The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1918-05-10

= Z
cannon fire ceased the machine guns
settled down to an occasional fitful
burst and it was midday of beautiful
spring day.
A couple Of partridge few over me.
What did they know or care about all
this noise and racket and men getting
up in line and killing each other7
Along about three o'clock things be-
gan to liyen up again. In the mean
time headquarters had been establish
ed In sunken road with banks about
fifteen feet high on either side (later
this cut was half filed with dead).
Ny aid post was in dugout near by
and gradually things got hotter and
hotter.
Our men had dug themselves In
and were popping away with their
rifles. The fiead batteries behind us
were putting up barrage, airplanes
were circling overhead, both ours and |
the Germans. The Germans put up a
counter-barrage, the machine guns |
were going like mad. l was standing !
with the colonel on a little rise Of
ground above the sunken road when
the Germans broke through about a
mile to the north Of US. They could
be plainly seen pouring over the ridge
in close formation.
Tanks Get Into Action.
Then the tanks came up, and you
should have seen them run Just Ike
rabbits The tanks retired; the
Boches reformed and came at 1t
again. They tell me that at certain
places our men withstood fifteen sue
cessiye attacks and that the Germans
went down in thousands. One Welsh
man told me that his gun accounted
for rs in three minutes during one
wave.
Machine-gun bullets were nipping
around me, the shell fire was getting
hotter, and even though it was won
derful sight to watch l decided "dis-
erection was the better part of yalor,"
or something like that, and got down
in my dugout.
I was sitting there smoking Gig
arctic when my orderly came down
and said was being relieved and was
to go back and work with the ambu-
| lance. Fifteen hours later the man
| that relieved me was captured. But
1 am getting ahead Of my story.
I went back to the advanced dress
! ing station through the hottest shell
| fire / ever experienced. More than
once / went down on my face when a
shell burst and the pieces went whiz-
zing over my head. ! spent the night
in mined village where the advanced
dressing station was located, and all
night they shelled it to blazes. 1t was
remarkable how few casualties we
had.
About eleven O'Clock the morning OF
the third day a shell blew In the side
Of our post, but luckily no one wal
hurt. We stuck to it until about foul
in the afternoon. when we saw gu
men retiring over a ridge in front o
us, keeping up continuous machin'
gun and rife fire, and we beat 1t bacl
to another village and opened anoth
er post.
The Begrimed Lord.
About ten o'clock on the morning o
the fourth day Lord Thyme, my col
onel when / was with the battalion
stumbled into the shack where | wa
sitting. He looked like ghost. HI
had lost his hat. his face was coveret
with a four days beard, the swea
had traced tracks in the dust from hi
forehead TO his chin. His. sleeve wa
. torn and bloody and he had a cash il
his arm where he had been struck b
a piece of flying she'll case.
My God, doc. are you here?" h
said. 'You got out just in time. Tn
battalion is all gone. The sunken roa
is filled with dead-mostly Huni
damn 'em. The line broke on tn
right: we were surrounded, and 8
: the last we were fighting back an
back. Only thirty of us got away"
: So we knew the Boche had broke
= through to our right and our left, an
it was question of how long it woul
be before we, too, were surrounde,
but we wanted TO stick 1t out as lor
ms we could.
: But not more than an hour later
J medical officer rushed in from one
the battalions and between gasps II
! breath told us the Germans were
i the edge of the village, had shot hi
: through the sleeve with machiE
gun bullet luckily that was ally, al
i. for us to beat it.
: The ninth day, sitting around t
2 fire in our mess after the best dim
we had had in days. the commando
officer handed me some papers al
; said. Here is something that viii
F.. terest you, Petit. l want to say
: shall be sorry to lose you"
: And this is what II was: Lie
: Roswell t. Petit. NJ R, c., is reliev
from duty with the British army a
- will proceed to the A. E. F. where
Il will report for duty"
"a leave for Paris in the morniE
m This has been long tale, but the hi
"a of il hasn't been told. hope have
strung 1t out too much.
M have Just been informed that
r. nv kit had to be burned to prevent
m falling into the hands Of the ensn
Oh shall probably want you TO send
F-or,, hama hnf will