Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1919-01-03

1
| out Marines TOT rest---some of the
troops Lieut.. Boyd Maynard belonged
| to, but of course | didn't see him.
That was an awful night. How the
| shells did howl and bullets whiz.
Never Will | forget that awful night
and the boys who helped us with
about 20 trucks get out of that awful
| hole
After that we hauled some heavy
| shells right up to the guns--pretty
exciting ltself-got into two air
| raides, with more excitement.
We were finally released and deliv-
cred our trucks clear over on the AL
satan border at Gerardmer, going
via Chaumont, Epinal and Renter
mont.
Our next convoy was 80 trucks
loaded with bicycles. We took about
| the same route as before, but left
everything at a large motor park
about 20 miles south of Paris.
was here at DIXON for July and
the l4th tFrench independence Day
| and they had fine celebrations and
parading.
| made a number of small trips
with touring cars or trucks over this
| part of France.
On July 18th several of AS were
sent to General Headquarters at
Chaumont to report for temporary
duty as chauffeurs for Cadillac cars
Then my army life really began. The
first army, commanded by General
Pershing himself, was just being or
gained and | was assigned to Col
onel Ward of the staff as his driver
Contrary to the belief of most people
this was really the mobilization of
the American army, the fighting
heretofore being done by Americans
only by units attached to a French
or British army.
On July % the first army head
quarters and the battalion moved to
La Ferte sous Jouarre on the Marine
river to take command of the Cha
teau Thierry drive. | drove 1000
miles in 2 days there, going day and
night, raining and dark-no lights
over shell holes, going up close to
lines most every day-in traffic
blockades for hours. The fighting
was awful Saw BelIeau Woods and
it looked like a cyclone had gone
through, and the smell of blood and
dead bodies turned my stomach.
Most of the small towns are flat
on the ground, in many cases just so
many piles of rock and "a signboard
with the name-you can not imagine
such havoc. Chateau Thierry is not
as bad but even there there is not
one house that isn't damaged, and
IN many places the stones, brick and
rubbish just filled the street from
wall to wall.
| have seen all the towns in that
sector; Was in Fere-on-Tardenois the
next day after the enemy departed ;
SO also at Serges, Cierge, Dormans,
Rocourt, Forcy, Neuilly-Loupeigne
etc, till about mile north of Cherry
and within three miles of Fismes,
when the enemy made his stand
| there. TO give you an idea of the
intense fighting at Cierges, 3 Ger
| mans lay dead in one old pit which
they had converted into machine
gun nest. They lay almost side by
side mostly .Prussian Guards fought
against us here. At Fere, while
stuck in traffic ! saw a German nvi-
ator come over and burn up two OF
| our observation balloons.
many men also, but was the turning
| point of the great war.
On Sunday, August 10th, the First
army moved headquarters 10 Neuf-
| chateau, which marked the beginning
OF activities on the Vosges and YER
| dun fronts. While there | made many
short trips; saw the chateau of the
Count of Alsace. This is a wonderful
| place, near Neufchateau; part of it
built in the year $780, located on
brow of hill, overlooking the beauCi-
| full valley of the Meuse river Also
saw home and birthplace of Joan
Are; also the Basaiique of Joan
Are magnificent building set on
hillside where she had the vision
In less than month the army
again moved headquarters-to Ligny-
en-Barrois. Soon after the st. Mihiel
drive came Off We drove over the
sector closely behind the troops. Saw
Mount Sec and was at Hutton Chat
tel, where we could see from high
point the battle raging a few miles
ahead. This drive was not SO bloody.
We took many prisoners, many OF
whom had their clothes in a sack and
came walking toward our men. They
We're mostly Austrians.
After month at Ligny we moved
to Souilly (10 miles from Verdun)
and on September 26th began the big
movement that has nowsresulted in
peace. | drove to the advance posts
in the Argonne Forest before any
drive; also at Aines and Yerdun.
At 100 O'Clock on the morning OF
the Goth l drove officers to a look
out post near bonneville to watch the
opening of the greatest barrage in
history 1t began at ego. Hun
dreds of guns of all calibre, tanks,
ETC., stood almost wheel to wheel.
The opening of the battle was grand,
such as one sees but once in a life
time. The firing grew into deafen-
ing roar and lit up the sky almost
like day The weather was fine then
and the smoke settled into the Yal-
leys. Probably the worst fighting
was in the Argonne, as it soon began
to rain and continued so, and the
heavy stuff could not get up. Be