The Nezperce herald. (Nezperce, Idaho) 1900-1957, 1919-01-16

French trenches and reached {
4 little French town where we rest
!ed four days. On May 9 we made
| Is miles to another French town
| where we took charge Of another
Iengineer dump. But were here
only 10 days when our captain go1
orders to move us to the front
So on May 20 were again loaded
on French trucks. This time We
rode a day and night and during
the night our trucks were bombed
| by German airplanes, but the
trucks were 100 yards apart and
old man Boche missed his target
After leaving the trucks, we
marched till 3 p. m, when we
stopped at a little French town
for dinner. We were out Of ra-
tions, but the inhabitants had de-
serted the town and left a great
many chickens. rabbits and pota-
toes, so we prepared to eat. AS
this was near the front, in our APP
proach, we met a great many wo
men and children leaving their
homes, having with them only a
few clothes and looking sadly
weary. Before our meals were
cooked we had to leave them and
start on our way to the front.
After marching an hour or two we
received orders to 90 to a differ
ent front.
When it got dark we came to
a steep mountain. which we either
had to climb or go around thru
a very dense forest, so our captain
chose the forest. Going thru these
woods we had to hang on to each
others coat tails to keep from
getting lost. No one was allowed
to talk above a whisper. We were
close to the German lines and
could hear the big guns roaring,
and the machine guns were very
busy all the time.
After getting thru the forest
we came to road which we fol
lowed for about two hours; then
we came to field of grain. We
started thru this and got lost and
wandered around for two or three
hours. The men were just like
tired dogs, and could hardly take
another step. 1t began to rain,
and finally we came to an old
chateau where | suppose some
French farmer had lived, but 1T
had been deserted by its owners.
Here we laid down to rest, right
in the rain. Some of the boys no
more than touched the ground till
they were asleep. After a few
minutes rest, we started ON. When
we had marched about another
hour, day began to break and we
had to stay in the woods all that
day, to keep hid from the Ger
mans.
About a mile from these woods
we found another French town
that had been deserted. Here we
got few potatoes, chickens and
rabbits which tasted mighty good
to us as it had. been about 36 hours
since we had eaten anything.
After staying in these woods
for two days, we started again
on our way to the front just at
dark. We marched all night and
when day break came on us we
were seen by the Germans, as
they had several observation bal
looms up; and they can see several
miles with their powerful field
glasses. The first thing we knew
they were shelling us with their
heavy artillery. This was our
first experience under shell fire.
No one can imagine what kind
Of a feeling it is to be under shell
fire unless they have been right
there.
The first three shells killed sew
eral of our men and wounded
some more. We were close to the
woods, so stayed there that day.
Here we dug ourselves in, laying
limbs Of trees over the top Of our
trenches and covered them over
with about three feet Of dirt tol
protect us little from the shrap-
nel shells. After finishing my
dugout, I went out to get some
caves for bed. While out there
the Germans began shelling us
again: a piece from the outside
If a shell flew by me and cut off
4 small tree close to the roots.
decided right then that l didn t
need any leaves for aabed; and |
almost ruined my dugout trying
20 get into the small hole | had
eft for a door. |
Towards evening we started
again on our way to the Chateau
Thierry front. When with IN
sour miles of this front, the Ger
mans began to shell the roads;
md the shells fell all around us,
md some of them almost on top