The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1918-12-11
Over the Top
Sergt Peter Gallagher Tells of
. Aetive Service on the Front.
Somewhere in France, Oct. :

OSdr fat.~s
Have Just got back from the front
after thirty days of the hardest and
sstsnghest battle that we have, had
since coming over, and believe me this
bsich sure was a happy crowd when
. they heard that we were going out fo:,
s&srelf earned rest, which is the first
that we have had since arriving and
sdey bure are taking the advantage Of
.it My: first trip over the top in this
b6E1leawa4 or September =, and it
sure was some :experie-4ce, as It was
dark and you could hardly see your
hand before your face, and it sure did
took Impossible how we got through
sfhe .harrage without all of us being,
Killed, but we were very lucky and
did not have but very few casualties.
THAT night I had charge OF a ma
chine gun squad and working party
and after we had gone about ESQ
yagds the working party got lost and
had to go back and. find them
I which is a. H. Of job at night.
sBpt after about two hours I found
sfIsoN Of them and started again, This
! ssttiiaaes we. were under more she'll fire
than any other time, but after about
tsvu hours Of crawling and running
eWereached our objective, and we sur:
we're glad for we were about all II.
Thisswas the start in getting our line
s4Eaight for the breaking Of the great
Hfndenburg line which we helped in
getting through the following Sunday.
No, one will ever be able to describe
fe anyone what going 1'over the top"
is and when you hear Of anyone say
ing that at is great sport just tell him
: fav me, he is a. liar, for it is like Sher-
man said and he didn't know what it
1was. All of the work that was done
ssGs under e. sergeant, as we did not
have but one officer with US and all OF
: us got very highly praised for the
way we handled our men. When we
hrst started in we had nine. serseants,
and when we came out we did not
have but three and happened to be
one Of the lucky boys. And how it
happened I do not know, for I have
seen squads wiped out at time. The
only close call had was when piece
OF shell tore my pack off my back and
tore my mess pan up.-.I am keeping
III
itz home for you all to see. [ also goi
a. big dose Of gas which got me by
z surprise as did not have time to put
ON my mask for the shell burst just
behind me and before I knew what ii
was had gotten a good dose, as we
were not advancing at the time. J
dropped in shell hole, it was raining
at the time and spread a cloth over
my face and got over it in an hour
and was all right again.
I don't know how much ground We
covered but they claim it was about
thirty miles. The only boy in our
company from Sumter that got hurt
was Sergt. Wilkie who was with the
old s. L. I. when we were called out
I don't know whether Roach was
wounded or taken sick. Bill Boart-
field is still with the bunch and get
], ting along fine, but he is like a goo6
many others, he is "bloody we'll fed
s:itps, on this war; that is the express
sior that all the Englishmen use over
-! was on short leave some time age
To- one of the large cities Of France
aid saw the Cathedral which is one
G7sthe, wonders Of France. the build
4ngA Of which seems impossible. L
certainly is magnificent structure
Wei Pat, give all the boys my bes.
regards and write often. Hoping al
the folks are quite well and that
will see them some day,
Afectionately.