The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1918-06-13

caught me. this time in the left shoul-
der about one-hnlf inch away from the
other wound. Then II was taps for me.
The lights went out
When | came to was crouching in
hole In No Mans Land This shell
hole was about three feet deep. so that
ii brought my head few inches below
the level of tiie ground. How reached
this hole / will never know. German
"typewriters" were traversing back
and forth in No Mans Land, the bull
lets biting the edge of my shell hole
and throwing dirt all over me.
Overhead shrapnel was bursting.
/ could hear the fragments slap the
ground. Then / went out once more.
When. came to everything was silence
ana Darkness in No Mans Lana.
was soaked with blood and big flap
from the wound in my cheek was hang
ing over my mouth. The blood run
ming from this flap choked me. Out of
the corner Of my mouth | would try
and blow ii back, but II would not
move. reached for my shell dressing
and tried, with one hand, to bandage
my face to prevent the flow 1 had
an awful horror OF bleeding to death
and was getting very faint. You would
have laughed IL you had seen my
ludicrous attempts at banda;sng with
one hand. The pains in my wounded
shoulder were awful and was getting
sick at the stomach. ! gave up the
bandaging stunt as Il bad job, and then
tainted.
When / crIne to. hell was let loose.
An intense bombardment was on. and
on the whole my position was decided
ly unpleasant. Then, suddenly, our
barrage ceased. The silence almost
hurt, but not for long, because Fritz
turned loose with shrapnel, machine
guns. and rifle fire. Then all along our
line came cheer and our boys came
over the top in a charge The first
wave was composed of Jocks" They
were a magnificent sight. kits. Tapping
in the wind. bare knees showing. arIu
their bayonets glistening In the first
wave that passed my shell hole. one of
the Jocks an immense fellow, about
six feet two inches in height jumped
right over me- On the right and left
Of me several soldiers in colored kits
were huddled on the ground. then over
came the second wave. also Jocks"
One young Scot;ie, when he came
abreast of my shell hole. leaped into
the air. his rife shooting out of his
hands, landing about six feet In front
OF him. hayonet first. and stuck in the
ground. the butt trembling This i'm
pressed me greatly.
Right now I can see the butt of that
gun trembling. The Scottie made n
complete turn in the air. hit the
ground, rolling over twice. each time
elawing at the earth, snd then re-
nained still, about four feet from me,
in sort Of sitting position. / called to
him. Are You hurt badly, JockIH but
no answer. He was dead. A dark red
smudge was coming through his tunic
right under the heart The blood ran
down his hare knees. making n horrible
sight. On his right side he carried his
water bottle. l was crazy for a drink
and tried to reach this, but for the life
of me could not negotiate that four
feet. Then / became unconscious.
When woke up / was in an advanced
iirst-aid post. / asked the doctor IL
we had taken the trench. "we took
the trench and the wood beyond. all
right" he said, "and you fellows did
your bit; but. my lad, that was thirty
six hours ago. You We're lying in No
Mans Land in that bally hole for day
and half. It's wonder you are alive"
He also told me that out of the twenty
that We're in the raiding party. seven
teen We're killed The officer died Of
wounds In crawling back TO our trench
and was severely wounded. hut one
fellow returned without a scratch. with
out any prisoners. No doubt this chap
WAS the one who had sneezed and i'm
properly cut the barbed wire.
In the official eommunique our trench
raid was described as follows:
IAN quiet on the western front. ex-
cepting in the neighborhood Of Com
mec"urt wood, where one of our raid
ing parties penetrated into the German
lines"
II is needless to say that we had no
use for our persuaders or come-aIoncs.
as We brought back no prisoners, and
until die Old Peppers words. Per
sonally l don't believe that that part
OF the German trench is occupied" will
always come to me when | hear some
fellow trying 10 get away with a fishy
statement. l viii judge 1T accordingly.
|.