The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1919-08-17

we lkeu AllleNllle, ana pfoceeueu to
make ourselves comfortable for We
knew not how hong.
In our constnt road work with the
trucks. the men driving were continu.
ally pulling off some stunt" which was
worthy OF note. on this particular
occasion Wagner John Dyer stepped
to the front. Late Monday evening he
was coming in from "A long run. Dur
ing the day his brakes had become in
active and he was forced To depend
solely on the motor to keep a safe
speed on down grades, Approaching Il
particularly steep grade Dyer realized
that the motor in high gear wouldn't
hold the truck. so he attempted to shift
to second, He failed on his first at
tempt and before he could try again
a frog" appeared out of the dusk,
driving the usual tandem to a cart. The
lead horse was balky and was standing
across the road, but John edged over
10 the left and was in position to get
by without mishap when the frog
stepped out in front of the horses. The
truck must either hit the Frenchman
or hit a tree at the roadside, and John
chose the latter, steering that flying
truck into the tree. The truck was go
ing IA good % miles an hour, and when
il struck, Dyer and his assistant did
"A double loop the loop, "A spiral nose
dive or two and came down some 80 feet
away with no bones broken. Dyer had
the steer wheel in his hands while his
assistant had the searchlight and brack-
ct, thinking perhaps he would need
1nnn fhrnllvh
air. The truck was a mass of junk
and about all we ever used of II was
one rear wheel. The Frenchman, in.
stead of being thankful that they had
risked their lives to spare him, gave
them good scolding for frightening
his team and went up the road mutter
ing like he had been awfully abused
Second Time the Charm
Wednesday we loaded up again, and
this time sit took" We told the Allie
vile folks goodbye and late that even
ing we located in the village of Mont
liot, near Chatilion surS Seine. There
we handled supplies for Il couple OF
days while the doughboys on foot
caught up, then we made our last long
truck move; from Montlot to Davrey,
a tres petit" village some l30 kilomc-
ters southeast of Paris.
Thanksgiving Dinner
Our kitchens were delayed and failed
to get in until the next morning which
happened to be Thanksgiving day, and
our Thanksgiving dinner consisted of
corned beef and tomatoes, hardtack, ana
one slice of lightbread apiece. In the
days that followed, however, we made
up for this defciency-eggs cost the
equivalent of one dollar a dozen five
and one half france), but milk was
cheap, about 20 cents a gallon, potatoes
were plentiful, and most anyone in the
village would cook Il dinner for us if
we had the price. Knocking at the
kitcehn door and getting the usual re-
quest to come in we would step in
and say, " Madam, voule YOU faire
dinay pour nous, avec erfs, pomme de
terre do lay?" Ghis spelling is phonet-
ic) and she would know that we wanted
u dinner of French fried potatoes, eggs
and milk.
We got along fine with the Davrey
people, although they seemed entirely
different to the folks at Ailleville. The
Wildcat division had spent month in
this locality in September. and of course
we to the French, seemed to be an en-
tirely different class of people compared
with the Wildcat bunch. Our time was
spent in hauling supplies, and with the
division scattered over an area of more
than 80 kilometers this was quite u
task.
Our existence in this area, known as
the sixteenth training area. became
very monotonous. A drill schedule had
been sent down from headquarters, but
with all the men out on trucks all day
there was no opportunity for drill in
our organization, although the infantry
and machine gun regiments were drill
ing A German airplane which had
landed in nearby field furnished q
source of interest for a time, and we
all secured instruments or pieces of the
motor for souvenirs. None of us were
able to learn why the aviator had
brought it to that place. He had been
flying along apparently in good order.
when suddenly ne dived and landed and
allowed himself to be taken by some
Algerian soldiers who happened to be
camped nearby. We supposed that he
had been one of the aviators selected to
turn in machines according to the
terms of the armistice, and had lost
his way and decided that one place was
as good as another to turn it in.
Merry Christmas
Christmas day found us pretty well
prepared in the way of "eats,' and we
enjoyed a mid,afternoon dinner of tur-