The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1918-11-14

TO say ! would go but he looked ut
me in a funny way for second and
then said swell. my son. suppose you
go and find out"
] thought he was kidding me nj first,
but then ] saw he meant II. thought
two things about it-one was that any
thing was better than staying there.
and the other was that the old dugout
was n pretty fair place after all. But
I did not say anything to the SER
geant or the other men-just went
out Of the dugout. The sergeant and
another man went with me and boost
ed me over the back wall of the hole
! lay fiat on the ground for minute to
get my bearings, and then started of
set my course for where I thought
the communication trenches were. to
the right, and just stood up and ran.
for ] figured that MS the shells were
falling so thick and IL was open
ground | would not have any better
chance II crawled.
I tripped several times and went
down. and each time thought I was
hit. because when | got II In the thigh
at Dixmude IL felt a good deal as
though ] had tripped over a rope.
And one time when fell shell ex-
ploded near me and I began TO shiver
again, and could not 20 on for a
long time. All this time / did not
think I would get through. but finally,
when reached what had been the
communication trench I felt had
done the worst part Of II. and began
to wish very hard that would get
through was not at all crazy about
going west
The mouth Of the communication
trench had been battered In and the
trenches II Joined with were all filled
up. There were rifles sticking out
of them In several places. and l
thought probably the men had been
buried alive In them. But II was too
late then. II they had been caught. so
] climbed over the blocked entrance TO
the communication trench and started
back along II. II led up through a sort
of gully. and l thought IL was a bad
place TO dig communication trench
In. because II gave the Turks some
thing like the side OF hill TO shoot at
Every once In while l would have
20 climb In and out of shell hole,
and parts of them were blocked where
a shell had caved In the walls. In one
place | saw corpses all torn to pieces,
30 | knew the Turks had found the
range and had got TO this trench Ia
great shape. At another place / found
lots of blood and equipment but no
bodies. and l figured that reinforce
ments had been caught at this spot
and that they had retired. taking their
casualties with them.
The Turks still had the range, and
they were sending a shell into the
trench every once In a while. and l
was knocked down again, though the
shell was so far away that IL knocked
me down with force OF habit more
than anything else. ! felt dizzy and
shiyered lot. and kept trying TO think
OF Murray or anything else but myself.
SO finally ] got 10 the top OF the
little hill over which the gully ran.
and on the other side l felt almost
safe. Just down from the crest Of the
hill was one Of our artillery positions.
with the good old "75s" giving II TO the
Turks as fast as they could. I told
the artillery officers what had hap
pened. had drink of water and
thought ! would take a nap. But when
/ ehax salnnhnnaH hn han N
division headquarters the man at the
receiver said something TO the officer
and he told me TO stay there and be
ready. / thought sure he would send
me back to where l came from and
/ knew l never could make II again.
but l did not say anything.
When i looked around l saw that
our real position was TO the right Of
where the artillery was. and that there
were three lines of trenches with
French infantry In them. SO the
trenches l had come from were more
like outposts than anything else, and
were cut OFF. felt pretty sure, then.
that the boys In them would never
come back alive. because as soon as
their fire let up the Turks would ad-
vance. and to keep them hack our guns
would have TO wipe out our men. and
II they did not. the Turks would. At
first ] was glad had come out. but
then remembered what the artillery
officer had said and I figured I would
have TO 40 back and stay with them
or bring them back. Either way there
was not one chance in hundred that
any OF us would make II. Because
when l got through II was really just
miracle and nobody would have
thought II could happen.
Then the officer told me TO go back
20 the beach. where our naval guns
were. and that was detailed TO them.
Maybe you do not think was gladf
But there was rough work still ahead
OF me. because when | got behind the
third line l saw "A wide open field that