Williston graphic., 1919-03-13

least chance of fighting for ourselv.
es. The roar of the cannons was Sc
great that we could barely hear each
other speak unless the conservation
was carried with raised voices. From
there we left in trucks and were
placed directly BACK Of the Argonne
Forest so we knew that our turn was
next. We also knew that it would be
the last time for some of US but ev-
eryone, was very cheerful in face Of
our knowledge. From Sept. 25th un.
til Oct. l, is a period of time which
shall be very vivid in my memory as
long as l live and I often wish that
I could eliminate such pictures from
my mind forever.
At the hour of eleven o'clock our
artillery registered and a deafenine
barrage commenced at 1880 P. M.
We went over the top at $3.50 the
next morning. The first day out was
more like a maneuver than anything
I could mention and it did not seem
like real warfare at all but things
changed the next day as we had ad-
vanced far into the forest and were
meeting strong and stubborn resis-
tance from the German machine guns
and artillery. There were places
where we had to actually cut our
path through on account of the dense
underground so, you see, our artillery
could not possibly keep up with US
which made it much more difficult.
We kept advancing with infantry
alone in the face of the Machine Guns
so you can draw your own conclu-
sions as to our casualties. The mar
row escapes which l had were too
you of my experience the fourth day
out. ..
By this time our organization was
becoming exhausted as we had been
working day and night with only
hard tack and Corned Beef to eat
As for water, we just filled our can
teens every time we had the oppor-
tunity and were very glad to be able
to do that. Our regiment managed
to get disorganized this day as it
was held up in some places by ma
chine guns while they steadily ad-
vanced in others. ACCIDENTLY
managed to get about mile ahead
of the lines and things became very
interesting indeed. Two other fel-
lows from the 14Oth Infantry were
with me (They were lost also) and we
began wondering where we were. One
of us looked over the parapet Of the
old trench we were in and it didn't
take long to find out that we We're
nc: IN the safest y: places as $50
mac! inc gun bullets going over ones
head per minute sounds anything but
pleasant. AS soon as things had
subsided a little I looked over the
parapet myself and all could see
was Germans advancing towards u.s.
l informed my comrades at once as
to what l had seen so it is almost
needless to mention that we started
back at double time. We had to
dodge behind trees, ETC., to keep from
view of the enemy so we were not
making much better time than they
were. You can almost imagine the
feeling which swept through us when
we stepped into German Machine
Gun nest with seven Germans in it.
l have been very thankful many
times since then that their attention
was directed away from US or l prob
ably would not have been writing
this letter today. 1t was impossible
for US to go to the right or left as
such an action would put us in open
view SO there was only one thing to
did it but the Gun was too
heavy for us to carry and we left it
where it was but l can safely say
that those who stayed with it, fired
no more bullets. That was the last
exciting time had as we joined our
own men few minutes later and I
really believe they were as pleased
to see US as we were pleased to be
there. We later found out that they
had retreated for a better position
and were holding lines where they
were then. We were relieved that
night and l was very thankful for it
as had seen all l wanted of the bat
tie field and was so nervous that l
could hardly carry rifle. Honestly,
l believe that at such a crisis ones
nature reverts back to the primeval
days when man was but savage as
l felt more like beast than human
being at that time.
Later on we held trenches on "Dead
Mans Hip just a, short ways from
Verdun but we were relieved when
we had been there five days. From
then until the signing of the Arm
istice we did considerable night
marching and were in a place called
Bannoncourt when the news came
to us that the Armistice had been
signed. We were very we'll pleased
too as we were booked to go over the
top again at 500 A. M. the 18th.
Since then have been doing cleri-
cal work and at present am working
in the Personnel Office of the. Regi-
ment. ....
I wish you could see some of the
French villages have been in and
v,o,1 xayo,111 curo11y sum khi1o with