The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-10-28
RIGHT FROM FRONT

Continued from Page OneJ
is the son of w. C. carsweli, manager
OF the local branch of the Western
| Union Telegraph company.
Radio Boys Over the Top.
The boys of <He Radio company
are among those who go right up to
the front with the division. Ordi-
narily they are armed with revolvers.
and always they work under fire
keeping the Communications intact
during the battles. In the Argonne
fighting they took their rifles and en-
tered with the other soldiers into the
advance. going over the top with the
no shelter but she'll holes and occa-
sionally captured dugouts..
Il wish l might tell you" the Of
ficer said this morning.4t"the whole
story of that fight, but that is not
permitted. But I will. say that our
five days. and. six nights before we
wcre relieved. The firing from the
enemy was SO heavy that our supplies
could not be brought up to us AS
soon as supply train appeared on
the roadway, it was blown to pieces.
Ten of US from the Radio company
had nothing to live on all those days
put three cans of corn beef and four
boxes of bareback. No one was to
blame for it, because the supplies
s.
Anyhow" he added with a smile,
we didn't miss the food very much:
we were too busy to eat if it we had
had it.
Met Colonel Travis.
Il met Colonel Travis, of Kansas"
the officer continued. las we were
coming away from the front His men
were going in to relieve us. Elmer
Stahl. former Topekan, is captain of
COmnanv NJ he hos
to be very proud of his men. That
company is the only one that remains
clstinctively Topeka organiza ton. So
many OF the battery men have been
transferred to other units that the or
sanizat1on has lost its stamp of being
a strictly Topeka group. But our radio
boys have kept together, and 1 wish I
could tell you how bravely and splen-
dfdly they have done their part"
Lieutenant Carswell met Henry AL
len and had long talk with him in
Paris just before he came to the
States. The trip back was made in
record time, for fifteen days ago Lieu
tent Carswel left Verdun. and Sunday
he arrived in Topeka. The ocean trip
was accomplished in 'sax days.
After we were relieved from our
long activity in the open fighting at
Arsonne," the lieutenant continued.
we had five days for rest, and then
we were sent up to the trenches.
Like to Get in Trenches.
Going into the trenches, after
fighting in the open. is regarded as a
sort Of picnic and recreation by the
men. Up there, when the Smelling of
the roads was SO terrific that the sup
ply trains could not be brought up, the
Red Cross Hen were there. sharing
the dangers equally with the soldiers
and bringing us food and chocolate
bars in haversacks. That Red Cross
organization is wonderful, I can tell
you, and the Salvation Army people
were with US, too. giving US a lot of
help. 1 saw a Salvation girl making
coffee and serving it with doughnuts
to the boys working right under shell
fire. She stayed at it with the iron
nerve that never flinched under the
ordeal. And she was only Is years
old, too"
Lieutenant Carswell looks fine and
fit after his experience in the army,
and while his uniform is trim and new
looking, his army overcoat showed the
marks OF war. and those who knew
the lieutenant before he went over will
find him wearing a somewhat older,
maturer and sobered look.
1T is folly for anyone to imagine"
he said. that the Prussians are not
you they don't know how to fight and
that they are not brave. We found
men lying around their machine guns
with their hands stiffened in the act
of loading or firing
Prussians Fight Hard.
They are good fighters-those
Prussians, and they have had four
years of actual fighting experience,
and lifetime of training behind that
This idea that an American soldier has
only to appear before them in his fine
new uniform and ten of them will
drop dead, is a fallacy that Americans
want to get out of their heads If one
American soldier gets one German SOL
der before the Hun gets him, he is
doing very well"
The lieutenant told of a capture of
immense supplies of food from the
Germans which indicates that the
army Is pretty we'll fed. He told of
their method of hiding grenades and
mines in abandoned territory and