The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1918-10-17

in complaining that the night was cold
and very CLOUDY. the trenches were full
of mud and water. II was somewhat Of
a gloomy start but the retroating mara
thons must have suffered more. one
; can run the hundred in 10 fat when
things are dry but when the fields are
undor a reef of mud a hasty getaway is
simply impossible. The long awaited
! zero hour came and our large cannon.
manned by our twenty Hammond boys
Of the 9. A. G.. opened up. II was the
beginning Of a real American triumph
and a few hours later the machine gum
ncrs started their lolly-pops, pop. pop,
pop. and the rockets went UP for our
own guns to throw their deadly barrage
and deadly it was two minutes passed
and had gone over with the first wave
"Kamersa" The Cry.
My work was 10 keep the artillery in
touch with Tia advancing Infantry. the
runners with me sped TO and fro. The
first few German trenches were partly
( empty. but the last two were fun OF
Huns. "kamerad. 'kameradT was the
cry. We made use Of the prisoners by
setting them to work carrying our
wounded. which numbered very few.
The German dead was appalling, and
| We kept up our advance at a rapid
pace finally stopping near some woods
I TO get our breath. The air birds were
! now flying in their formations and after
a ten minute rest we kept on advancing
through the woods that we thought
! would be swept by machine gun fire. A
few machine guns were UP IN the trees,
but the snipers were soon put out OF
I commission. the Hun gunners were
either killed or captured When we got
to be the masters of the woods we knew
that the only thing in our way was the
boche artillery fire. even this did not
stop US.
Hit BY shrapneL
A Hammond boy. Harry b. Jones, who
was ten yards~from me was struck by
a piece of flying shrapnel and as soon
as I found Red Cross man the youngs-
ter was fixed up and sent 10 a hospital
nearby Jones is doing well from the
latest report received in the battery
we soon reached a village and when
the civilian population heard from their
abbies that the Americans had taken
the town they swarmed out into the
street. The scenes at this moment were
very pitifuI. old men and women were
CRYING. They were so happy in being
freed that the happiness of smiles were
turned into tears. 1t wasn't long before
the advaRcing Yanks were served with
hot coffee. wine. boiled potatoes ano
! what not The old folks were over-1oy-
ed and those who were lucky stayed be-
hind for a few hours. Our detectives
were reached in rapid time. and when
twenty-four hours later the huns coun'
ter-attacked they could not succeed in
Riding US of our ground we gained.
Gets On Nerves.
-Four days passed by and the Huns
were still trying to penetrate their Ole
lines Sleep was impossible and seemed
no matter where one tried 10 hit thf
hay the Huns would start bomoardins
If got the nerves of many and / must
admit that / had to bite my lips more
than once The moment that we heard
that a rest was coming a cheer went ur
and. my. how good everything feels now
The end of the show came. The acts
are over one can now smoke a Ger.
man cigarette without having to dive
for safety but how funny it is TO be
, behind the lines. The boys want to get
in again and I am sure that after q
little rest our wishes will be granted
There are a great many tales TO write
about but I'll leave the most interesting
till the end of the war.
The Star Spangled Banner never
: sounded any better. Here's hoping Ham
/ mond goes over the top in the All
Liberty Loan Good luck. p. a.. anC
with kindest regards and best of gooc
wishes / am.
Most sincerely yours,
, IRVING CHAYKEN.
There are two angles from which t.