Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-08-28

one END 10 the Otner WITH papers,
clothing and everything else which
the Hun didn't want.
EVERY drawer in the house had
been ransacked. The beggar over
looked nothing. Evidently, he ate in
any room at all. The above doesn't
sound so bad, does it? But one can
not mention the disgusting use that
rooms and linen were put to.
That's War Say the French
1.-The French say 'c'est la guerre.'
That may be true. But l cannot for
the life of me understand how the
civilized CD German of eight years
ago, or even five--who lived in such
a thrifty and clean way at home
can degenerate into such filthy ami
malism in four years of war. Neither
the French nor the English live that
way.
Letter Comes After Death
I'VE are awaiting the order to go
into battle" wrote Private Daniel
Wanzie, of Kulpmont. to his mother
on August 6. He was killed in action
later in the day, according to official
notification which reached his moth
er before his letter.
We gave the Huns another hard
run last night" he wrote. Just as
it was getting dark they opened up
everything they possibly could on us;
but it was no surprise on our part, as
we had been expecting 1t for twenty
four hours.
After a few hours of heavy firing
into our lines, it suddenly ceased.
Our boys went into strong counter
attack as soon as the firing had
halted, and we succeeded in captur-
ing a town about as big as Kulpmont.
AS we retook the place, our men all
took up new positions to hold the
town. | got a position in an old fac
tory for my automatic rifle. and
about daybreak this morning there
were all sorts of shrapnel Elng
about us.
II had about the most narrow es-
cape than at any time since l have
been in battle. Those big shells just
tore the immense concrete walls
from in front of me. But the only
things that happened to me were
few dents in my iron hat. My pal in
arms was taken to a hospital with
wounds caused by shrapnel and fly
ing bricks.
I'VE get frequent gas attacks by
the FritZies, but they seem to sue
ceed very little, as we are using the
best gas mask, think, of any nation
over here. In fact. 1 know it,
Although parents of Corporal L. E.
Neary, of the marines, of Carbon
dale, got word recently that he had
been wounded on June 16, they have
a letter written by their son on Au-
gust 8, his birthday.
Its a long way from this birth
day to the last" he writes to his
mother. II have nothing to regret,
feeling L am doing my duty as you
ich IN n And
let this generation wind it up for all
time, so that Bayard, Eugene and
others of their age will not have to
go out to make the sacrifice that was
| expected from us. And / hope that
you and Dad can see 1t as l do"
The story of the start of Mar
shal Foch's flank drive, which broke
the German hold on the Marne river.
is told by Private Roy ]. Robbins,
of the Marines, in letter to his home,
at Collingdale.
Private Robbins is one of twenty
three members of a Sunday school
class at Collingdale in the service.
The class originally had thirty-five
members. Nine of them are in the
Marines. Recovering from gas, Rob-
bins writes from rest billet away
I from the sound of shells"
We were resting on the banks of
the Marne," he writes. living in
patch of woods with no shelter. only
what you could improvise.s We were
there about week. expecting every
day to move back to some big town
and get good billets and good rest.
We'll, the looked-for order came
along one day to move out. We all
thought our division was going back
to recuperate and train the new men.
| avN1a n Whn tn fill the
gaps made at Belleau wood and Cha
teau Thierry. We were under that
! Impression until we hiked few
/ hours and got into big autotrucks at
midnight.
"They whisked us away to new
! front | guess you know what one,
as we were the Americans that start
ed the first day. We rode all night
and next day and landed at our des-
tination, a big woods.
AT "a. m. l got up to go on
guard, to look for gas, etc. At 4.SO
l came near jumping out of my skin,
as il seemed all the big guns in the
war were firing on me. But then in
minute | realized we were sending
over the worst barrage l had ever
! heard.
The guns were a little piece be-
hind up and l could see the flash as
they fred. 1t was a rolling barrage
| and as we afterward found 1t, the
Americans and French were walking
over fields right behind it. They say
it was a perfect barrage.
we Travelled that night, starting
about Z o'clock and walked until
dark. Then we slept in a ravine
where the Huns had their artillery
| the night before. Their guns were
there yet. Well, we hit the deck at
$50 a. m. and threw everything we
had in one pile to be left there. and
| Just Kept one blanket, mess gear,
gat and gas mask.
Il had the machine gun on my
shoulder. OF course, we would trade
off. changing one fellows load to an
other. but they were all heavy. We
walked at least seven or eight miles
that morning, over hills, down valleys.
over fields, along roads, and every
where we could see the story of the
| Hun flight.
| once plane swooped down and
| began firing at us. but we ducked
! into the woods and he had to give
Iup. Later / saw Hun brought
| down, and / hope it was the same
| square head.
"Wen. at least about 8 a. m. we
reached our destination, the last
town captured the day before and the
signs of the Germans were still
! there. 1t was here that our boys
took 800 Huns and count in u big
cave. There were plenty of signs
around printed in German.
Changed Streets Name
ION one street was "a signboard