Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 19??-1918, 1918-07-01
BATrkRy q WORKS Z HOURS FOl
HONOR OF FIIsr FiRE--tiuN.
NER m OVERCOME nv GAs
GUNNER IS OVERCOME WITH GAS
shapncl Fired By American Atii-
icry Lands In Middle ~ G.r-
man Communication Trench

Tho hrpt shot to be fired for Amer.
ica In the world war was by a former
Grants Pass boy. To Corporal o.
borne de varilla. formerly OF Grants
Pass. where he enlisted In April
1917. belongs the distinction OF hay.
ing sent u charge OF schrapnel into
the German lines from field piece
at G;i0 o'clock on the morning OF
October 23. 1917.
This young American. red OF hair
and blood too who since has been
invalided to the United States, where
he has been engaged In American
propaganda, relates IN the San Fran
cisco Examiner tho circumstances
which have brought his name into
lasting fame, MS follows;
"My battery Battery c Of the
Sixth field artillery was In training
camp October 10. when orders came
that we were TO leave for the front.
We. arrived AZ the front on the even
Ing OF October 81. 1917. and on the
following day we were taken out by
our battery commander. Captain I.
n, Mciendon. and French colonel,
10 reconnoiter our position. That
night word came from our hcadquar-
tors that another regiment Of Amer
lean field artillery was trying to get
their guns into position before we
did Here was fix' Our runs had
only been brought mp to small VII
lage three-quarters OF u mile back OF
our position. while the horses had
been sent back TO the base.
Call for Volunteers
Captain McI.endon. our battery
commander. called for volunteers to
drag one gun Into position by hand.
We all volunteered. and. without
waiting for selection. started ont
with the gun with cheer II was
raining cats and dogs. and the coun-
try we had TO traverse, dragging the
gun. was a mass Of mushy mud, pitt
ted with big shell holes and directly
under the Germans nre. which was
only less heavy than the rain.
mo one could speak above a whis-
per nor show any lights as we Stun
bled through the darkness. dragging
our gun into position. II took us
four hours to pull the gun the three
quarters OF n mile to where we want
ed II ere we could put some camou-
flage over II. Five Of us slept by II
all night In the pelting rain, II was
some baptism OF fire. all right.
Captain Gives Data
: "At six o'clock next morning Cap
tain McLendon arrived to give us
our firing data. We laid the gun
according to instructions. and at 6:iO
a. m. ON October 23, 1917. the hrst
schrapnel fred by Amerlcal Artillery
went screaming into the German
lines.
THAT scbrapnel was the first
scream OF the American eagle! Ac-
cording to our forward observation
officer, Uncle Sans first present
OF hardware to the kaiser landed
plop In the middle OF German COM
munlcation trench. guess II up
set all further communications.
A few minutes later we got the
range OF the kitchens and started to
warm up Fritz coffee for him.
Fritz didn't like that kind Of
sauerkraut, and soon after started
to swap compliments with their six
and eight inch howltzers. But the
Boches shooting like their other
methods Of fighting. was punk
Firing Was Continuous
Our battery carried on firing
almost continuously from $40 A..
NJ. on October 23 until the afternoon
OF November 5. We directed our