The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1919-02-13

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where they were either.
| | hardly knew what to do but de-
cided to start for home. 1t was so
| dark | couldn't see my hand before
my face and so | took the lead trying
to walk in the middle of the road
You can imagine the feeling | had
The guards at the dump had tried to
encourage ME saying there were Ger
man spies in the vicinity as five
| guards had been stabbed earlier in
the evening. A few shells came ovel
| Just to help matters along, so / was in
nice frame of mind. plodding along
the road ahead of the horses.
! imagined every hedge held spies
and that every minute possibly might
be my last. 1t was necessary for us
to pass thru a shell torn city called
Thiaucourt. Talk about spooky
| places, that was it TO me. Practically
every building had been hit by shells
| and it seemed to be a favorite pas.
time of the Germans to throw a few
| shells of both explosive and gas every
hour or so just to muss up traffic.
Upon reaching bridge in the cen.
| ter of the town we found a French
|
| die of it blocking traffic both ways.
! had to locate the men in charge and
| by means of signs get the outfit NOV.
ed off the bridge. By this time it
was getting light, as it was nearly
| five o'clock, and then ] met the lieu
tenant who was to lead us to the
guns. We decided it was too late to
attempt TO make the position as the
Gemans generally started their morn
| ing work about that hour We drew
the caisscn up under an old ruined
barn and covered it over and started
back to Bouillionville. Just after we
left Thiaucourt the shells again com
menced falling in the place and once
more we considered ourselves really
| lucky. Thursday evening was only
moderately exciting but Friday even.
ing was the evening of Movie thrills.
That afternoon a number of the fell
lows thought it would be a lark to
go out for a load of shells, so eight
of them volunteered for service. Sgt.
Akley, our First Sergeant, had charge
of the first wagon and | took out the
second. In passing thru Thiaucourt
again, the Germans sent over some
six inch shells which burst too close
for comfort We took the short cut
road over the hill in order to save
time and all the way, the road was
being shelled altho we weren't touch
ed Just as we got inside the dump
a Boche plane few out of the mist
right above the woods not over so
feet high. Shortly after an intense
bright light illuminated the entire
sky and lasted for Is minutes. Every
thing seemed as bright as day and
even tho it was several miles away
we could distinguish things all around
us very clearly. We learned later
that a powder dump belonging TO the
Americans had been set afire by a.
German shell landing right in the CEN
ter of it,
After this introduction to the dump,
we felt sure something was going to
happen. Then the shells began flying
around the woods. Many of them
were buds or shells which didn't ex-
plode, but enough went off to scare
us sufficiently. From the start Of
the ridge road to Thiaucourt we were
shelled continually and the road was
and the answering Of our own guns
which were placed back of the ridge.
Coming down hill into Thiaucourt,
| was startled out of a years growth
by building right alongside the road
apparently raising itself off ats foun-
| dation and spreading all over the
ground. Then followed the big ex.
plosion. A fusilade of stones, NOR
tar, and dirt pelted us on all sides.
We were splashed with mud and en-
| veloped in a cloud of gas and smoke.
| Thinking possibly that there might be-
poisonous gas in the shell / called
to the boys to put on their gas masks
and this added to the confusion OF
the drivers as they we're having their
| troubles with the horses. IL you have
ever seen a gas mask you know how
comfortable they are. Well after
| taking stock we found everyone safe
but somewhat shaky. Then we start
ed on our way and after getting
across the bridge safely we proceed
ed up the narrow street towards the
| guns. We were just recovering our
breath when the wagon stopped and
| went up ahead to locate what the
1 tiOuDlc was. SOOu lOuHu lnc edu-
ing wagon had been halted by an.
other big building topping over right
into the street just in front OF Sgt
Akley who was knocked from his
horse by the force of the explosion.
Fortunately he was unhurt but the
smoke and dirt obscured him from
our view and we didn't know until
We went up ahead whether he was
safe or not.
Then we held a consultation as to
what was best to do. The building
had partially blocked the street and
as the roadway was too narrow to
turn around in, it was up to us to
dig out and get by the obstruction
After some hard work we got safely
by and were on our way when sew.
eral more shells landed almost in
the same spot. We beat IL to the guns
as fast as the tired horses could
travel and reached there shortly un.
der more fire which however passed
over us, singing and WhistlinQ n