The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1918-09-11
YANKS GRIN AS
SHELLS BURST
Harry Evans Tells of Changing
TIE on a Ford Car While Un-
der German She'll Fire.
SAYS ALL THE BOYS CHEERFUL
One is Impressed by Levity Shown by
Our Boys-Ahey "Rag" Each
Other to Beat the Band.
BY HARRY c. EVANS

All The FRONT WITH The
AMERICAN, ARMY IN FRANCE,
July give left the walled city at
6 D. IN. for the front, twelve miles
away. We had gone about half way
when we had a blowout. We had. not
distinguished the noise of the burst
ing tire from that of shells that were
bursting in the field to the right.
The boches evidently thought they
for they had been peppering it for two
hours. They had made a slight mis-
take, however, in the location Of the
Something" Had they selected a
woods on the other side of the road,
and a little to the rear, they might
have disturbed battery and large
cache of munitions. Their airplanes
hadn't exactly located the spot.
AS it was, our boys sat about their
guns in the edge of the woods grin
ming as they watched the shells tear
up the potato patch on the hillside
a quarter of a mile away. We ran
on few hundred yards and pulled
the car to the side of the road under
meath a tree. Trees, shrubs, woods,
the verdure of the war zone, are bet
ter friends to man than barricades,
stone fences and cement walls, for
beneath them men, horses, batteries
and muniton trucks are concealed
from the eyes of the enemy peering
from airplanes overhead.
Approaching Ford.
If you never changed tire on a
e,ha11 fro T o1vicn
not to try it. 1 had formed some af-
lection for Henry Ford in the days
when we were trying to stop the war
by milder methods than he and | are
now employing.
Those were the days Of our ver-
dancy when we were to have the
boys out of the trenches some Christ
masses ago, before we realized that
nothing but bayonets and bullets will
stop the huns. But my esteem for
Henry Ford vanished with my cour-
age as ! tugged at that tire, trying
to rip it off the rim. When 1t finally
yielded the new tire proved more OBJ
stinate still. Where's the sense in
a man inventing such d--n fool
car, anyway? Why wouldn't things
fit?
Just as I had firmly secured the
end of the crowbar over the edge OF
the rim, and was using up strength
to shove the casing over, a shell burst
behind me. The crowbar slipped and
| fell forward cutting my nose, which
bled copiously, on the wheel. l was
sure l was blown to pieces. With the
wheel finally mended we donned he'll
NETS, hung gas masks about our necks
and proceeded on our journey.
Wrecking Balloon.
To the left of the road some 500
yards, captive balloon swung just
below a low cloud. A captive balloon
is one that is anchored to the ground
by a cable. AS the cable is tolled out
the balloon rises to such height as
will permit the man in it to look
across the trenches and observe the
enemys positions and movements.
These the observer communicates by
certain signs to his own troops.
These observation balloons are the
special prey of enemy airplanes. Pres
emily above the cloud there appeared
a German flyer. Down he came, swift
as an eagles flight, direct for the
helpless balloon, his machine gun
abaze with its rapid fire. AS he
passed the balloon it burst into flames
and out of the noise and flames man
plunged headlong to the ground. 1t
was the observer. Before he struck
he managed to open his parachute and
landed safely. He came into the line
a few minutes later none the worse
for his experience. Meanwhile the
German plane escaped back across the
trenches.
1t was a strange road, that, and
strange things all about the road. |
remember once witnessing a play call
ed "Sinbad the Sailor" The wood
side reminded me of the weird scenic.
effect of that play 4
Here was the same blending of