Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1918-01-04
the case the Zeppelins and Avatiks

LOoS. Every Gay IL was the same Olu
routine-up to the firing line in the
morning and back down again at
night. Once In awhile we would let
ourselves In for young bombardment
or would have rather n hot session In
the trenches when we would happen to
get there Mt the right time. but as far
as any important happenings there was
none.
will never forget the last day
spent at the front. IL seemed TO me
that the Germans must have put up
job on me, and just Mt the moment
was sure that | was coming out OF II
all right and that the war was over
for me they were trying to get me.
was ordered to report with my car
to one OF our new officers. did so,
and we left for the firing line. When
we reached the divisional signal office
we left the car and mounted our horses
to finish the journey. We got to a
place called Krustadt and stayed there
about half an hour htched my
horse TO the gate OF an old deserted
house and went over to one Of our
hHluiuIltiOn tOiuiulS W see III NOulu
get some hot tea. When l came back
about fifteen minutes later ! found my
poor horse down with his front leg
gone. A shell had exploded i'm the yard
OF this house and had blown his leg
clear or. There was nothing for me
to do but to shoot him and put the poor
beast out of his misery.
\ huptaA ,roupI a,pnnv th, diNnrapk
units I'm the vicinity until found an
other horse. and then | went up and
reported to my officer. We visited
some OF our batteries and came back
to Krustadt. The officer told me that
he would not need me during the after
noon, but to meet him at 8 o'clock that
evening. We hitched our horses to q
tree, and the officer went Off. Very
soon after he had gone some more Off.
GERS came along and hitched their
horses to the same tree. Altogether
there were six tied to the one tree.
l went over to the Royal Engineers
place and proceeded to make myself at
home. l was feeling happy, for knew
that this was my last day at the front,
Christmas. or course told everybody
I met all about my good luck. and we
were having a regular little farewell
dinner, only we had tea instead of
champagne After It was all over some
OF the boys went away, and proceed
ed to make myself comfortable on a
couch the fellows had built up In the
corner.
had been there about fifteen min.
utes when for some reason or other l
got up and went over and sat down by
the brazier. hadn't been Off that
couch three minutes when n shrapnel
shell burst directly over the hut. and I
should say fully twenty pieces came
through the roof. They went through
the floor as II It had been SO much pa,
per. and about half a dozen pieces pen
etrated the couch had been lying on
! not FIVE minutes before. There were
three Of us In the hut at the time, and
not one Of us was so much as scratched
| The shells were coming over pretty
thick then. so we went for the dugouts
ON the dead run. As | passed the tree
where our horses were tethered high
explosive shell burst in the middle OF
them and buttered them all over the
landscape.
| Believe me, | didn't pause one sec.
ond. just kept on going. ! entered a
dugout that had about "a foot and q
half Of water in It, but lay right
I'm Olu ~
stay there. The Germans were keep
ing up a sweeping fire. trying to locate
our batteries, and they continued un
I'll nearly Z o'clock that evening.
When 3 o'clock came and was sup
posed to meet my officers | stayed
right where | was. for | knew that
would not be expected to go out and
wait by that tree when the shells were
falling the way they were then. Al
o'clock the fire had pretty nearly
ceased. so l ambled out to the tree tC
see what had become Of the officer liz
was sitting on the ground with his
back against the tree. told him what
had happened, and he asked me II
knew where We could find some more
horses.
I said l did and that It was right OF
our way back. 30 we walked about q
half mile until we came to the trans
port camp, and there we got two Other
horses and proceeded to the plac,
where we had left the car.
Here the officer decided we woult
have some tea, 80 | went into a ten
where there were some fellows knew
and begged some grub had jus
commenced to eat when a shell scream
ed over and went into the ground abou
twenty or thirty feet from the corne
OF the tent. 1t didn't explode. SO W,
were all right, but ! decided that RICH
here was where ] quit, and went on
and sat In the car until the officer wal
ready.
But my troubles were not over yet
On the way back to camp one OF thu
back wheels came or the car and near
ly dumped us into the ditch. The OH
Ger got lift down In another car, anC
| set to work to try to put back tn,
wheel 1t was dark, and the road wa
muddy and soft. and everything seem
ed to go wrong The train left at