The Elk Mountain pilot., 1919-04-03

at an our tunnels were shot full Of
holes and q sieve was watertight COM
pared to them.
Naturally w were not Just taking
all this punishment without any come
back. Our guns were at it fast and
from the way the IRE slackeped in
certain places We knew we were max
ing 1t effective. Ny guns did for two
enemy pieces that / know of, and per
haps several others.
The French garbies were q good
deal more excited in action than I
thought they would be. They were
dodging around below decks. trying
to miss the shrapnel that came
aboard. shouting. swearing. singing
but fighting hard. at that. They stood
the gaf just as well as any other
garbies would, only in their, own
sweet way-which - noisy enough,
believe me.
One Of our seamen was hit 100
times by fragments Of shrapnel, 30
you can see what they were up
against in the lodging line. A gun
tuFret In action IN not exactly the
best place on earth for nervous
man nor one who likes his comfort.
There IL an awful lot Of heat and
noise and smell and work. all the
time in 4 fighting gun turret. But
during an engagement would rather
be In q gun turret every time than
between decks. At that, II anything
does happen In q turret-it u good
night sure for all, and NO rain checks
needed.
One Of our Junior lieutenants was
struck By . fragment Of shell ~ he
was at his station behind the wheel
house and . piece Of his skull was
driven into his brain. He was car
ried into my gun turret. but he
would not let them take him to sick
bay to have his wound dressed. There
he sat. asking every now and then
how the fight was going and then sort
Of dosing OF for . while.
After half an hour Of action We put
about and started away. still firing.
AZ . parting slap on the back the
Turks tore OF one Of our big-gun tur-
rets, and then away We went. back 10
Brest with q casualty list Of only 10.
We did not have much trouble guess
ing that It was dry dock for Us again.
We got back to Brest after q quiet
voyage. patching ourselves up where
We could ON the way, and again there
was the rush work. day and night.
to get Into shape and do it over again.
They turned NJ out in II days and
back We went to the Turks and their
Hun assistants.
We wefs lucky getting inshore, only
receiving q nasty smash astern. when
the Turks got our range and landed
two peaches before We got out. We
nearly tore our rudder OF getting
away. But We had to come back right
away. because We had carried quite
q number Of heavy guns from Brest
and were given the job Of running
them ashore. Il was day and night
work and 4 great Job for fun. because.
while you neYerknew when you
would get It. you had good reason to
feel you would get damned BY . cute
little shell or . dainty bit Of shrap-
mel before the Job was over.
Aboard ship Il. was deck work, Of
course. and It was not much better
there than ashore with the guns. be-
cause the enemy trenches were near
the shore and they amused them
selves trying to pick N OF whenever
We showed on deck. I guess We were
q regular shooting gallery for them.
and some Of our men thought they
did not need all the practice they
were getting. for quite . few Of ~
acted ~ bulls eyes.
But We did not mind the bullets %
much. They make clean wound or
put you away entirely; shrapnsl
tears you up and can play al kinds
Of tricks with various parts Of your
body without killing You. A. for
shells-well. mincsmeat II the word.
The Narrows were thick with mines
and there had been q great deal Of
damage done there. % after \ while
the British detailed their Yarmouth
trawieEs to 60 In and swesp up. They
had 70 20 up unprotected, Of course.
and they started OF one night all
serene.
Everything went well until they
turned at the Narrows and started
back. Then. before you could tell 1t,
i've or six searchlights were playing
on one Of the trawlers and shells
were splashing the water all over her.
Both banks were Gmply banging away
point blank at them and I never
thought they would get Uaca.
They did get back, though. but
some Of them had hardly enough men
left to work ship. But that 10 like
the IAmeys. They viii get back from
anywhere while there 10 one man
alive.
A chap aboard one Of the trawlers
said q shell went through the wheel