The state herald., 1919-05-02

don. One altar another Of our boys
was clipping to the ground and digging
bis fsts into his cara and the rest Of
them eat on the parapet IRE step with
their heads between their knees and
their arms wrapped around their
heads.
Our sergeant came to me after q
while and began acting Just Ike
people do at q show. only he shouted
instead Of whispered in my ear. When
people are looking at one show they
always want to tell you how good some
other show d, and that was the way
with the sergeant.
You should sec what they did to
~ at st. Eloi," he said. 'They Just
baptized us with the big fellows. They
did not know when to stop. When you
sss shelling that u shelling. you win
know Il. my SON"
well. II this Il not shelling. what
the devil u 1T Are they trying to
kid rs or are you. mon vieuxf" which
Is q French expression that means
something like "old timer"
my son, when you see dugouts
caved In, roads pushed all over the
map. guns wrecked, bodies twisted up
In knots and forty men killed BY one
shell-then you will know you are
seeing shelling."
Then one Of our men sat up straight
against the parapet and stared at us
and began to shake all over. but we
could not get him to say anything or
move. 80 We knew he had shell shock.
And another man watched him for q
while. and then he began to shake,
too. The sergeant said that II we
stayed there much longer We would
not be at to repel an attack. % he
ordered % into the two dugouts we
had made In the hole. and only himself
and another man stayed outside on
watch.
The men In the dugout kept asking
each other when the bombardment
would end. and why we were not rein
forced. and what was happening, and
whether the Turks would attack NJ. 1t
was easy to see why we were not rein
body Of men could have
got to N from the reserve trenches.
The communication trenches were
quite q distance from Us and were
battered up at that Some Of the men
said We had been forgotten and that
the rest Of our troops had either re.
tired or advanced and that We and
the men in the trench who had tried
to signal n were the only detaehments
left there.
Pretty soon another man and
the two men who were out
side on watch. and - he went down
Into the dugout the sergeant shouted
to us that he thought the Turks wers
afraid to attack. He also ordered one
Of rs 10 keep q live eye toward our
rear In case any Of our troops should
Try to sisnal ua When licked
. little gully at the top Of
tho hole. toward the other trend, all
could see was barbed wire and
smoke and two o. three eorpssA
began to shiver Q little. and I was
afraid I would get shell shock. too.
30 began to think about Murray and
how he looked when they took him
OF the wall. But that did not stop tho
shivefing. % thought about my grand
mother and how she looked the last
time saw her. I was thinking about
her. I guess. and not keeping q very
good lookout, when q man rolled over
tho edge and almost fell on me. He
was from the other trenches. ! carried
him into the dugout and then went out
again and stood my watch until the
relief came. We were doing half-bour
shifts.
When I soe into the dugout again
the man was coming to. He was 3ust
about a. near shell shock a. I had
been-by this time I was shivering
only once In Q while. when I did not
watch myself. He said four men had
been sliced up trying to get to ~ b.
fore he came; that they had lost
II men out Of thslr %, including the
sergeant-ma5or In command and two
that they were almost out
~ osAsAs soAAAAs0oS bu1b S00 0v&SCu98 "
both sidss of them had been blown In
and that thsy were likely to 90 TO
pieces at any moment He said thsy
al thought he Turks would attAck
behind their barrage. for he said he
curtain Of Ars did not extend more
than . hundred yards In front Of thslf
trench. What they wanted ~ 10 DO
was 70 relay . man back with he
news and either get The word 70 ad-
vance Or retire or await reinforce
ments, they did not care which-only
70 BE- ordered 10 do something. Thsrs
was not Q commissioned ofncsr left
with either Of the dstachmsnts. you
~. and you might ~ We were up
In the air-only We were really - far
n the sround - We could get
Ths man thought there were other
q our lines not far behind %, but We
msw better: % then he said hs did
not Deo how any Ono cOuld rat hack