Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 19??-1918, 1918-07-19
CHAPTER VI.
Erlt. Doe. . LI..le .s.r.tslnp."

tFtA Ssss s-sttsY Sts@sssstts
My outfit was one OF those that saw
the Germans place women aud chill
dren IN front OF them as shields
against our Are. More than third Of
our men. ! should say. had been pretty
tough criminals In their own countries.
They always traded their pay against
q handful Of cards or roll Of tho
bones whenever they got chance.
They had been In most OF the dirty
parts Of the world. This war was not
such much TO them; just one more
Job In the list. They could Gull God
and the saints and the human body
more things thnn amy boss stevedore
that ever lived. tt
Yet they were religious In way.
Some of them were always reading
religious books or saying prayers IN
different ways and between them they
believed In every religion and super
stItion under the sun, guess. Yet
they were the toughest bunch ever
saw. ~
After they saw tho Germans using
the Belgian women the way they did.
almost every man In my company took
some kind Of q vow or other, and
most Of them kept their vows. too, I
believe. Aud those that We're religious
BOT more 20 after that.
Our chaplain had always been very
friendly with the men. and while
think they liked him they were 10
tough they would never admit II. and
some. Of them claimed he was a Jonah.
or jInx, or bad luck Of some kind. But
they all told him their VOWS as soon
az they made them and he was sup
posed 10 be sort Of referee az to
whether they kept them or not.
During my second stunt In the front
lines things got pretty bad. The Ger
mans were Ave TO our one and they
kept pushing back parts Of the line
and cleaning out others. And tho
weather was as bad as II could be
and the food did not always come reg
ularly. Now. before they took their
VOWS, every last man In the bunch
would have been kicking and growing
ail tho time. but. n II was, the only
time they growled was when the Ger
mans pushed US back.
Things kept getting worse and you
could see that the men talked to the
chaplain more and quite few Of them
Sot real chummy with him.
h One morning Fritz started In bright
and early to begin his strafe. The
lieutenant was walking up and down
the trench to see that the sentrles
were properly posted and were on the
fob. A shell whixxed over his head
and landed Just behind the parados
and the dirt spouted up like I imagine
. Yellowstone geyscr looks a
Another officer came up to the lieu
tenant--a new one who had only
3olned the company about a week BE-
fore. They had walked about fsr
yards when another shell whizzed o<e'
them. They laid to and a third one
came. There were three In less than
Ave minutes. directly over their heads
Then a shell landed on the left side
Of the trench and poilu yelled that
four men had got II. They were all
wounded and three died later. The
lieutenant went over to them and just
after he passed me lad got II square
not far from me and was knocked
over to where was lying.
The lieutenant came back ant
helped me with the hrst.ald roll ant
then the Germans began using shrap
mol. The lieutenant was swearing
hard about the shrapnel and the Ger
mans and everything else. ~ f
Farther to the right shell had JUS
struck near the pnrndos and made I
big crater and across from 1t, agalns
the parnpet, wps young chnp viii
a deep gnsh In his head, sitting OF
the fire step and next to him fellow
nursing the place where his arm hn,
been blown off. q c bread ration Ia.