The sun., 1919-03-02

lHlO d HOle tllc
hit 1t at the same time. A binding,
deafening roar. and sensation of
hurting through space. and then OBJ
livion--unul several days ago. l have
one faint recollection of bleeding ter
ribly at the nose and ears. and the
soft hands Of an angel working over
me, and then darkness again.
THE Red Cross, especially those or
CARNATIONS near the front, are be-
You'd comparison. How they must have
taken care OF me and hundreds worse.
l haven't words with which to ex-
press my. praise.
How do I feel? Sometimes I'm all
right, and again I'm not. I have spells
In which everything leaves me for
hours at a time and l can't tell for
the life OF me what ! did during that
time. And when l go in the sun I
get dizzy and bleed at the nose and
my head feels like scrambled eggs
most OF the time"
On the night Of June 2 the French
retreat became general. They passed
through to the rear in large numbers,
both strasglers and organized units,
and we suddenly realized that our line,
DScl pidCcu mere LOT sup
port, had become, through the fortunes
Of battle. the front. The United States
Marines stood face to face with the
oncoming hordes Of Attila-
No Thought OF Retreatfns.
Not for a moment did sense of
panic follow that realization. Not a
man thought Of such a thing as join
ing the retreating French. There
arose, rather. n sort OF feeling of ex-
ultation, that now at last there was
mems work to be done, the work Of
marines in tight place. All through
the training at Quantico and before,
all through the toilsome weeks in the
trenches, they had been living for this
chance. and now 1t had come. AS to
the officers, well, we had the whole
history of the corps behind us, and
what marine has he holds; he kills
or gets killed. he does not surrender:
he does not retreat.
The retiring French made a gap in
our line which we closed by putting
In three reserve companies next to
the battalion OF the Fifth, so that the
Sixth held wide front OF nearly seven
kilometers. with one company In re-
serve. And We determined at all costs
TO hold that line.
There is no gain in mincing matters !;
the French were thoroughly democrat
lied. And they had good reason to be.
They had been fighting unfortunately
pounded by guns, poisoned with gas.
and borne back and broken by superior
numbers. They were ordered to make
last stand, to counter attack on the
morning of June 8, but the units were
disorganined; the officers simply
couldn't get their men together.
All that forenoon distracted French
officer stood near my post Of command
trying to stem the ebbing tide and to
corral enough men to reorganize. That
afternoon they did make heroic
though feeble attempt to counter at
tack. but they were driven back and
fell In behind our lines.
During the Sd there came a little re-
lief in the form OF motor trucks loaded
with extra rations but we had no way
OF cooking them. The men had to get
along Is best they could with bread,
cold bacon and monkey" or timed
beef. Their only drinking water was
supply was a mile or more away.
sight OF Runners Ludicrous.
In the midst of all this grim, tense
seriousness there was something IRE
sistibly ludiCrous IN tho sight of our
| tireless runners hurrying back and
forth all covered over with tinware, as
they went for the precious water.
In the afternoon our mule drawn
supply train reached Montreuil with
Major Nancy of the Sixth and Major
Puryear OF the Fifth in command
They had realized the acuteness Of the
crisis and had accomplished the i'm.
possible. They had driven those mules
| ffty-five miles In twenty-five hours
without sleep or rest
They came, and with them came
blessed Lizzie. back firing and steam.
! ing, but ready to leap over the shell
torn roads to carry aid and comfort tc
the men at the front. The rolling
kitchens were moved up to within two
miles OF the line, and from the 4th or
we did our own cooking and every
night sent at least one hot meal anG
hot coffee to the men.
| 1t took about all night on June 3 &c
get our lines well established and ready
for the next onslaught. We pushed
outposts into the smaller woods near
Belleau and improved our defences and
our gun positions. And that night the
| French liaison officers We're withdrawn
and the front llne-that narrow but
vital section OF the Frontier OF Liberty
was turned over to the United States
Marines. Thenceforth we were TO fight
or our own.
! Internationally the Germans were
tremendously surprised by the uneN'
pected resistance they had met. They
couldn't have nown who we were fol