Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-05-13
Travelled in Crowded Train
During Early Hours Of !
the Morning.
Saw Many German Air
planes Tells Of Introduc-
ton to Gun Fire.

account of d visit he made a few
weeks ago to the front. line trenches.
Major. Hanley In civil life is Judge
of the Twelfth judicial district, and
has been prominent in the politics OF
North Dakota. At the time the guard
was called out for service. on the
mexican border he was major Of the
third battalion Of the First North
Dakota, but retired from the service
on the return Of the regiment. When
the G regiment was organized
ne was given the appointment .as ma
jor Of the third battalion of. the new
unit. At Charlotte, N. c., however,
IWhen the Second was smashed Major
Hanley a placed in, command of
the 14Sth Machine. Gun battalion
with which he is now serving in
He explains his trip to the front
as follows:
In Trenches on March "a.
II went forward from here (some-
where) on February 81 and arrived
at a place (name rcannot,be mention
ed) onthe twenty-third, where we
We're within sound of the guns and
where the boche a%eroplanes came
over most every day. and on March
"a went into the trenches at a place
which also annot be mentioned.
ON the morning that we began the
journey to the front line we were up
and on our way at 3 O'clock. The
train was packed and we could hard
lly get a seat. At the destination of
the train we had to stop for the bal
ance of h day in order to wait for
Ian u the following mrning and
night l slept in a htel bed which
was the first hotel bed l had been in
since leaving New York. In the
morning lat S Is started in the auto
with two soldiers n two lieutenants
l anu we n4ES1d .1119nv inforoctinu
sights, one of them being a village
h a had been completely DESTROYED
by the boche shells. 81
Visited Bombed City.
On the trip going forward that
first as morning The place whsre ! stop
general was a city that was over
double the size of Mandan and it had
been continually bombed and shelled
by the boche. The railway station
was gu of business and everything
in the line, of merchandise that was
used in the city had to be hauled a
distance of ten miles by team. When
we left there by auto still going for
ward we worse our steel helmets and
had our a masks ready for instant
adjustment as we were in dangerous
territory and every short distance on
the road we were met by sentries to
whom our pass was shown. X
l., ~ VIC Gil AOF d part OF the way a
boche aeroplane was travelling in the
same direction We were travelling and.
|seemed to be following generally the
road upon which we were going and
the chauffeur hit up a mighty fast
pace Gas thought with the idea of
giving the %aeroplane a poor target to
shoot at
THE roads over which we travelled
Except as to where they were brok-
ell up by shell holes) were excellent
macadanlized roads. Indeed all III
roads of France are excellently made
and we'll kept up and fine for auto
ling.
Chartered in Dugout.
I'VE arrived at our destination on
the front line just before noon and
| was given a dugout for my quarters,
1t. was about six feet wide and ten,
feet longand dug in the ground with
board floor and a bunk along n
end of. it and had a little French
stove and strange as it may seem, an
electric light.
when we arrived there were nu-
merous shells going I'VE u heads
but not near us and we could hear
the occasional hum of machine guns
60 I was introduced to the firing OF
the trenches rather gradually. Noon
day >lneal on the French dejeuner
was served shortly after l got Their.
IN y OlliCSES lIkcSS W14CH was Oil.
other dugout but considerably larger
than the ordinary one and twelve Of
ficers including myself sat down to
the meal. I sat down at the right
hand Of the colonel commanding the
sector and we sure had a delightful
meal (my first in the trenches.)
Welcomed by Allied Officers.
English and l could talk a little
French so we got along nicely. At
the close Of the meal the colonel, in
honor of an American officer being
present, had all the officers stand and
he extended me a welcome to their
trenches and also proposed a toast
to the American soldier. /, of course,
had to reply and told them that the
whole American people were glad to
send an army to Ia Belle" France
not only because we felt that on: own
civilization was in the balance but
also because Jul people remembered
the help that France had given us
by sending her troops and ships 10 us
in the Revolutionary war.
Americans Not Discouraged.
We had been discussing at the
meal the report >~received that iay
that the boche had invented n gun
that was shooting its shells into pa
ris, 100 kilometerr away. ( ended
my little response to them by saying
vented such a gun it wal no. going
to discourage The American people
and that they were In the war until
1t was won39'
After the: meal 1 accompanied on,
| of the French majors. Tin the French
army they call a major a co,nmans-
anti in a tour Of part Of the firing
trenches. We. of course, walked as
most Of out way was through COM
municating trenches and we wore the
full trench regaIia. There IL little 1
can say Of this trip as 1t necessarily
involves military matters which can-
mot be written about. However,! there