The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1918-06-29

A0SfSAo vi W - SN'l
ed at Night From Dead Bodies
Fe.gns Death to Avoid Capture
When Huns Visit Shell Hole and
Finally Succeeds in Crawling Back
to His Own Lines.
If you have been thinking hat dis
tinguis1led service" on the battlefield
means one grand dash and then a quiet
room, an attentive nurse and pleasant
~recuperation, consider the case of Pri-
vate J. Taylor, whose valor is briefly
recited in a late issue of the official
supplement to the London Gazette.
This official list of soldiers cited for
decorations always carries a short de-
scription of the act of valor for
which the citation is made.
These two paragraphs accompany
announcement of the award of the dis
tinguished conduct medal to Private
Taylor.
Having been cut off with his COM
pany, he received a bullet in the thigh,
causing a compound fracture. To
avoid capture he crawled into a shell
hole, where he remained for a period
of over seven weeks, during the
whole of which time the surrounding
district was subjected to a severe bonn
bardment by our artillery. He subsist-
ed on tins of bully beef collected al
night from dead bodies, and water
which he obtained in a waterproof cap.
"After some week. three of the en-
envy visited his shell hole, but by feign-
ing death he avoided capture and even
tually succeeded in crawling back to
our lines-a distance of some 900
yards"
In IA hospital near London, where he
is re~cuperating, Taylor efficiently am
plified the story of his terrible expert
enceS.
Robbed Dead for Food.
at was during n of u attacks
upon the H%indenburg line" he said.
"We had gone over the top, two COM
panies of us. We were met by a ter
rife enemy fire and the fellows were
dropping like ninepins. 1 was knocked
Oul. II lnuol AdNC DCCA Il (OuDlC VI
days before l recovered consciousness.
l found myself in a shell hole with
another mar who was wounded but
could nov freely. During the days
and part of the nights the lombard
ment kept up. Shells fell all around,
but none happened to drop in our
shell hole. AT night Peters crept out
and foraged among the dead for scraps
of beef, line rations and their water
bottles. After two or three days it
rained. We collected water in our
caps.
THAT sort of existence lasted for
over five weeks. | was getting weaker
and weaker. One night Peters crawled
out and did not come back. That left
me without aid.
Plays 'Possum; Fools Huns.
"Next day a party of Germans came
into my shell hole. One lifted my
leg-luckily not the broken one or I'd
have yelled-but they thought I was
dead. l was covered with mud and
looked like the other bodies covering
the ground. During the next fortnight
/ managed to live on the reserve beef
Peters had collected. Then, feeling
that nothing worse could happen, 1
resolved to try TO get into our lines.
1t was an inky night. First I crawled
by mistake right into a German line.
They didn't hear me, so l turned back
and inched along for an hour. Then
l got into some barbed wire. l was
a mass of cuts, blood and rags before
l got through. Just her a Verey
light shot up. I saw a man peering
over a trench. He was about to shoot
when | shouted. Three of them came
out and dragged me into our own
trenches.
Before the var Taylor was a factory
hand. He is recovering rapidly and
looking forward to his return to the
trenches.