The Cordova daily times. [volume] (Cordova, Alaska) 1914-1947, 1919-03-05

where we were and what we had to
work with. Our shower bath was some
outfit. 1t was portable outfit and
easily knocked down, and hard to put
up. Sergeant Currey, who handled
the bath tent, with his good man Hap
persett, who pumped the water into
the heating tank, certainly had his
troubles.
SO, when we left the Lorraine sec
tor last June and headed for parts I'M
known, we were a gas hospital and it
was planned that when the division
went into the lines again we should
operate as such. The two gas hospi-
tails and the two that handled wound
ed were to relay. Two would go up
and establish themselves at some spe-
Gifted point as close to the line as
was safe, and closer than was many
times desirable for those concerned,
then as the line advanced, the other
two outfits were to jump over past the
first two and relieve them. 1t was a
fine arrangement, only with us, we
always moved up first and the other
outfit never out-jumped us. We took
the advance position on every front
and some of them were exceedingly
warm; in fact, at times almost suffo-
eating; made a fellow want to get out
and run like hell, create a good breeze
and get fresh air
The move from Lorraine took us
quite a distance, and we finally pulled
up for halt near Chalons. We had
made the trip with our trucks.
We have seen three-ton Pierce Ar
row trucks, having been on the road
for about seventytwo hours, with
practically no stop for rest and sleep.
under cover of dark night and we
discovered that we were on tie Cham
payne front. We arrived at our as
signed location the night of July 4th.
1t was a quiet night for the Fourth
of July. We were just ten days
ahead of time for a real honest to
goodness" celebration.
The 42nd division was the only
division on the Champagne
front at that time, and it was ordered
in there, I believe, owing to the fact
that it was close at that time, and
the big German offensive was rapidly
showing signs of coming back to life.
AS you know, the last German
offensive took place July 18th and it
found the And division holding part
of the Champagne front, and they
held it, too. General Gouraud, in ex-
pressing his appreciation to the 42nd
division, said "You have saved the
day, broken the German offensive,
held the Germans at standstill and
kept them from advancing to Cha
Ions"
Whether this division saved the day
OF lOI L uO IlOL KNOW, DuL L 10 hIlOW
that, in holding the line at this point,
the boys in the line fought like fends
and refused to retreat, even though
the Germans sent wave after wave out
against them. The artillery action
which started about 1890 the morn
ing of the 18th Of July was something
terrific, the noise Of the guns, the
rockets and the flares was sound
and sight | shall never forget. 1t
seemed as though some superhuman
hand was at work and that the very
bowels of the earth had broken loose.
Our hospital site was in rather bad
location, it seemed, for. there were
two or three big guns working on US.
1t is bad enough during the daytime
to have those big boys whiz over you
or break nearby, but at night, to me,
it seems worse, and one is apt to feel
somewhat upset and his circulation
feels as though it had gone on a va
cation. AS daylight began to slowly
dawn, I believe that everyone had a