The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1918-08-08
HOW AMERICANS FIGHT
Monroe Man Writes of Experiences in
France.

NAN' ~
Inc Enquirer is beholden to Mr.. 7
j1' farker for the following interest
ing letter, written him by his broth
er' Lieutenant Sam l. Parker who
mas been in France several months
Inc past two months have been
iiiied with adventure and it ended in
glorious climax-the first attack
vi the American soldiers in the war
NO doubt you have had quite minute
details of the attack in the naners.
so Will fight shy of things thai
.he censor might cut 1 will tell Won
JUST ABOUT my personal experiences
NY platoon was in the first wave of
the attacks; SO 1 was one of the very
iirst to go lover the top. hsd
neld sector Immediately in front NJ
the town for several days which pave
me splendid opportunity to know
"hat was to go up against. krow
"here machine guns were located
ana practically every. point whore
the enemy held the line with .nu
iorces. Ihe day before the attack was
" come OH l was sent into the sec
'or as an advance officer for NV
company to make the necessary ar
rahsements for the jumping off "
On this day the Germans pulled :,
nasty deal which they paid for ON the
oay Following. They made a raid on
our sector and killed quite a number
Oh men. l was in the trenches at tho
'lme'the raid was pulled. This LITTLE
stunt or the enemy didn't do much
out raise tEe wrath Of the Americans
lor the day following. In this scrap
l saw some real fighting. Our men
put IT all over the Boche. After 60
we're bombardment of the trenches
ABOUT seventy five of the square
neads attempted to come over. Tbev
ala not get across No Mans Land
ana very few got back alive into their
own positions. Their efforts failed
ana worse than that, it put more red
olood in the boys eyes for the next
oay. In this scrap 1 got a little
scratch on my left arm. A fragment
or shell flew past my arm. II cut
quite slit in the sleeves of nv coat
and shirt, but only grazed the flesh.
On the morning of the attack. of
course, everything was all set. The
ooys were in the trenches, ready to
go over the top" at Zero hour. This
was our first real attack and natural
~ everyone was not chatting as if
at dinner party; however, every
one was in good spirits and waited
anxiously for the minute 10 hop over
the parapet. For an hour before the
curtain for the show to raise, our ar
tillery hammered the enemy posi-
tlons; then came down our barraee
Everyone was on his toes and when
the second came around to 20 lover
the top, every man sprang out of
the trenches. Attack formation was
quickly taken up and we began NOV
ing off in proper order. Every man
was still quiet. not knowing Just
what to expect. We had not advanced
very far before Germans began
jumping out of shells holes and beat
ing it for the rear. The boys couldn't
stand it. They let out a terrible "rab-
bit hunting" yell and began cutting
them down with their rifles. 1t was
great sport then, all the seriousness
was over.
You have wondered why 1 chose
the infantry to all other branches of
the service. Now you know. l want
ed the satisfaction of meeting the
Boche face to face, and this is the
only branch of the service where one
can have this superb satisfaction.
know now that l am a better man
than he is, and that the average
American soldier is far superior to
the best German in a hand TO hand
encounter My men can count on an
average of ten of the enemy per man.
In other words, l started the scrap
with 35 men and estimate that my
platoon can easily account for $50 of
the enemy. If they get me now l can
"turn-in" with the satisfaction of
knowing that have done as much as
the average officer to put an end to
PrusSianism. But they are not going
to get me. i hope to cause them much
more grief when l have another op-
poTtunity. The Boche is a brutal,
bloody being as long as he is behind
machine, but when you go at him
with determined bayonet he is a
coward. On one occasion in the scrap
| was rushing one of FritZ's strong
positions. / was doing the operation
with about twelve men, one section of
in. One big bruley cuss, with whis-
kers, thought he would stay US Off
He threw a grenade right between