Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1919-04-04
lEfFgaa from OVER .qHnae
From Mckinley sire

lSaln.
AS you know I volunteered from
Roanoke and was sent to Columbus,
Ohio, but did not stay there but 4
lays, because they were coming IN
so fast they had to ship them out. |
was sent from there to Ft. Mckinley
Me. and stayed there just short time
and was called over sea. We were ask
ed if we, were willing to go, if not we
we're. to be transferred to the @. M.
corps and remain over here but all
wanted to go, and so we started from
there in July 1917 and were sent to
Fl. Adams, R. l. to mobilize, we
were there 2 or 8 weeks and sailed,
leaving from near N. Y. IA of Aug.
Of course it was supposed to be kept
secret for the German spies and subs
were at their best then, and that is
why no one cheered US when we left.
We sailed on the ship, Andania,
which now lies at the bottom OF the
Atlantic, she was sunk by sub on
her return voyage. On leaving NY
We were not allowed on deck, but my
bunk was close to port hole, thru
which 1 thrust my head thru, and
Watched the statue of Liberty until
became invisible. We sailed along
he coast until we came to Halifax,
iowa Scotia, and there waited for
rest of the convoy, there were IN
-.e convoy. We then started across.
The food on board ship was very
,oor, and altho I had some money 1t
vas impossible to buy anything. we
ere on board 10 days. We were
40 days out from England when we
were met by s destroyers that guard
d us thru the danger zone. The best
art of the trip was that we sighted
no subs, but we kept a close watch
.or them and stopping in Bantry Bay
island until 8 sweepers could sweep
he channel, then we went to Liver
,ool, very fine City but was taken
to a rest camp at Borden Eng. l do
rot need to explain about those rest
amps for every soldier knows what
hey are. We were drilled all day
md part of the night, but the thing
that we were fond of was the long
aikes, which were taken daily.
The food in Ems. was scarce and
if course we were not overfed.
After drilling in England for sew
eral weeks we left for France on a
ship, the name I never found out, we
crossed the channel in few hours and
landed at LeHarve, were sent to one
more of those rest camps, near Troys
Ind there getting more drilling, 1T
was here that we were drilled with
the French We were with them about
5 months, for there were very few
Americans in France then and was
sure glad to see one that could talk
English for could not talk French
very good. We drilled in this camp
about mos. then we started for the
front and were sent on Toul sector,
and settled down to business. Our
.uns were of the French type 81 in.
which had a range of about IL to II
ailes and threw a projectile weigh
ing $50 lbs with a powder charge OF
50 lbs. We were kept busy work
ing day and night for the firing was
done at night, and we did our first
iring in the battle of Shesprey,
April 1918, and the Germans were
driven out of the town. Fhis was
the first battle the Amir. took part in;
it was taken by the 26th, Div. and
from that time on we did lots of fir
ing and received lots from the Ger
mans, which was mixed with lot OF
gas but having good mask, the
gas did not bother me much, we car
ried the English respirator, which is
much like the Amr. respirator, 1t is
good for 4S hrs. under gas and we al
so carried the French mask which
was good for hrs. under gas. We
were compelled to wear the respira-
tor 10 hrs. under one attack and to
wear one Of those masks is not a
very comfortable thing, and if you
were to wear one you would agree
with me. Our time was spent most
ly in using the pick and shovel,
which most soldiers do not like to
use, but they were used to dig trench
es and dugouts, which were used
very much at times of shell fire or
bombardment at night.
The main sport of the Hun avia-
tors was to burn our observation
ballons which they did great many
times, they never returned to the
Fatherland. 1t was almost daily
occurance to see an airplane battle
in which many planes came crash
ing down to the earth in flames.
This is about all worthy of men
ton until the st. Michel drive began
18th Of Sept, the barrage starting at
1 A. M. and lasting for about hrs
before going over the top, it was the
greatest barrage thrown in the war,
in which our three guns fired 400
shots, our battery went for 8 days
and nights without rest and you bet
I could sleep when. I was given the