The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1919-01-20

Battle Fronts.
Major Linn d. Taylor of Brattleboro
has just received long letter from
Capt Herbert w. Taylor, former ply
stefan on the Brattleboro Retreat staff, |
in which he writes wildly of his ex
perienee on finding himself alone in n |
trench with Boches on either side of |
him, of injuries which put him in a |,
hospital and of various other expert |
enees in several sectors in France. DIR.
Taylor is captain commanding the am
bulance section of the l0lst sanitary
train, Goth division He writes under
date of Dee. at Starry, France, in
substance as follows:
My dear Major
Your most welcome letter reached me
today and found me sadly in need of
all the comfort and cheer which il
brought. / am propped up in one of
those wonderful French beds that one
climbs into by means of step ladder,
covered with a canopy fit for a mem
Der of the royal family to sleep under,
and with a great silk puff about one
foot thick TO cover and keep me warm.
l am pounding off these lines to you
with the machine on my lap, for | do
want you TO know how thoroughly !
appreciate your kindness in writing me
and how much comfort and cheer your
i letter brought Just at a time when it =
mighty easy to be depressed
And such a wonderful letter as yours
wasi / have read and re-read it many
times and with thousand times more
| interest than You can possibly know.
You asked me several questions which,
now that hostilities have ceased and
the ban upon letter writing is par
| italy lifted, / can answer. There are
| still censorship rules to be followed,
but | win try to give you what infor-
nation | can, since You appear so
thoroughly interested.
! First to tell You why | am located
as / am, so that you may not wonder
further and continue to be distracted
from the more important happenings of
the past few months. ! was Just wee
bit unluck at the very last moment and
got done in, Just before the armis.
tiee was signed while making a recon.
noisanee of one of the forward posi-,
tons occupied by one of my companies
Was picked up and sent to hospital
and after making a partial recovery
was ordered to the south of France foI
convaleseence but managed TO dodge il
and was finally allowed TO return to
4 this station. which is the hillcting area
for my battalion / found them nj
here upon my return but was unable Il
engage actively in the operations OF
my outfit and was made to go to bed
to remain there until such time as al
danger had passed. However it j.
good TO be with them again shortly.
have n wonderful bunch of officers anC
men and l don t like to be away from
, them for longer than is absolutel,
necessary. | have good nursing, goo,
, food and in fact everything that
{ could ask for under the circumstances
: This is the second time that | hav,
been done in, - the first being in III
: Chateau Thierry push. when | 90
! mixed up somehow with Hun and
a bit of gas and between the two the,
just got me. | went back to the hos
. pital then, but was more fortunat
I that time, as I regained consciousness
III the ambulance on the way to tn
rear and was able TO remove my dag
!, nosis tag. | was much worried owe
! this last matter for fear that | woul
be reported as among the casualties.
This last affair was on the Verdu
front and | was pumped so blamed ful
Of gas that | WASH t in position to II
! | move my tags or anything else, but
: am all right now and getting alon
> beautifully. | shall he all right IN
short time now and there is absolutei
no need of any of my friends worrvin
about me one little bit.
(Here Capt. Taylor mentions hi
trip across, of taking a course at til
LIST corps school in Gondricourt in tn
fall of 1917 and then being ordered II
q with the LIST division, where he oil
u tanned his first sight of the trenehC
u and did actual work under FIRE lie r.
turned to the l04th infantry in jar
nary, 1918, and soon afterwards wa
assigned to command the 103d amb,
lance company, which he took to IL
scissors front. Thence they went [
the Toul sector.)
We lost men of course, but this p
Rod on the Toul front only served I
teach us how to lose our friends an
ee comrades gracefully and 10 take w,
as we found it with a smile and wit
If a greater hope in our hearts. From OF
= stay in this sector the following name
battles were entered on the record
the goth; Scieheprey Bots, Brule Hur
bert, Plantations Xivray and Apr
mont Forest. Here we learned VIII;
it meant to be caught for hours ind
a barrage so intense that rat cou
not escape, and where man must fgl
It. il out hand to hand with no altern
- tive; we learned the cursed effect of II
gas, the meaning of various enem
movements by night and day and VIII
IN it meant TO be shell shocked. Our m,
rs learned to make their home in the mi
oe f1,a ~