Putnam patriot. [volume] (Putnam, Conn.) 1872-1962, 1919-04-25
OVER 5 YEARS HARD
CAMPAIGNING
Charles Gagne Saw Service In France,
Belgium and Far Of Egypt

In the pink of condition, although
three times wounded, but minus his
uniform, which he slipped out of as
soon as military law would allow,
Charles Gagne. entitled to be called
"0ld Timer" is back in Putnam. Is
he glad to be here? He is
Charles is not wearing a uniform
1t appears that the more hard service
a man has seen the sooner he wants
to get something on his back besides
the olive drab Charles is no excep-
ton He certainly saw hard service
and he is certainly out of his uniform
and glad to be home This is no dis
respect to the service or the uniform,
but when you have slept in it, been
fighting in it, received wounds
through it, entertained coolies in it,
and hundred more Sin its, you may
hold it in respect and regard without
necessarily caring to nave 1t adorn
your back.
Gagne says that he is glad to be
out. When asked if he would sell the
experiences he has been through, he
said they are priceless. He tells
similar tale to others who have gone
out and who have come back.
Gagne was in Montreal when the
war broke out Way back in 1915
he put his name in as volunteer
bandsman. He is small of stature and
took no chances by asking to shoulder
a gun right away quick. He says of
his enlistment:
Hundreds of boys were going over,
so | thought | would just dip in for
the show.
Il am an American and | am proud
to say that | showed them up there
in Canada that we were not afraid to
fight. | am proud, too, of the fact
that of the ITS men who were mus
tered out few days ago in the group
| was in at Montreal after arriving
from overseas there were 80 Ameri-
can citizens"
Gagne enlisted first as bands
man and was assigned to the 10th bat
TALON. Later, as the Canadian fore
es were rapidly cut to pieces as they
made their famous record as fighters
against overwhelming German hordes
he was transferred to the l19ht in
fantry. As he passed through the for.
tunes of war he served in the 52nd
Infantry battalion and ultimately
came back to the 10th battalion, do
ing engineering work.
He received in the hard campaign
ing in which he took part on the west
ern front wounds in the leg, shoulder
and side, getting these at Passchen-
daale ridge, the second battle at
Ypres and Cambria, which latter
fight he describes as one of the most
desperate in which the Canadians had
part.
The sappers were always up front.
Not always in the front line trenches
but either there or in reserve, and
Gagne was among the engineers at all
of the big times. 1t was while he was
in reserve with his Canadian outfit
that the Americans cleaned up the
Boches in the Chateau Thierry mixup.
Gagne got over into Egypt. The
heat. however, was too much for the
Canadians. They worked nights for
three months, but were finally with
drawn and returned to the France
fronts.
Gagne helped doing the sapping
work at Vimy ridge, where the Brit
ish planted 100000 pounds of ex-
plosives under the German lines and
eventually blew them to pieces in the
greatest mining accomplishment of
the war.
There were times" he said, ''when
we sappers were working just few
feet under the heels of the Grmans
who were keeping vigil with their
eyes glued on our trench systems in
front of them. We had to work in
absolute silence, at times in water up
to our waists, but we kapt carving our
way through the chalky soil until we
got to our objective, and we had our
reward later when the mines were set
off. l saw an explosion of mines that
we laid the saps for that blew 5000
Germans into Kingdom Come"
There was such pressing call for
troops back in 1915 that the first out
fit to which Gagne was attached was
thrown into the lines on the western
front after the men had received on
" two months of training There
was bitter fighting back in those days,
and the Canadians fought like demons
always against great odds, to stop the
German drives. Gagne told of oper-
ating a machine gun against advanc-
ing hordes of Germans and moving
them down until he sickened and ask
ed another gunner to take his place.
He had stepped aside only few min