of
further cut down the lads. for in a
letter Of October II, he says
Nine Days in Chalk Pits.
with all this liberty loan going on
now. we could make $1,000. 100000 for
them in one day by taking this bat
talon and marching down Fifth !
avenue, Just as we were when I
We came out of the fight We had l
been living in chalk pits for nine days I
without a wash or a shave Our
equipment. completed by French and I
German things, nearly everyone with 1
a German pistol and French canteen /
and a lot of German machine guns
We might have inscribed a little /
banner reading that on September 10 /
fights with Heinie, on October 10, we
numbered 3Os effectives. and let the
sos have their parade"
His trained soldiers eye could even /
then see the first streaks Of the dawn 1
Of peace. a month ere it came, for he /
writes:
On Another Rampage
I'VE have been on another one Of
these rampages. tearing through the 4
Heinies at a mile a minute and, being 1
cited again IN French army orders.
and, more than that, this battalion
received the thanks and congratula-
tons OF Foch. Pershing, Liggett. Ne
vile and Lee. the latter two brigade
and regimental commanders
1t really does look, though, as II
the war was over or nearly so. I have
even gone so far as to make a bet
that we won't go over the top again.
How's that for optimism?
It has really been a wonderful ex-
perience. being over here with the
and being in some real fight
ing, and so far not a scratch, though
they have come mighty close some
times. And there won't be much more
fighting. and the only thing to do
now is to sit tight and wait develop
ments. OF course. our armies will /
stand by over here for a good while,
so as to insure good faith, and, well.
the whole thing ought to be tremend-
ously interesting"
Son of Sea and Air.
From the bleak coast of England !
comes a letter from a third son Of
judge Hawkins. ensign Ashton W
United States naval air ser
vice, who has been overseas a year
and whose daily prayer had been that
peace might not come until he saw
the thick Of the worst fighting. In
a letter from the all American avia-
ton station, Kilinghan, England, he
says
I'm glad the peace isn't coming
off yet We are agraid lately that
Wilson would let US down on that
We all sincerely hope he will see It
to an honest and logical end.
We've got to drive out the Potsdam
gang, or else they have fought us to
a standstin and aren't really licked
at all"
The scene changes. The dominating,
dsafening, Wagnerian like strains Of
the cannoned orchestra lie away and
in their stead tinkles a pastoral
strain, with just an occasional mar
tial bass In the midst of a war
tragedy is set this scene Of peace, the
curtain rising 10 mornings misty
light. showing. in the words Of Capt.
Gardiner Hawkins:
Peace in Wars Midst.
Tt Is a perfectly wonderful cool,
morning, with just a little
chill in the air and not a breath Of
wind We are billeted in a quaint
little French village, nestled up on
the eastern slope of a hill overlooking
a wonderful, broad expanse of forests
and fields. with the hills and valleys
Of the one time st. Aihiel salient far
off in the distance and the wandering
Moselle river, with its checkerboard
fields at our feet Far away in the
distance We can occasionally hear the
big guns as they lombard the fortifi-
cations Of Metz day and night
This little village has its main
crooked street with its little branches
and alleyways running in and out and
twisting over a couple Of acres on the
hillsides and the purple vineyards
garlanding all sides. The women