Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-05-30

| the Germans had been driven out OF
town but they had stuck for four years
on the edge shelling the town. This
sergeant had lived in Rheims, had
been a soldier on other fronts for four
years, had now come back and found
his home destroyed and Ills sister kill
ed by shell fire and he was working
at cleaning off the streets. He had
been an employee in the woolen mills
now destroyed. He had one habit
which made him an uncomfortable
companion. He had been grenadier,
and he kept insisting on showing me
how the different types worked, for
the ground was covered with German
and French hand grenades and unex-
ploded shells. He would pick up the
grenades and throw them in the old
dugouts and the banging made me
bit gun-shy, for would get no deco
ration or wound stripe for being shot
in a German trench, four months aft
err the armistice.
The dead are mostly buried in that
sector, but last Sunday was at Kem-
mel Hill in Belgium near Ypres and
there were hundreds Of dead lying un-
buried even ct that date-May 4th. I
walked about 20 miles going over most
of the Ypres salient, which is the most
desolatc portion Of the front, for 1t Is
|lowland-miles Of it like Fishing Creek
bottoms, with green Shiny pools of wa
ter among the rushes and grass and
the dead are still lying there, some
have been there for three years, for
the ground was fought over several
times and it is only along the roadside
that they buried them, and now
French, German and English are lying
there just where they fell-all equip
ment on, guns loaded, bayonets fixed
Just as they fell in some attack. no.
ticed one German with his helmet COW
cred with a piece Of gunny sack to con-
ceal him as he crawled out for his
sniping-a bullet had caught him in
the face and come out through his
helmet at the back Of his head. HIS
gun and equipment were lying with
him, and though the gun had been ly-
ing there for months in the rain, the
works had been so we'll creased, that
! picked it up and fired it several times
to test its mechanism and it still work.
ed well. The remarkable thing about
the Ypres sector is it's small size COM
paratively speaking-it is the last part
of Belgium the Germans failed to take,
and the British, French and Belg1ans
hung to it and resisted them so well
that they were never able to break
through to the channel ports. coIid
stand on KENNEL Hill and look over
it all, Armenticres, Ypres, Dickie5ush,
Neuve Eglise, and all the places you
have been reading about in the Flan-
ders campaign, and in that small Sec
ton 2,500,o00 men have actually been
killed in the four years. Our South
Carolina boys fought for awhile at this
sector, but moved a bit further down
when they made their big push with
the British and Australians and broke
the Hindenburg line. The Thirtieth
was a, wonderful fighting division and
deserves all the praise it has and none
are more liberal in their praise than
tn, British who fought with them. l
have talked with both British officers
and Tommies and they all praised our
Southern boys. They also noticed that
they did not have a Yankee tWang,
and asked me about it. told them
that Tennessee, North Carolina and
South Carolina were from old STOCK
most os it as pure as any in Britain.
They had noticed it also and remarked
on it.
British officers | have met, and |
have been with n good many lately
/ have been as kind, courteous and
thoughtful as any one at home could
be. They do not make advances, but
if they can be of help they are quick
to offer it. They spoke highly of the
medical officers we had with them, for
we had 100 American medical OFF,
GERS attached to the British army.
| Every day 1 run on acquaintance
over here. 1 stopped in Lille couple
of days ago-went up to call on the
provost marshal and found him to be
Lieut.. Aberncthy Of Lincolnton. He
was in the Office with some English
land Scotch officers and took me around
] to tea, with him. He is a cavalry Off
Ger and a good one-we had been on
the border together and he lives only
a few miles from Davidson, just across
the river.
| Lille is a fine big city, about mil
lion people, full of factories Of all
sorts, but the Germans had robbed i,
thoroughly. The factories are all idle
for the machinery was taken out, come
of it blown up, and the damage there
really amounts to more in money than
any section of France. Dhey have even
taken all the brass knobs off the doors
in their hunt for brass. They had TAX
en- all the wool and the landlady at
i my motel 2pOlO6lZeu LUZ sHe i.iu pSu
for they had taken her mattresses. The
fact that the front Of the hotel had
been shot to pieces did not keep hei
from giving me a good meal three
times a day, st about what you pay al
home, rs cents to s1.00 meal. The
French women are wonderful in theil
Industry There is one type that l:
written about more than any other
/. that is the woman of the streets who
runs after soldiers and there arc plenty
of them everywhere, probably more II
Brussels than in Paris, but the womer
of France are the hardest workers
ever saw. The men have been away
lso long that they undertake and task
They handle the baggage aEd freigh
at the stations, run the cars, are the
porters on the trains, plow, dig ditch
es, drive the teams, ETC., and 1t is these
women who kept things going and IL
nally beat the German. If you bargain