Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1919-01-17


volunteers for trench duty. l was not
very keen about going. because had
been In trenches at Dixmude, and I
knew how pleasant they were-not,
but volunteered, and so did Murray.
We went ashore In our boats under a
heavy fire. There were IL men killed
in the lifeboat In which I was. es-
capped without scratch.
We were mustered up on shore and
volunteers were called for, for sentry
duty. Murray volunteered. If he had
only gone on with the rest Of us he
might have come through. After a
short wait we were given the order to
advance. The firing became heavier
about this time, so we went at the
double. We had not got very far be.
fore we had a fine little surprise party
handed us.
The front line was running over
what appeared to be good, solid
ground. when they broke through and
fell into trenches 80 to 40 feet deep.
These trenches had been dug, covered
over with A-inch boards and then
with dirt, and were regular man-traps.
Sharp stakes were sticking out of the
parapet and parados, and at the bot
tom were more stakes and rocks and
barbed wire.
We were advancing with bayonets
fixed and arms at the carry, SO when
the first line fell, and some of the
second, the boys Of the third line came
running up, and In the scramble that
followed many Of the chaps in the
first few lines were bayoneted by their
comrades. was in the third line, but
l was lucky enough to pull up In time
and did not fall in. You could not look
down into that trench after you had
seen 1t once, it was too sickening
Our casualties were sent back to the
ship. One boat was sunk by a shell
and all the men lost.
We remained where we were,
scratching out shallow trenches for
ourselves, finding what natural cover
there was and otherwise getting ready
for the night, which was near. It
began to rain and we could hardly
keep any fires going. because we had
to shelter them from the shore side, so
the enemy could not spot us, and the
wind was from the sea. 1t was certain
ly miserable that night.
Every once in a while we would
stand by to repel an attack. whether 1t
was real one or not, and we were
under fire all the time. 1t seemed as
If morning would never come. The
sand was full of fleas-great big boys
and they were as bad as any
coolies had ever had at Dixmude.
The morning came at last, and /
was detailed with a fatigue party
to the beach where we had landed
stores. When we got down to the
docks I missed Murray and asked
where he was. They said he had been
missing from his post not more than
an hour from the time we left
I left my fatigue party, without
orders, and joined in the hunt for
Murray. There were men searching
all along the docks and on the shore
to each side. Finally I saw a bunch
Of men collect around q storehouse
at the farther end of the docks on the
shore side. ran up to them.
There was poor old Murray. They
were just taking him down. He had
been crucif1ed against the wall Of the
storehouse. There was a bayonet
through each arm, one through each
foot and one through his stomach.
One Of the garbies tainted when he
had to pull one of the bayonets out.
They had hacked Off his right hand
at the wrist and taken his identiflca-
ton disc. I lay this to the German
officers more than the Turks.
I do not know Just what did after
this. But 1t changed me all around
and I was not like my usual self dur
ing the rest of the time.
It was still raining when we started
on our way to the front line. Along
the road were numbers Of troops
scoffing and among them Indian troops
on sentry duty. They looked like q
bunch of frozen turnips. cool and un-
comfortable. We were close enough to
make the roar Of the cannonading
seem intolerably load and could see
the bursting shells, particularly those
tfro-1 the British ships.
Then we came across some Turkish
| prisoners who were sheltering In an
old barn, / guess 1t was, and we
stopped for shelter and rest They
| told rs that their troops were verJ
tired from long fighting. but that they
had plenty Of men. They said couple
Of shells had dropped about q hun
dred yards from the barn just before
we came, 30 we knew the batteries
were trying to get our range and We
did not stay any longer. but went
away from there and on our road
About 800 yards farther on we came
to ruins. and when we went inside
we found 30 or 60 Of our boys cooking