Putnam patriot., 1919-02-07
LAID In SHELL
HOLE q HOURS
Philip Foisey Wounded and
Gassed But Has Eight
Known Notches In His
Gun.
Gun.
Now In a Hospital Recovering From
Injuries.

get into the service. He got in and
saw hard fighting. He says:
"Toul, France, Jan. IA, 1919.
''In reading a few of your letters
/ find that you carry the idea that |
haven't had chance to do any fight
ing since | have been in France.
ITO begin by starting in the early
part of July We were stationed on
the Alcase Lorraine front, On July
IL we left Chateau Thierry and the
drive started the 18th or 10th | was
there three or four days when for the
first time | was gassed slightly with
'sneezing gas and that sent me back
of the lines for 16 days, after which
was sent back to duty to different
outfit, Unit X of the Hath Infantry,
then on duty in Flanders, The fol-
lowing day we received orders to go
and help the French on Dead Mans
Hill, that being the nearest to Paris
that any fighting was going on at that
time. From the high hill, with field
glasses, we could see the Elfel tower,
from which all of your newspaper
news is sent every night at midnight.
''Now on Dead Mans Hill we had
quite an interesting time with Jerry.
| can remember lying in a pig pen
about 700 yards from Fritz machine
gun with shells bursting so close to
us that every once in a while we
would have to raise ourselves on our
hands and knees to keep from being
buried alive, while all the time Fritz
was putting over 500 to 900 shots a
minutes from each of his machine
guns. 1t was no place for nervous
man. At such times | often wished
myself in the rabbit coop, in fact
most any place but in reach of those
red hot German machine gun bullets.
We were on that hill three days. On
the third day, as we were about to
have our first bite to eat, large Ger
man shell blew our rolling kitchen to
hell. The next German | came across
had to suffer for that stew we lost.
He may be in H or heaven, but he
is not in Germany, that is sure. l
don't believe | ever used my trench
knife with so much satisfaction as /
did on that Hun. 1t was in place
where had good chance and plenty
of time, and | bet if his mother ever
saw him she never would know him.
"You may think it strange when l
tell you that am sure of killing only
eight Huns. You may go over the
top two or three times in one day, and
vet you can not tell how many you
kill right out, but those eight l am
sure of, as two of them were in a dug
out where we stopped for the night.
1t was nothing to make your bed
among the dead, both Americans and
Germans.
II suppose you have an idea that
when we were fighting in the fields |
they were like the fields at home. |
Oh no, these fields have been battle
fields for almost five years and have
had drive after drive on them and are
all torn up Shell holes are ten to
fifteen feet deep, besides al the barb |
ed wire stretched out across No |
Mans Land.
"When we reached our objective
we were sent to another between |
Metz and Mount Faeont and did all +
we could there until we were called
on September to go to st. Mihiel
sector. On this front ended my ser
vices as a soldier and began my pa
tent career.
"On September ~, 1918, at l o. /
clock Uncle Sans big guns spoke and |
they spoke loudly. | wasn't scared
but | certainly shook in my shoes. |
Perhaps you won't believe me, but
for miles the ground shook so hard |
that as we walked along we would |
miss step. At o'clock the dough- |
boys went over the top. The field was |
one continuous blaze with continuous |
flashes from the many different kinds
of guns. Then came the order from |
the colonel and the bugle sounded |
fire at will If there is hell / have |
lived three days in it. On the third |
rather darkday was laid away with |
thousands of others. 1t was about /
7.45 D. m. and rather dark and of
course l had my gas mask on. When
fell and tried to make for first aid
station two or tree miles back of the
line. / went down in a shell hole head
first and stayed there for % hours
before they found me. What l didn't
think of in those % hours wasn't
worth thinking Of Finally they put
over gas. | must have been asleep or
unconscious, for | got bad dose of
mustard gas and that is why | have
been in the hospital so long. To try
and describe how badly / was burned
is useless. | have piece of shrapnel
in my neck and of course it had to be
bandaced up and that gas would make
my threat swell up so that | would
have IN cut the bandage off each time.