Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1918-12-02
fle.d eavsrsc WIZ DEAD.

down 90 hillside for The night. neal
some captured German l-gs, and IN
I'll dark / watched the cavalry. sOmt
1000 come Up and take positions.
AT 2 30 the next m1rulu- Sit woke
me up and said we We're o. attack. The
regiment was soon under way, aud we
picked our way under cover If gas
infested valley Ia a town, where VT
got our final Instructions, aad Ieft our
packs 7 wished sumner good luck. and
We parted.
I'VE formed MP In n Su-ken road on
two Sides of II valley THAI WAS pcrpen
d.cUlJr 20 the enemy's frllt; Hughes
right. Holcomh left, Sihloy support We
uow began 10 get n few wounded; one
man. with nShen face. came charging
10 the rear with she'll shock. Tie Shoob
all over, foamtd Mt the mouth, could
not speak put him under Il tent. and
he acted Us If he had 4 iit.
~ heard Lieutenant Overton call tc
one of his friends 10 send certain
pin to his mother If he should get hit
AT $50 we Jumped of with a line
of tanks In the lead. For two kiloS
the four lines Of marines were as
straight as a die, and their advance
over the open plain In tn bright sun
light was a picture l shall never for
get. The fire got hotter and hotter
men fell, bullets sung. shells whiZzed
banged, aud the dust Of battle got
thick. Overton was hit by big piece
Of shell and fell. Afterward | heard
he was hit in the heart, SO his death
was without pain. H. was buried
that night and the pin found.
"A man near me was cut in two
Others when hit would stand. IL seemed
an hour, then fall In Il heap. yellet
to Wilmer that each gun In the bar
rage worked from right 70 left, ther
q rabbit ran ahead, and watched him
wondering If he would get hit. Coco
rabbit took my mind OF the car
mage. Looked for Hughes way over
to the right; told Wilmer that / hat
a hundred dollars, and be sure TO get
II. You think Of all kinds Of things
"About co Germans Jumped up out
of trench and tried to surrender, but
their machine guns opened up, we free
back, they ran, and our left company
after them. That made zap that haC
to be filed. so Slbley advanced one Of
his to do the job then Il she'll lit ir
a machine gun crew of ours and clean
81 II out completely.
Lost II Out of 20 officers.
AT 1890 we dug In: the attach
just died out. found hole or ole
trench and when I was fiat on my
back l got some protection. Hol
comb was next me; Wilmer some way
off. We then tried TO get reports. TIVE
companies we never could get II
touch with. Lloyd came In and re
ported he was holding some trenches
near mill with six men. Gates
with his trousers blown off, said he
had 16 men of various companies
another officer on the right reported
he had and could see some 40 men
all told. That, with the headquarters
was all we could find out about thu
battalion of nearly 800. OF the q
company officers who went In, three
came out. and one, Gates, was slightly
wounded.
"From then on to about s p. m. life
was chance, and mighty uncomfort
able. 1t was hot as furnace, no wa
ter. and they had our range to d IT.
Three men lying In a shallow trench
near me were blown TO bits.
We had q machine gun officer witt
us and at six runner came up ant
reported that Sumner was killed. HI
commanded the machine gun company
with us. He was hit early In the
fight by bullet, hear. can get NJ
details. AT the start he remarked
This looks easy--they do not seen
to have much art Hughes head
quarters were all shot up. Turner los
a leg.
"Well, we Just lay there all through
the hot afternoon. It was great
shell would lard near by and vol
would bounce In your hole.
"As twilight came we sent our wa
ter parties for the relief Of th'
wounded. Then we wondered II va
would get relieved. At nine O'clocl
we got message congratulatlng US
and saying the Algerians would TAX,
over at midnight. We then began tt
collect our wounded. Some had beef
evacuated during the day, but at tina
we soon had about 20 on the field neal
us. A man who had been blinded
wanted me to hold his hand. Another
wounded In the back. wanted his heat
patted. and so II went; one man go
up on his hands and knees. l asked
him what he wanted. He said: 'Lool
Mt the full moon then fell dead.
had him buried and all the rest
could And. All the time bullets SUM
and we prayed that shelling wcult
not start while we had our wounded OF
top.
Algerlans Badly "shot Up"
1.-THE Algerians came up at mldnlgh
and we pushed out. They went over
daybrenk and got all shot up. We mad
the relief under German flares and tn
light from n burning town.
"That night the Germans shelled us