Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-07-08
NEWS FOR BERLIN FROM THE AMERICAN SHIPYARDS
RION AIDS
WOUNDED BRFTON AIDS /
in NSHIPBULDING HERE.
Pusey & Jones Worker Tells
of Fierce Battles Where
He Was Hurt

men sent to France only about 500 sur
vived contact with the enemy
One of these survivors is Corporal
Tom Haines. Of the template storage
shop at the Pusey & Jones Gloucester
shipyards
Haines was invalided out of the serv-
ice after receiving severe wounds and
has been doing his bit in the shipyards
Tor several months. His "reminiscences
have entertained Thousand of the ship
workers Here they are, in part as he
wrote them:
1T was in the district of Mons that
j got my baptism into real battle. II
was the first time that I had ever heard
big shell in the air. and shall never
forget it, You cannot see the shell. nor
any smoke. but you can hear shrek
which reminds you of the kind of yell
q woman would let out II she was being
strangled-only twenty times worse.
THE district around Mons was moth.
Ing more than waste. with few
mines. The system of trench warfare
had not yet been invented and we took
whatever cover we could find. fighting
in sort of an Indian fashion. We stayed
up there for two days, holding the Ger.
mans until finally orders came that the
odds against US were too great and that
we should start retreat. our division
then held back the brunt of the German
attack during the retreat, which took
us back almost to the gates of Paris
We had only two machine guns at that
time to our whole regiment and we mad
no heavy artillery whatever. The Ger
mans had already brought their big
guns into action and we were at a great
disadvantage.
French Finds Way Out
,bnl
sion was virtually surrounded by the
Germans with only a small opening be-
tween their lines at one point where
there was a possibility of escape. Gen
eral French took charge and led the men
out of this pocket without the loss or
single man. He had us file out In
single line during the middle or the
night BY this movement he made
great hit with the men and received
much commendation.
,"Those who could not keep up the
pace dropped out and many were sent
as prisoners of war to indure the abuse
and miseries of the German prison
camps.
"The Germans outnumbered us at this
,/time five to one Out of the 10000 men
who comprised our first army in France
only 500 men are left.
mans kept pressing us hard and we
were forced back through st. quentin
to the very outskirts of Paris. AT
this point General Foch, now the COM
mander of the Allied armies on the
western front, started the famous taxi
cab mobilization of the French reserves
After a two days battle the French,
British and Belgans defeated the Ger
mans and compelled them to retreat
from the Marne on September 3, 1914.
to the line of the Aisne. where the
Germans dug in behind prepared de-
lenses This was something absolutely
new in the line of warfare and was the
start of the trench system which was
soon used so extensively on both sides.
Boche Bullet Got Him
81 lost most all of my accouterments
packs and overcoats were thrown aside
In the heat of the battles and we came
away with little more than rifles and
!. ammunition. In little village on the
way I had seen a German cavalryman
laying dead on the steps of a house. A.
my shoes were worn away to almost
nothing and my feet were sore and
bleeding from the constant marching
determined to have a new pair of boots
I pulled them off the German and ar
rived in camp with a pair of practically
new German cavalry boots on much tc
the amusement of some of my comrades
my first real accident was at Missey
The German artillery had opened fir,
and one of their shells hit a church
steeple near where were fighting
One of the failing bricks hit me ant
layed me out. 1t made a long cut righ
where l part my hair. If we had hat
steel helmets at this time l would no
have been layed out at ALL but as i
was my peaked khaki hat probably
saved my life.
1T was at La Basse In my las
charge over the top that l got in tn,
way of a bullet which finally took mi
out of the firing line. During the mid
die of the bayonet charge we had faller
to the ground. as was our CUSTOM ant
taken a shot at the coming Germans
was just in the act of rising when
bullet struck me in the right eye, passe,
out below my ear, tore a piece out O
my shoulder and dropped me like log.
Eventually / recovered consciousness
sufficiently to crawl forward and dro
into a trench, which fortunately ha
been captured by the British The bat
tie was still going on. l lay there in tn
mud at the bottom of the trench unit
early in the morning A comrade seein
my foot move pulled me out from be
meath couple of dead men and CAV
me a little aid, such as he could. AS tn
trench was being shelled heavily l real
ICED that ] would soon die unless / &C
out of that position, so | determined
take chance in the open.
"On June IS, 1915, / got my discharg
from the army. ! then returned to Eng
land and worked in the arsenal a
u Woolwichs until coming to the Unite
States, in October, 1915"