El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-03-12
GREETINGS FROM THE RHINE TO THE
RIO GRANDE FROM CAPTAIN SLATER

OF pity or self-pity.
Never with heroics.
And there were times when
! Even profanity seemed to
! Dry up. as when
! Road blockades that
I Seemed hopeless were
D Untangled in silence
I With patient effort
Motor trucks do not
B React to GUESSING
+ The way mules do.
. 7 have said there was
I No singing up front;
There was no poetry there.
No music.
No fiaC. no cheer.
No drum or trumpet.
No fine writing for
Popularity. and for the
Multitude anxious 10 be stirred.
B All that sort of thing
Belonged to the :. o. s.
And 20 the training camps
And to the Base Ports
And to quiet studies and
Libraries and magazine sanctums
( Back home.
Up front one did not care
To think much.
So one "salvaged." or
( As you call Il
''Scrapped" his intellect:
The soul was boxed and stored
Until the end Of the war:
And all the feeling was
Above the level Of the heart
And did not quicken
The blood or befuddle the mind.
That, in mercy, IS
One Of the reasons why
Men could do the work
They were sent here 10
Do.
Much. very much. OF what
. You have read about war
Is not true,
F.. Because IL is imaginative.
Traditional, banal and
Not the fruit OF experience
Nothing much mattered.
I have seen men broken and torn
In every conceivable way and
Many fnconceivable ways, hut
The only wounded man /
Ever heard complain
Was a soldier who
Sprained his ankle
When he stubbed his toe
On the Line Of Communications
Soldiers may kick in
Rest area when the food
Is a little monotonous,
But up in the front lines
One day at dusk
Where machine gunners were
Trying TO place their guns
Within point-blauk range OF the
Enemy's US whose shells
Were bursting around them.
And I saw men resting
Who had dug little graves,
Each one for himself,
And who were lying IN them,
gIlclrer underneath
A shelter-half over,
With cold rain falling.
Deep Shiny mud everywhsre.
And enemy airplanes lowering
They we're smiling
Because they were 50 miserable"
And they answered my greeting
Cheerily,
Saying they guessed they
Would have to keep down
Till niEht-fail
And place their guns
Under cover OF the dark.
Just before the first
Offensive OF the Division
Some OF the infantry officers
Were wondering what il would
Be like. and II there would
Be any inclination in the men
To hesitate.
But when the H-hour came
They all walked over and
Into and through the CALLING fire.
And everyone knew from
That moment
That his fellows had the
Stuff in them
And each one felt that II
His fellows could stand 70
He was as game as they.
And they never looked around
To see who fell
But went so fast and go
Far that they did
Two days work IN one
But don't get the idea
That Il was easy.
In 10 other army
We're losses greater
In proportion to numbers engaged
Than in the American First Army
In its several great offensives.
In no other battles
was there harder fighting
Than that by which the
American First Army
Worked out the tasks assigned
And at last
Freed the Verdun Angle
And cut the enemy's
Main Lines OF Communication.
The seth had no press-agent
And you never heard the story.
Il viii keep.
Some day It win be told
As u was.
The soth was leading the
Advance in a new and
Greater American offensive
whose initial stage
Had already begun
November II when the
Word came that the
A IN fzrFna had henu signal
We got word by wireless
From the Eiffel Tower
That morning
A single message IN French:
''Hostilities cease at Il hours Monds
Troops will hold their ground.
(Sigued) fFoch.'
Up to the minute. the
Fighting went on, and
Furious BON bardment, incessant,
OF all calibers.
A few seconds before II
Our big naval guns fired
Last salvos at vital spots
In the enemy's rear area
And enemy shells were
Bursting in our lines.
At Il, there was half a minute
OF profound silences
Then a few minutes OF
Bell ringing by French soldiers
Of they could find a belD,
A lame attempt
BY a soldier here and there
To cheer-Without success
And the rest Of the day
was very dull
A little shooting. which was
Foolish and against the rule:
~ I'LL II I'll