Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1918-11-19
CHAPTER XIV.
Je Suis BIeSse,

Je Suis Blesse.
AS usual when we got to BreSt there
was rush work day and night on the
Cassard to get her out and supplies of
all kinds were loaded for our next
visit to the Turks. The French gar
bies were always keen for the trip
back to Brest-they were sure of load
ing up on tobacco and other things
they needed.
My TWELFTH trip to the Dardanelles
was different from the others. The
Cassard was doing patrol work at the
time in the neighborhood of Cape
Helles. Those of us who had served
on the Peninsula before were thank
ing our stars for the snap we were
having-just cruising around waiting
for something to happen.
We had not been there very long be-
fore something unexpected did happen,
for we ran into two enemy cruisers
which l afterwards heard were the
VERT and Kaiserliche Marine-one on
the starboard and one on the port.
How they had managed to sneak up
so near us | do not know. They
opened up on us at not much more
than thousand yards and gave us a
hot time from the start, though with
any kind of gunnery they should have
done for us thoroughly.
We came right back at them and
were getting in some pretty good shots.
/ was in the 14-inch gun turret, star
board bOw-my old hangout-and we
were letting them have it about four
shots every five minutes and scoring
heavily.
do not know how long we had been
fighting when part of our range finder
was carried away. 1t was so hot,
though, and we were so hard at it that
such little thing like that did rot
bother us. 1t is hot in any gun turret,
but | have always noticed that it is
hotter there in the Dardanelles than
in any other place. The sweat would
simply cake up or us, until our faces
were Just covered with a film of DOW
derry stuff.
But the range finder was carried
away, and although it looked bad for
us | was feeling so good that l vol
unteered TO go on deck and get an
other one. got outside the turret
door and across the deck, got the nee
essary parts and was coming back
with them when / received two ma
chine-gun bullets in the right thigh.
One went clear through bone and all
and drilled hole on the other side,
while the other came within an inch
of going through. The peculiar thing
is that these two were in line above
the wound / got at DiXmude. The line
is almost as straight as you could
draw it with ruler.
OF course it knocked me down and
| hit my head pretty hard crack on
the steel deck, but i was able to crawl
on to the turret door. Just as | was
about to enter the gun was fired. That
particular charge happened TO be de-
fective. The shell split and caused a
back fire and the cordite. fire end gas
came through the breech, which the
explosion had opened.
1t must have been a piece of cordite
which did il, but whatever it was, II
hit me in the right eye and blinded 1t
The ball of the eye was saved by the
French surgeons and looks normal, but
it pains me greatly sometimes and
they tell me it will always be sight
less.
l was unconscious Immediately from
the blow and from the quantity of gas
which l must have swallowed This
! gas did me n great deal of damage
and gives me dizzy spells often to this
| day. l do not know what happened
during the rest of the engagement. as
| did not regain consciousness until
three days later at sea. But l heard
in the hospital that the French super.
dreadnaught Jeanne dare and the
light cruiser Normandy were in it as
well as ourselves, though not at the
time 1 was wounded. and that we had
all been pretty well battered The
Cassard lost 96 men in the engage.
ment and had As wounded. Some OF
| our turretS were twisted into all man.
ner of shapes and part of our bow
was carried away. One of our lieu.
tenants was killed in the engagement
was told that both the VERT and
the Kaiserliche Marine were sunk in
this engagement. have seen pictures
of sailors from the VERT who were
prisoners at interment camps.
When we arrived at Brest the
wounded were taken from the ship in
stretchers and after we had been rest
ed for about fifteen minutes on the
dock put into ambulances and rushed
TO the hospital. On the way those who
could leaned out of the ambulance and
had a great time with the people along
the streets. many of whom they knew,
for the Cassard was Brest ship. And