Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1918-11-09
FREMONT MAN,
WOUNDED,TELLS
OF j. s. CHARGE
Corporal &. W. Fredrickson
Describes Going Over Top
and Routing BoChes
"0ver There"


Fremont, now with the American ex-
peditionary forces In France. was
graduated from the Creighton Col
lege Of Pharmacy four years ago
He went to Fremont. where he
managed Z drug store until the time
he entered military service. He is
brother of H. E. Fredrickson OF
Omaha.
Recently he wrote the home folks
the following letter of his expert
ences while II days in the trenches
Field Hospital No. -, Somewhere
in France, Oct Al am tired of ly
ing here just looking at the walls OF
this tent so / am going to sit up and |
try to write you letter about the |
great American drive of September
II.
Sees Guns Placed.
We, of course, had been occupy
ing the trenches in this salient for
quite some time previous to the
drive. During the preparation for
it, which too, occupied few days,
we had the pleasure of seeing
some of the guns placed. Nearly |
every morning as we awoke from |
our pleasant slumbers in our little
hole in the ground we would see a
change of environments with many |
new guns emplaced and much am
munition by their sides. Two morn
ings before the grand event was to
come off, we found a French rs"
planted on each side of our dugout
and wagonloads of ammunition
nearby, some of which was placed
over our abode. As we would see
Fritz flying over US occasionally we
had visions of him spying it and try
ing to destroy it with bombs and !
the-1ike. Such an affair would sure
ly have broken up our playhouse.
Everything was set up in fine style
the night before; it had rained for
nearly week previous, making the
task a more difficult one, but never
theless it was finally completed. We
were ordered to another portion of
the trenches and had to start just
before the bombardment would be-
gin and pass many of the big guns /
on the way. /
Well, I used up several pounds OF
cotton in filling my ears, thinking
it might keep some of the noise
away But it did not help out much.
We had about a mile to walk to
reach our new location and no soon
er had we started until the appoint
ed hour had presented itself and the
fun started.m never surmised there
were as many guns in the world as
our "Uncle" shot forth during the
hours of bombarding. There were
many planted along the road we
were travelling and know that mile
seemed like four before we had
reached our starting point. About
two hours before we were to go
over the top we marched to our
!, places in the trenches. As have
said before it rained and most of the
time we were wading in mud and
water, knee-deep in many places.
This In itself was enough to make
anyone desire to go over the top. |
Barrage Opens. |
Just at daybreak our artillery laid
over" dandy barrage and with the
aid of the machine guns, l want to
tell you there was quite bit OF
noise permeating the atmosphere. |
There were many baby tanks pres
emit and soon they headed the parade
to tear down. barbwire entangle-
ments and destroy machine guy
nests as we'll as do other work.
The Germans had plenty Of barb
wire, too, assure you, as we found |
out later. A short distance behind
the tanks came the first wave of
men, then the second and third and
before long, the "Hauses' and
"Fritzes" were coming back our way
prisoners of war.
The artillery fired all day long and
the doughboys advanced steadily. |
Some places little difficulty was en-
counteredswhile in others some stiff |
fighting was met by the enemy.
For two days this continued and
when the last objective had been
reached the boys started digging
in" 80 as to be protected from she'll
FIRE. This was my first experience
and / surely was glad l had crawled
through the library window in Ere
mont. in order to register No. l on
June s, 1917, since otherwise might
not have had this to write down in
my diary.
We held these first lines for II
days before relief came and during
this time I, like the other boys, did
not have a chance of removing my
clothes once for good nights rest
or even a bath. The feas, coolies,
and myself all managed to live in
one suit of clothes, but at times it
became rather crowded.
4 Prepared for Winter.
The Germans were we'll prepared
for the winter we found out when
\ we reached the new country. Pota-
toes had been dug and stored, wood |
had been cut and laid away in neat
piles and all other tasks were COM |
pleted so that they might have little
to do this winter.
Many gardens were discovered
and from the first one | found
plucked head of cabbage and a few
carrots and participated in a pleas
ant repast fit for any vegetarian.
even though it was uncooked. There
aren't many vegetables and greens
in our menus, so as consequence
we enjoyed them immensely as we
still are doing.
Shortly after the drive saw Tom
Brown, Fred Lea, James Curry. Ed
Larson and Victor Wright, so If \
their people should be anxious about
them, l can assure them they were
looking fine and dandy just short
time ago.
Since | have arrived at this hospi- |
tai have had dandy warm bath,
a hair cnt and nv mustache trimmed