The Greeneville daily sun. (Greeneville, Tenn.) 1918-1920, 1918-10-21
Rev. Clemens
Injured In France
He Gives Most Thrilling Experience
In Letter to His Wife.

Sept. IL.
Gas last I know where ! am going.
will be with the at9th infantry Of
the sOth division Just at present
it is located about Is miles from the
front line.
Sept. IA.
"At the same place as the 18th.
| did not expect to get to write you
another letter from this place, but
our moving order was changed from
last night to tonight. This is Sun
day and | had my first service for the
boys this morning and they seemed
to enjoy it very much, About half
a dozen officers were there, including
my major. We have three chaplains
in the regiment now. One is Cath
ole priest. The other is an Epis-
copalian. A chaplain has charge of
the religious work of each battalion.
l am in the second; it has four COM
panies, nearly 1900 men. My bat
talon is commanded by Major Mon
tagne."
Sept. 16.
eve are in another place today,
several miles from the place where
/ wrote from the 14th. We made
the trip under cover Of darkness, but
| it was one of the most beautiful
nights / have seen for many day.
Just as clear as it could be. We did
not hike, but made the trip in trucks.
l sat on the seat with the French
driver and you should have heard
our animated conversation in French.
He only knew one English word and
soon after we started he pointed up
and said clear" I said "Oui, oui"
Then there were thirty minutes of
profound silence, and he said to me
"vous froid." Then / looked at him
in establishment and he said "vous,
vous." / said "non." He had an
other long silence until we passed
through a good-sized town and he
merely looked at me and called its
name. That was all that was said
until we reached the end of our trip
and he said "fni." SO we unloaded,
marched up here in the woods and
laid down on the ground and got
about two hours sleep before the
sun warmed our backs. We left at
5 o'clock and reached here at half
past four. 1t was a great trip. Once
n while / dozed off as we rode along.
We were passing through a small
town and | was good asleep when a
soldier ran up to the car and yelled
in my ear 1t, is this the 319th?' /
awoke with start and thought a
German had me.
'They are very strict with the men
today and won't let theh get out from
the shelter Of the trees. They have
their tents pitched through the woods
and everything seems quite home
like. We will probably not stay here
more than twelve hours longer, when
we will move up closer"
Sept. goth.
eve are just three miles from,
a place where some of the hardest
fighting of the war has taken place.
It has never been in the hands Of the
Germans. | walked over there yes
terday with doctor, and the place
was just shot all to pieces. We went
into the big cathedral. One shell
hit in the middle Of the roof and an
other on the side. It is a mass Of
ruins. It is still under fire of the big
guns and once in while they take
shot at it. No civil population is
there at all, and all one can see are
a few soldiers"
Oct. LIST.
II am on my back in the hospital.
The boches came near getting me.
A high explosive shell hit about ten
feet from me, tossed me up in the
air and Of course came down again.
MY back was injured, left shoulder
and hip hurt and the bone in my left
leg between the knee and hip was
cracked. Outside of that / am all
right and doing fine. / am about
200 miles from the battle line and
will probably be here for three weeks.
Please don't worry about me, as my
injuries are not one bit serious. Base
hospital No. ID"
Oct. 3rd.
II am sitting about half way up
and will see how long | am able to
write in this position. The doctors
and nurses are mighty nice here. This
is Chicago unit and most Of them
-. So. T1I....s~