Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1918-05-08

defful sight to watch decided dig
erection was the better part of valor."
or something like that. and got down
in my dugout.
went back to the advanced dress
ing station through the hottest shell
fire l ever experienced. More than
once went down on my face when
shell burst and the pieces went whis-
zing over my head. / spent the night
in a mined village where the advanced
dressing station was located, and all
night they shelled 1t to blazes. 1t was
remarkable how few casualties we
had.
About eleven O'Clock the morning Of
the third day a shell blew in the side
of our post, but luckily no one was
hurt. We stuck to 1t until about four
in the afternoon. when we saw our
men retiring over ridge In front of
us, keeping up continuous machine
gun and rife fire, and we beat 1t back
to another village and opened anoth-
er post.
The 6egrimed Lord.
About ten o'clock on the morning Of
the fourth day Lord Thyme, my col
onel when was with the battalion.
stumbled into the shack where l was
sitting. He looked like a ghost. He
had lost his hat, his face was c. cred
with a four days beard. the sweat
had traced tracks in the dust from his
forehead to his chin. His sleeve was
"a ha aGh in
his arm where he had been struck by
8 piece Of flying shell case.
"My God. doc. are you here?" he
said. you got out just In time. The
battalion is all gone. The sunken road
is filled with dead-mostly Huns.
damn 'em. The line broke on the
right; we were surrounded. and at
the last we were fighting back and
back. Only thirty of us got away"
So we knew the Boche had broken
through to our right and our left, and
ii was a question of how long 1t would
be before we. too. were surrounded,
hut we wanted to stick 1t out as long
as we could.
Bat not more than an hour later
medical officer rushed in from one of
the battalions and between gasps for
breath told us the Germans were on
the edge of the village, had shot him
through the sleeve with a machine
gun bullet luckily that was slD. and
Tor us to beat 1t.
Let me tell you We did. I threw
my knapsack and made The first hun
bred yards in nothing fiat aud then
settled down TO walk because ! was
so out of breath / couldn't run any
more.
The incessant scream and crash and
bang of the shells kept up and the
rat-tat-tat OF the machine guns never
ceased The village Immediately be-
hind US was a seething mass of brick
dust smoke, fame, and bursting
shells. We were told on our way
back that stand was to be made
behind this village, so we clrcled
around II aud took up a position
about a half mile behind II at a cross
roads.
Unfortunately for us, six inch bat
terry came into action about fifty yards
from us and. aside from the harassing
effect of the terrific noise. batteries
are always unpleasant neighbors, as
they invite shell fire We stepped
here until about 10 o'clock ut night
when We were ordered to retire.
There was no way of getting out
the wounded that we had collected. SO
the stretcher bearers carried them on
their stretchers for six or seven miles
In fact. we all helped. and when VT
arrived at our destinn ton al o'clock
in the morning of he fifth day we
were oil in.
/ could hardly move. but after two
big bowls of hot tea and some hard
tack turned In on the floor and slept
like a log for four hours, when we
moved to another place and opened a
dressing station
Hun Plane Crashes.
On the way German airplane came
down and crashed near the road. but
neither the pilot nor observer were
hurt. They were n couple of rather
neat looking lads about 10 years old.
And so 1t went for three days more,
open dressing station, retire tsome-
times on the run), long marches, very
little to eat except what we foraged
from abandoned camps and dumps.
dog tired. sleeping when and where We
could. and finally the division was re-
lleved. We now saw our first civilians,
7 In.
wasn't much of bed. and the mattress
was full Of humps, but to get my
boots off my sore and aching feet, TO
stretch out, and know / wouldn't be
routed out In fifteen minutes-well.
you couldn't have bought that bed
from me for 800.
Did you ever read Robert w. Serv-
ices description OF the retreat from
Mons? Well. that's the way l felt:
Tramp, tramp, the grim road the road
from Mons 10 Wipers;
I've 'ammered out this ditty with me
bruised and bleeding feet;
Tramp. tramp. the dim road
We didn't '.ye no pipers-
All bellies that were ollsr was the
drums we 'ad to beat
The uinth day, Slttlhg brouuu the
fire in our mess after the best dinner
we had had in days, the commanding
officer handed me son papers and
said, Here is something that will IN
terest you, Petit. ! want to say we
shall he sorry 10 lose you"
And this Is what 1t was: Lieut..
Roswell r. Petit NJ. Il. C.. is relieved
from duty with the British army and
VIII proceed to the A. +. F., where he
will report for duty"