Emmons County record. [volume] (Williamsport, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-current, 1918-02-28
SYNOPSIS

VI
regiment and lands At ostend In October.
1914
Made driver Of an armored car and takes
part In battles about Ypres Transferred
10 the army service corps. has further
fighting experiences as a motorcycle rider
with machine gun attached and as q dis
patch rider
Describes Christmas OF 1914 in renches
.or,h of Ypres Fearful losses hiiis
.nipsr and tells of Belgian spies.
witnesses Royal Horse artillery in 40
ton Has a narrow escape and takes RET.
ugs in q cellar Is sent to Paris.
Describes bomb throwing and aeropians
attacks and the bombardment OF a village.
Kills q trench digger
Tho mining and capture OF Hill Co. Be-
cures leave and describes war incidents In
Glasgow Returns to Ypres in midst Of
bombardment.
Motors with an ofncer through Ypres to
Potizze amid bursting shells and bombs
dropped from aeropanes. A terrible ride.
Envcloped with poison gus. but gets
through. Carries dispatches through Q
fierce three weeks battle. Tells OF Ca
madam attack.
The bombardment Of Poperinghe. Slight.
ly wounded while motoring. Humors OF
trench warfare. Capturing spies Dyna-
hitting chateau In No Mans Land.
CHAPTER XII.
Last Day at the Front.
TINE last engagement of any i'm.
portance that | was In was the
big attack ut l.oos In September.
In big attack like this no one knows
but tue commanders just where the
real thrust Is coming Several attacks
are made. and for all we knew ours
might be the real one. or the real one
might be twenty miles away from US.
1t happened that ut the time Of the
last attack we were almost sure that
the big drive was coming through US.
We were ordered to be ready to move
at moments notice. and all prep
arations were made for big shift.
When the attack came We thought that
We were on our way at last. and every
body was counting chickens"
There certainly was some terrible
lighting. and II all we were supposed
to do was to keep tile Germans inter.
ested on our front we were very sue.
Cessful. Several things in this engage
ment deserve mention. ind among the
first Is the famous charge OF the Lon
don Irish.
They had not been heard Of very
much w to this time. but don't think
there nre many who don't know Of
them now They received orders to
take certain trenches ut certain time.
and on the face of 1t the thing looked
impossible. The odds were all against
them. and they knew 1t, but there was
nothing for 1t but TO obey their orders.
Nearly all the regiments have foot.
balls with which they nmuse them.
selves while In est camp. aud when
they 70 into action these footballs are
taken right along with them. When
the whistle blew for the London Irish
to charge they threw their footballs
over the parapet and made their charge
disabling the footballs in front Of them.
Ii was the most reckless. daredevil
thing ever saw. and It accomplished
the impossible for them. AS I sald
by all rights the entire regiment should
have been wiped ont. as the odds were
against them and they were running
right into death trap. The fact that
they went at 1t in such u devil may
care way as to Joke and play with
footballs In the very face Of certain
death broke the Germans nerve. and
they gave way with practically no re-
sistance at all Instead OF the regi-
ment being wiped out, AZ 1t should have
been. the men took the trenches with
losses Of under ION 1t was wonderful
I have referred to the work Of our
aeroplanes in various parts Of this sto-
~. but I think that noncombataEts
sometimes fail to realize what an i'm.
portant and effective part the Royal
Flying corps IL playing In this war.
Aeroplaues themselves are still pretty
dangerous modes OF locomotion. and
when Il comes to running other risks
for the cake Of gaining Information OF
doing material damage II needs man
who does not know what the slightest
eualm OF fear b and who b cool and
ready for action n the case Of emer.
0ency to make good military aviator,
We have severai aviators IN ouI
scuadrpns who have made bas names
for themselves Among them are Cap
tain Strange. d. .. O.: Llsutensn,
Hawker. '. O.. b. q O., ~ G., an1
aDo Robsst Losraine. the popular -
eos. who h commonly known - n
sactor-airman."
These three in particular have dia
ttnguishsd themselves on our tftti