Newark post., 1919-02-12

Tor us, and no chicken or turkey
that | ever ate tasted as good as
that slum that night.
Sent to st. Mihiel Sector
Right after we had our meal I
sat down for moment on a wagon
tongue with my pack still on my
back and rife in my hand and went
sound asleep and slept until broad
day light, for it was such a relief
to get away from the ear splitting
and nerve racking artillery.
The next few days were spent
in travelling back into France and
we thought we were due for little
rest. We arrived in a little town
close to the city of Toul and had
a good nights rest, and had begun
to get cleaned up a bit, and expect
ed to get a few days in which to
recover some Of our spent energy,
but the next night after we got in
were were again ordered out; this
time to the St. Mihiel sector. We
were taken up there in American
motor trucks, and | don't believe
| ever saw a darker night in my
life. The place we were to take
over was right in a woods and it
was raining hard all the evening,
and to get along we had to take a
hold of each others hands to keep
from getting lost, and Jerry hap
pened to hear us coming in, and at
once threw some shells right
among us, but luckily no one was
hit. That was one of the worst
places | ever saw in my life. Mud
knee deep and we had little holes
in the ground to sleep in. They
were about six feet long by three
feet deep and just wide enough
for two men to sleep beside each
other. We slept fairly well but
had to get in and out of them on
our hands and knees like ground
hogs. We did no attacking on this
front but were only put there to
hold the line. Jerry used to shell
us every night, but our artillery
would silence him. The last night
we were there he put a mustard
gas attack over on us, and we had
some pretty heavy casualties. But
| heard afterward that our artil-
lery gave him one of the same kind
the next night, with little added
for interest. We remained there
about two weeks when we were
moved back to Toul, and the next
day were put on a long train of
cars and started for Belgium. We
Travelled three or four days and
finally landed at what was former
ly the large city of Ypres, a city
no longer, not even of desolation,
not one building standing, the
ground simply churned into a
troubled sea Of debris by giant
shells, for that one place had been
under she'll fire for four years, and
you can not imagine what it looked
like. It was here the Germans put
over the first gas attack of the
war, on the Canadians, they of
course not being prepared for any
thing Of the kind, were slain bv
thousands. For miles and miles
you can not see tree or house
standing and just a short distance
from 4pres, soldier told me. |
was standing in what had been a
fairly large town, but the only
thing | could see that looked any
thing like a town was little piece
OF brick pavement, the rest was
nothing but she'll holes, and YOU
would never suspect that the place
had ever been the home of peace
full people. We hiked several davs
through Belgium and about the
middle OF October they started the
twelfth advance in which we nar-
tlclpated. Two of our regiments
were in the attack first, and mine
and the other regiments of the di-
vision were in reserve land lust
followed up the advance at dist
ance of three or four miles. The
frst night of the drive we billeted
IN an old COW stable, and did NOT
know the French had any artillery
concealed there, and when their