Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-01-28

stopping them seemed lost. The French
were retreating, and so sure were the
Germans that they would march into
Paris the next day that the soldiers
were dressed up as for parade.
The 5th and 9Th marines were at
Verdun the night of May 80. We had
been there for several months assist
ing in the defense of the lines at that
point but had not had any heavy fight
ing to do. That night we received or
ders to get ready at once to move. With
only enough time to get the necessities,
we were loaded into trucks. packed
tightly as we could squeeze in. and
the two regiments, eight thousand
strong, started for Chateau Thierry,
were the break in the line had occur
red.
We rode all night and all the next
day, without stop. either to eat or
sleep, and, arriving at the battle front
on the run, were ordered at once into
the breach.
Brother Billy" and l were of the
first 1880 to go 'over the top" Eight
hundred Of these were killed OF wound
ed. almost before we got started. saw
Major Beury killed, and shortly there
after Billy" went down. He was about
two hundred feet from me. The boys
were charging into machine-gun nests
and Billy was running along the edge
of a wheat field toward wood where
the Germans were concealed. Inc
first bullet hit him in the top of the
head and others lower down as he fell.
| In the charge l got within fifty feet
of the German machine-gun nests
when a bullet plowed through the top
of my skull. 1t was bad wound, by
no means healed to-day, five months
later. AS l lay there / could plainly
see the German gunners, and hear them
talking. They could see that was not
dead and I watched them as they pre-
pared to finish me. They reloaded
their gun and turned it on me- the
first three bullets went through my
legs and hip and the. rest splashed UP
dust and dirt around my head and
body. Evidently thinking they had
done a good job the Boches turned
their guns on other parts of the held
Thic was about 5:45 in the afternoon
That night, about two o'clock. one OF
nv comrades, Robert Hess, of st. Paul
who later in the battle was himself
killed. crawled out and started to carr!
me back to the lines. When ne nae
gone some two hundred feet he
stumbled, making a noise such as the
Germans heard. and they turned thell
guns our way. Hess dropped me ano
thinking it impossible for him to get
me to the lines alone, he piled up a
: lf-dozen bodies Of my poor deao
"buddies" and barricaded my position
There i remained for several hours
longer, and finally during a lull in the
battle I was gotten back to the lines
The boys piled up around me were m!
own camp-mates whom | knew and
recognized. Back of the lines the sur
geons, refused to take me into the hos
pitfalls as there was no chance for me
to live. and they rolled me in blanket
and lay there on a stretcher for some
time. One of the surgeons came out
finally, and seeing me, exclaimed
What amt you dead YETI Then
they took me into the hospital, fixed
me up as best they could, and sent me
to Paris in an automobile ambulance
Here I received careful surgical atten-
ton. A hole an inch and a half WIDE
had been cut through my scalp and
through this wound a part of my brain
had oozed. This wound brought par
alvsis to the left side of my face and
body. The bullets in my hips and legs
had severed nerves and broken bones
luntil. for weeks the surgical problem
(as | learned later) was whether
could ever be moved again.
OF the 5000 marines who went into
the fight, 5000 were killed and wound
ed. Some of our companies were al
most wiped out. My company lost
24S men out of $50. ! understood the
Earmy records show that our 5000 were
opposed by $4,000 Huns. These Ger
mans were members of the famous
Prussian guard, rated as the best SOL
oilers in the world. They were flushed
with victory and went up against the
Americans with all the daring that
comes with contempt for the qualities
of an opponent, but they were licked
and licked to a frazzle, believe me.
NV idea is that the Yankee tactics
unnerved the Germans. 1t was the
first time the brutes had been up
against "sharpshooters" and they
couldn't stand the "gaff." We had
hundreds of crack rife shots, men from
the west, and boys who had had months
of careful range rif1e-shooting. These
men. shooting ten shots to the minute,
picked a Hun with every bullet. Right
off the reel, practically every officer
in sight was killed. Then with deadly
precision the men were picked on.
Not many were wounded, as virtually
every one of the baby-killers went
down with a bullet in his head or
through his heart The thing was "un-
canny." It got on the nerves of the
big "bullies." Nothing like it had ever
struck them before and finally they
broke and fed.