Gunnison news-champion., 1918-04-19
"0ver the Top
By An American Soldier
Who Went
ARTHUR GUY EMPE1
ARTHUR GUY EhPEY
nscAine Gunner Srrrfns in France
I--gJr.a- III. - Ar.Esr GEJ sz.sD

a FT ia I'LL - Ar---f O-y a--sNsS
ma suu ever see. one OF the steam
shoy,.- 10 au.s ca 10" Panama caHal:
Wei lt would -..E Ike a hen scrutCh-
iu. -san--.t- ns Tommy digging In
vi. gaGr- r--. You couldn't see day
lz.r I'D sh Tie. clouds OF dirt from
h -...s.
A"r- U.,lac three ou; Of six men Of
our r.a We u.r.. s,'! 10 set up our
NJ. ar -.r o.... uf ID. leg, of the
triIrrI ua- r.-....s .- ~" chest mf
haIfHul.I bod, wL-r rLr gru Wns
nrr= 90 -atr Ir. tmrrr~~.un that The
bod a.- nrr.'l-- This ~ns caused
b. r.r uIr,--l,c vibration.
Tn-,,. ~ four feet down The trench.
ahu-. rr-u. 'r,' from 20" ground. a
f.u' g.a- Irr--0in- from the earth
We ku.g Dr. aa.l. ',rruau 10y the black
leather boot rl,- o.; our crew used
that foot 'p h.a- 'Ztra band"u"rs Of
ammunition "u- TAt- imam aIways "as
Il handy f,Il"" mad" Us" of Nul"
polnr- .an' -A, nrIsGnry person would
oyrrl.s.
tn. a., -uuns mad" three counter
a,ra,le. which IS" r"ruls"d. but not
v!'hru' hn,y lu-- uu our side. They
also -gTrrui -..rr,ly from our she'll
nrI n..,l 100. gan r.r. Tn, ground was
si.',I aith .h.lr dead and dying.
I'll. newt ary l.nss v"r" somewhat
Qu.,',r bat uui quiet enough 10 bury
III" dead
W. ug"d. nr" md slept In that trench
viii ra, uG14a.al araa f"r six days.
il Wa Uw:ul Zoe wHrch lh"iF fucrs be-
COM -au.,,u aud ,ll-culurvd. Towards
til" last the -l"r,h was fierce.
whn' got "u my nerves IA" most was
thar .,,' -f!raOu- out OF Ia" dirt It
sr"w.l 30 u,. al night. In the moon
light tD b" ,ryIu: to twist uTUund.
Several tlr"s this impression wns so
sr-n- that won't to it and grnsped 1t
r. hrjh Aaals. tD see II | could feel Il
uu,"mrul
told This ,u the ruun who had used
II for hatrn,k Just before lay down
for little nap. as things were quiet.
and | needed ii rest pretty badly.
when wuEr UP the foot was gone.
II. Ind cut II of with our chain saw
out of n" spare parts box. and had
plastrrrd the stump over with mud.
Daring the next two or three days.
before "" were relieved, missed that
foot dreudfully; seemed as II l had
suddenly lost chum.
| think the worst thing Of all was to
watch the rats, at night. aud some
times In the day. run over and play
about among the dead.
Near our gun. right across the para
pet. could be- seen the body Of Ger
man lieutenant. the head and arms Of
which were hanging into our trench.
The man who had cut of the foot used
to sit and carry on "A uue-sided conver-
satiUn with this officer. used to argue
and point out why Germany was in the
wrong. During all of this mOnnlOgun
never heard him say anything out OF
the wHy-anything that would have
hurt the officers feelings had he been
alive. IL. was square all right
wouldn't even tnkc advantage OF
dead nuu in an argument.
To civilians this must seem dread
ful, but out here one gets so used to
awful sights that II makes no impress
sion. In passing butcher shop you
nre not shocked by seeing n dead tur-
key hanging from hook. Well. in
France. Il dead body is looked upon
from the same angle.
But. nevertheless. when our six days
were up, We were ticHled to death to
be relieved.
Our machine gun company lost
seventeen killed and thirty-one wound
ed in that little local affair Of
STRENGTHENING the line" while the
other companies clicked 1t worse than
we did.
After the attack we went into re-
serve billets for six days, and on the
seventh once again we were In rest bill
lets.