Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1918-06-12
SOME NEWSY NOTES
FROM 'OvER THERE. y
Bows From The u. S. A. Are In
Active Service Among The
Heavy Artillery.
FIVE BOYS DECORATED.
With French War Cross For
Bravery While Under Heavy
Shell Fire.

letter of recent date. from
Somewhere in France" received by
a gentleman in this city, is of especial
interest. and through the courtesy of
the recipient, the Capital is permitted
to publish the letter.
The writer says:
Just taking advantage of a few
spare moments in order to drop you
a few lines. In your last letter you
ask several questions which l am
afraid | will not be able to answer, as
we have special instructions from the
base censor Nevertheless, | will try
my best TO answer some of them.
II have never seen an operation
performed without the use of anes-
thetics They say that in some of the
big drives, when they could not get
enough supplies shipped to the front,
they operated without any.
You ask if we are actually at the
front and do we hear the firing. All
our work is either in among the
heavy artillery or in front of it, When
trenches, we are somewhere in the
neighborhood of two or three miles
nearer the front than the artillery.
ut all depends on the enemy as to
whether they fight necessarily or not.
It's rather difficult to describe the
In hot af
different points. Some places they
will watch each other from the
trenches, if an object in the shape of
a man is seen in mo Mans Land"
coming towards us our men fire. The
Boches fight about the same way. At
times they may not fire a shot for
days. Other times they will fire con-
tinuously for days-perhaps weeks.
I'VE are now in repose after taking
an active part in one of the biggest
scraps of the war. If | were to men
ton the name of the place no doubt
wou would readily understand why I
say one of the biggest We were only
there two weeks but have seen more
at this front than at other points in
five months. Our boys worked almost
continuously the whole time we were
there. We were supposed to work
the post for twenty-four hours and
then rest at the base for twenty-four
But when the smash came, most of us
worked from forty-eight to seventy
hours with perhaps an hour or two
sleep in between trips. Even if we
did happen to get a nights rest in the
barn where we quartered, the darn
Boche aviators would be over on a
bombing party. They dropped a
bomb not more than two hundred
yards from the barn that tore a hole
in solid earth more than twenty feet
deep. They always try to hit the
crossroads, so we speed up a bit when
making a crossing. The traffic is so
heavy that traffic cop is stationed at
all crossroads. The ambulances have
the right of way over everything but
ammunition trains and staff cars.
1--WE saw sights on the roads that I
hope we will never see again. Horses
dead, some half dead, kicking and
groaning. Men cut to pieces by shrap-
mel and pieces of shell, wagons and
auto trucks smashed to pieces. They
sure did hit the roads.
I'VE were very fortunate in coming
through this without any serious in
juries Most of the cars have shrap-
mel holes in them. Three of the boys
were very slightly wounded.
"Now / have good news to tell you.
Five of our boys have been decorated
with the French War Cross for brav-
cry, while under this heavy shell fire.
They were recommended at various
stages of the scrap by officers who
witnessed their deeds. / cannot go in
to detail regarding each boys stunt,
as it would take up three pages and
the censor is very busy these days.
One French Lieutenant also won the
Croix de Guerre and his Sergeant
added another citation to his cross
which he had already won.
Our section as a whole, was rec
commended for a citation but for some
unknown reason it was not approved
of by the general of our army corps.
Had better close now, as think
have been rambling long enough