The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1919-04-15

L
porting another company, but it was
very foggy and the other company
swung out by mistake leaving the
wave | was in, the assault wave. We
didn't know it but could see from
the start that there was something
wrong, as we were running into ma
chine gun nests. Finally We struck
a machine gun nest that held the
whole company up. By that time
my squad, consisting of six men and
corporal, had lost two men,
wounded, both being gun team
scouts.
By the way-we were automatic
men. Each automatic gun had a
gunner was gunner a loader
and a scout. This is called a gun
| team. Two teams and a corporal
form a squad. We were sent out
to flank this machine gun nest. That
is the five Of us. We Unanswered
surprisingly we'll and sneaked in on
them. Then we proceeded to move
in on a few square heads of our own
accord, some thirty of them and two
machine guns. We took three
prisoners and the rest didn't look
like much when we got thru with
them. That little fracas cost me
cut in the face from a machine gun
bullet, but didn't think it amounted
to much, so we started the three
prisoners back and went on, not
waiting for the wave to catch up.
We had gone about half mile and
the only thing we could see was now
and then heinie trying to rum away
from us, and ! am not sorry to say
that it was unhealthy running in
front for we were looking at our
sights every time we pulled down.
Just as things were beginning to
look whole lot like a joke to us,
we bumped into bunch of infantry
entrenched in little hill. They took
the pleasure of letting us get close
en- opened fire with rifles and
machine guns. Firse the corporal
got hit in the ankle, then l got it
again in the neck, going thru my
blanket rool and striking just above
my collar bone, then in the back and
left side, striking my spinal column,
hitting a vertebrea square and then
it bursted, or rose budded, as it is
called. The bullet stayed there until
cut out by the doctors. 1t cut two
of the big tendons clear in two.
l suppose you want to know what
it felt like and what l thought. l |
said my goodbye to myself for l
thought l was dying. 1t felt as if
my neck was broken, which is was
very nearly. l thought of my first
aid pack and tore it open and slid |
bandage around my neck and stop
ped the blood. l began feeling bet |
ter right away This only took a
minute or so. One of the other boys
had got it in the back, bad wound,
and two were hit in the stomach
all were asking for help. By that
time the waves had overtaken us and
went on over taking the trenches
with sereval more prisoners.
I helped to get the boys that were
wounded tied up and then got the
bunch of prisoners to pack them
back to the ambulances, which fol-
lowed close for once. After the
others were in the ambulance | had
to turn my prisoners over to the
prison detail This took me almost
an hour. There were 1OS prisoners
in the bunch had and me wounded
out they didn't want to do anything
very bad. Then I walked to the field
station, caught a motor
to the field hospital and
vas pretty much tired out by the
line I got to the evacuation hospital
1t ten that night. But | was as
happy as any one for | could see
hundreds that were in worse shape
han l was.
The cutting out of the bullet and
sewing those tendons together only
ook few minutes. l didn't take
my anaesthetic and when they got
hru l heard the doctor whisper,
Why he didn't even bat an eye while
was cutting" Then he said to
ne, did it hurt?" l said, mo, you
III fool, of course not. What
10 you suppose would hurt?" He
hen said, Anybody with a nerve
ike you doughboys couldn't be
Tiled unless Won were blown all RI | ,