East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1918-03-18
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Continued from Saturday,

NAoHNllQGO lINlli E9eAthAhttSsF
----
passed them back, to be sent to the
rear, and the man who received them
from me chuekled and told them to
move lively. The German trenches
were practically just as we had ex-
pected to find Them according to our
sample. They were so nearly similar
to the duplicate section in which we
lrad practieed that we had no trouble
finding our way in them. l was just
thinking that really the only tough
part of the job remaining would be
getting back across No Mans Land
when it seemed that the whole earth
behind me rose in the air. For mo-
ment l was stunned and half blinded
by dirt blown into my face. When
was able to see l discovered that all
which lay behind me was mass of
upturned earth and rock, with here
and there II man shaking himself or
scrambllng out of it or lying still.
Just two minutes after we went into
their trench the Germans had eXplod-
ed a mine under their parapet. l have
always believed that in some way or
another they had learned what spot
we were to raid and had prepared for
US. Whether that's true or not, one.
thing is certain-that mine blew our
organization, as we would say in Ken
tucky "plumb to HI" And it killed
or disabled more than half of our
party.
Great Confusion.
There was much confusion among
those of US who remained on our feet.
Some one gave an order TO retire, and
some one countermanded it More
Germans came out of their dugoutS,
but instead of surrendering as per our
original schedule they threw bombs
among us. II became apparent that
we would be killed or captured If we
stuck there and that we wouldn't get
any more prisoners. l looked at my
wrist watch and saw that there re-
manned but five minutes more of the
time which had been allotted for our
stay in the trench 50 i blew my whis-
tie and started back. had seen Pri-
waite Green (No. III, ,250) knocked down
by a bomb in the next section, and l
picked him up and carried him out
over the wrecked parapet. / took shell
ter with him in the first shell hole, but
1 found that he was dead and left him
there. A few yards farther back to-
ward our line found Lance Corporal
Glass in shell hole with part of his
hip shot away. He said he thought he
could get back if 1 helped him, and 1
started with him. Private Hunter,
who had been in a neighboring shell
hole. came to our assistance, and be-
tween us Hunter and l got Glass to
our front trench.
We found them lining up the surviv-
ors of our party for roll call. That
showed so many missing that Major
Lewis, formerly of the Montreal Star,
called for volunteers to go out In No
Mans Land and try to find some of
our men. Corporal Charleson, Private
Saunders and 1 went out. We brought
in two wounded, and we saw number
of dead, but on account of their black
ened faces were unable to recognize
them. The scouts later brought in sew
eral bodies.
Of the sixty odd men who had start
ed in our party forty-three were found
TO De lES-hliltbf NO9huNb Va
missing. The missing list was the
longest. The names of those men were
marked "m. b. k" (missing; believed
kiIled) on our rolls. / have learned
since that some few of them have been
reported through Switzerland as pris-
oners of war in Germany, but most of
them are now officially listed as dead.
All of the. survivors of the raidinS
party were sent twenty miles to the
rear at z O'Clock, and the noncommis-
stoned officers were ordered to make
reports in writing concerning the en-
tire raid. never slept more than an
hour at a time for several days and
nights. / would doze off from sheer
exhaustion and then suddenly find my
self sitting straight up, scared half to
death all over again.
There may he soldiers who won't
get scared when they know they are
in danger or even when people are be-
ing killed right around them, but I'm
not one Of them. And I've never met
any Of them yet / know boy who
won the military cross in the battle of
the SOmme, and ] saw him on his
knees before his platoon cOmmupder,
shamelessly crying he was a coward
and begging to be left behind just
when the order to advance was given.
In this war in every offensive, dig
or small, the man who has been train
ed to throw "A bomb thirty yards Is
buster and more important than the
fellow with the modern rife, which
will shoot a mile and a half and make
a hole through a house. In a good
many surprising ways this war has
carried us back to first principles.
remember a crusaders mace which I
once saw in the British museum that
would make a bang up knob kerrie.
much better than the kind with which
they arm our No. men in a raiding
section. II had a round iron head,
with spikes all over Il. wonder that
they haven't started a factory to turn
them out.
Tricks Of Bombing.
When the Canadians first introduced