The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1919-02-13
BATTLE OF SOMME
is PORTRAYED


He commended the plan of universal
training of young men up to the age
Of Il wears.
When first came 10 the Uniyer
slty of Oregon | was told by the board
Of regents that | would have to adapt
myself to the ways of the Young stu
dents who would attend the S. A. I.
c., as they were free born and not
used to stern discipline. However.
strict training was introduced and con-
formed with 10 the letter with no
trouble whatsoever, declared Col.
Leader.
Gen. Pershing's landing in France
with his first force of American sol
diers brought forth an effort on the
part Of all Of the allied nations to pay
all the homage tue, said the speaker
However. strange as II may seem. no
one knew the American national an
them. Finally an old French band
master said To leave it to him As the
American forces marched up on French
soil the band struck up the tune. "A
Ragtlme Coon, at the same time
saluting the Americans. The latter,
thinking II was the national anthem of
the French or some other nation, in
turn saluted, and thus was Pershing S
historic landing established in France.
Come on boys, kick hell out Of
these sausage eating swine dogs, is
the spirit with which the English
struggled through the mud and water
across No Man S Land at the hordes of
invading boche, maintained the speak
Ar h ttb II k'yfrlaF,i and tulx
bled white and Russia bled yellow.
and the beasts pouring in on all sides,
the arrival of the fighting Americans
with their dash and yells was evi-
denced in that great defense at Cha
teau Thierry proclaimed the beginning
of the end. In paying tribute he said,
1t is a recognized fact that the
Americans use their brains more than
any other nation
''ln that first battle Of the SOmme, "
declared Col. Leader, that first
Canadian Division gave their lives in
stopping the huns at the very gates OF
Calais. Ten per cent of the division
was made up of Americans. Following
that memorable battle $50, 600 British
were included IN the casualty list, ana
all We're eager to be the first to gC
over the top in that charge against
seven fresh divisions of the strongest
Prussian Guard. My regiment charged
against the boche at Cambria and the
only rest we had was by leaning
against German shells which were
coming over fast and furious. On oui
right was the famous 29th Division
and the left was the 32nd, Yorkshire
and Lancashire. 1t was great disap
pointment to me when an order camt
that the colonies could not go ilto tn,
fray with the divisions which they hac
created and with the men whom the
had learned to know 50 we'll. In fact
that battle marked the fall of the mil
/ itary caste in England. and after tha
, all officers of the higher grades stayeC
with their men.
Just as the dawn broke on tha
memorable morning, Col. Leader and I
companion officer climbed tree tina
still stood near their position anC
,, looked out over the lines in front o
, them. The German trenches were quit,
/ easily seen, for the soil was of a chaikl
, substance and the trenches dug fo'
several feet in depth in the whtish sol
loomed up quite plainly. The zero hou
was set for 7.30 and at 7.29 mine wa
set off. This mine had been dug for 6t
, feet and was under two villages and it,
, violence was felt for seven miles.
Among the companies there ready tC
20 over the top was company of Can
, adams, comp sed to large degree 0
, Americans, who had entered the fgh
as soon as war had been declared.
This company said Col Leade
"no one knows why and no one eve
will know why, went over the top
few seconds before the time set for tn,
, signal to set off the mine, and not
, one lived to tell the story" And so
he sat there waiting for the zero hou
; to come when his men, the men he ha(
, trained for months, would go over thu
top for the first time.
"As sat there" lamented the mill
tary leader, ''the thought came to me
'Supposing my men should at the las
minute fail, supposing they would no
90 over the top now that | am no
? there to lead them The mine wen
t off at the time set and then FIVE, ten
. twenty, sixty minutes passed. My meI
% had failed to do their duty. ! sat ther'
= wondering why they had failed. Glanc
t ing at my watch it was only 7.2S
! Then after 10 years or more had passec
! | looked at my watch and it was .29
! Suddenly out of the stiffness Of th'
suspense that overhung us came tht
> clear call of the cuckoo, so decided t
{ listen and count 60 cuckoos and then s
minute wouli have passed and it woul'
be the zero hour.
F. Turning to look he continued, 18th,
a cuckoo was perceived on limb of thu
$ one tree left standing. And then tn,
: thought came to me of the fact tina
only the day before, not many hours be
fore, under that same tree a group o
happy, joyous men had l0unged amit
the spring anemones and spring flow
ers that had peeped their heads through
e the ground under the tree. They ha
. lounged there and as they lounged
d stray she'll came too near and all ther
I was left was the torn remnants of tor
0 bits Of flesh. So turned my head one
s more toward the firing line to try an
blot out the horrors of the TRACED
enacted under that tree.
At last the zero hour arrived AM
Col. Leader saw the men grab thei
d. guns with fresh and eager hold an
o climb hurredly out of the trench. A
$ they reached the top and Just befor
the mad dash for the enemy's lines
they turned to glance over their shoul
ders, and gave one farewell wave t
those left behind and then every ma
shot forward with a smile on his lips.
They took the front trench, the
!, took the second trench, they took tn
= third trench. emphasized their CON
!, mander, ''all according to schedule, bu
:, then they were to stop. Instead, j
their eagerness to gain new victories
they kept zealously on and took tn
fourth trench, four and one-half mile
!, from their point of starting. The
only chance then was to rush up ms
y chine guns. l6 of which had bee
+ brought up to the objective point. Re
:, lays were run and as one man droppe
y to the ground another sprang to take hi
y place. lodging from she'll hole to she
(, hole until 200 had been killed befor