The Holly chieftain., 1918-12-19

{ - A''s sJSA- luC NhdiliiCl W as ioA6h
that night and about twO-thirds of
us were sick after the first few
hours out After that you could
have blown the whole ship up and
no soldier would have moved. The
next morning we landed at Havre,
! France. 1t was raining when we
started to the rest camp. This
camp was English and we went
through the same routine there
that we did in the one in England.
We stayed there a few days and
| then took passage in bOXcars, Ia
til he is wounded and then he has
for two days and nights and final
cevOir, which is in the interior of
| for about a month. Then we took
ed to the front We rode for day
and half and then hiked few
Epliles to a big camp just outside of
the town and here we were met by
train of army trucks which took
us up within sound of the big guns.
We slept that night in the fields
anu Cdlly lllc llCAl llllI6 VIC IIoA
hot cup of coffee and started
moving up closer to the front. We
marched all that day and at night
had our first real mess in two days.
was never so tired in my life as |
was that night when | took my
pack off my back.
We were held in reserve for some
time and hiked from one sector to
4 lnx
was marching at the head of the
column on the left of my lieutenant,
when | heard something clicking
and looked up and found that |
was few feet in front of motion
picture photographer who was TAX
ing pictures of the regiment. | Of
ten wonder if | will ever see that
film. My lieutenant is over six feet
tall, so you can imagine how we
two will look on the screen. We'll,
very soon after that we found our
selves in the front line and things
began to happen. l was in stokes
mortar platoon. The stokes mortar
is a three-inch cannon and is used
in the trenches to break up enemy
Notifications and machinegun
nests, etc. 1t will average about 30
shells to the minute but as it has
u very short range, it is impossible
to throw over many shells from one
position, but believe me, the enemy
hates, and is always on the look.
out for, a trench mortar flash and
returns fire with anything from
hand grenades on up to "Whizz-
bangs" but when the Huns return
shells lit, we were living at the
places where we had moved to-"
was with the lieutenant command
ing the platoon most Of the time.
Believe ME, Dad, he was one OF the
best and bravest officers that
ever knew have never seen a
man hesitate when Lieut.. Winant
said, Let's go.' He is six feet and
all officer.
We got along all right with the
Hun until he got it into his head
that there was more excitement
and beer in Paris, and took it into
his head along in July to take a
trip over there He had started sew
eral raids before but we had real
guns back of us and he never got
far enough over to see his own bar
age lift. This time he started over
with the whole gang under one OF
/ the worst barages that we had ever
faced but q few minutes after he
opened up, our guns "cut loose"
and they traded shell for shell for
while Well we of the gravel dis
turbing union" met them half way
and what it took to stop the
"square-head infantry we were all
broke out with. Soon after the
"square.heads" started back, got,
mine and have been fighting the
battle Of the service of supply ever
since l was discharged from the
hospital.
When men leave the hospital
they are put in three classes, a.
"B" and &C" An "A" class man
goes back to his outfit as soon as
he is re-equipped. 'B" class men
were assigned to work in the s. 0.
s. and given an examination every
60 days and as soon as he is pro
nOunced physically fit for front
line duty, he was sent back to his
outfit. "C' class men are perma-
nently disabled for front line duty
and are never re-examined. So far
I have been unable to make the
physical class "a, SO according to
the latest dope, will be sent home
as soon as conditions will permit.
[ feel sure that it will not be very
long now as they are sending the
! disabled men home from this camp
at the rate of about 800 per day. AS
i am on duty here at the classified
| tion / will be among the last to
| loave tho nnst sO don't expect me