The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1919-04-04

There were manv touching scenes /:
boys with legs blown off, also arms,
bullet holes in them all kinds Of shell
wounds and powder burns. They were
TERRIBLY cut. 1t sure got on my nerves.
! was walking around among these
boys and there were only three people
tending their wants, and believe me
there were many. Some wante1 you
to write a letter for them as they
thought they were going to dfa. Many
wanted water, pencil and paper. One
fellow, a tall, black haired lad OF
about eighteen was wounded In the
leg and was terribly burned with
powder. He asked me to bring bin
drink and pencil and paper. I did that
and he wrote few lines to his mother
then he addressed it and ! took it to
| the hospital with me to mail. 1t was
a cheerful line he wrote, with hope
and love- He told her not to worry. He
| then wanted a cigarette. had not
even Bull Durham, but l went and
found an officer and he gave me
package of Camels. The lad sure en-
joyed the smoke. He wanted me to
hold up his leg as it was paining him
and while l was doing this our train
came and we had to leave. | was in
ear of setting up patients. one of them
"A plucky fellow who had his foot
blown off. I watched him. He sat up
| in his seat or stretcher bunk and
smoked cigarettes, one after another.
| I wondered what was in the jug he
had under the seat. He saw me look
ing at it and offered me some Of its
contents which he said he did not
know for sure what 1t was, but he
thought it to be Dutch beer. I drank
deep of it, then he told me how he
came by it. He said that he had cap
tured it in dug out that had been
occupied by some officers.
left the French hospital on the
/ 22nd of July. The French hospital is
a place where one receives good care
and food. but I did not like it. l ar
rived at Base No. 9 on the 23rd and
was in Dead Mans Valley near the
| big cave where so many Huns were
captured at Scissors. Two more of our
that time. The valley was filled with
dead, mostly Huns. Many horses,
mules, carriages and infantry were
lcaptured along with their prisoners
! by us. The battery stayed there three
| days longer, then they were scheduled
to assist the Scotch Highlanders as
their artillery was slow in coming up.
From there the battery went to Pont-
la-Mousson, that is where l Joined
them. left Base No. 8 on August 3rd
for the replacement camp, On arriv-
ing | drew some new clothes and took
swim in the canal, which l certainly
did enjoy. I was here or at Camp
Hunt, until about the 7th of August.
We then left for our organizations.
There were men from the First Ar
tillery Brigade. also the Fifth, Sixth
and Seventh Artillery, all Of the First
Division.
On our way back to the front we
stopped at Bordeaux over night. We
did not sleep, but sneaked out of the
a little Bordeaux wine. We stopped in
Verizon for few hours and had
lunch. We also stopped at Gondre-
court for couple Of days. On the 18th
of August we arrived at the Fifth
Field Artillery headquarters and went
back to our battery the same evening.
Close to both sides of the line at
this point in No Mans Land there is
a cafe, which troops from both sides
visit. The reason for this is that the
French can see and find easy range
on Metz and the Huns could fire on
Toul and Nancy. So they called a draw
and hardly ever did any firing on this
(,place. 1t was fine place to occupy,
seeing that it was comparatively safe.
We left Point-a-Mousson about
August 2Sth for Toul, but we took a
roundabout way, making. a two days
trip. The first night we camped in a
wooden building near long range
gun, which fired at 30 minute inter-
vals The next day we passed through
Toul on the way to the same section
we had occupied once before. The
Toul sector or the st. Mihiel salient
was where we worked in earnest. At
this point many came down with the
| flu.
You may not believe 1t but I don't
give d for the history we have
made, but | believe we have made
some during our day. More than any
outfit over here We have not been
given credit in the papers, although it
is coming out by driblets now. They
are always playing up the 42nd Divis-
ion, but we had to take over their
ground to save them from defeat in
the beginning of the battle of the Ar
eonne. The papers stated that the
42nd or Rainbow Division took Con-
tigny, but they did not They We're not
nearer than eighty kilometers. They
also claim to have taken the first
American sector, but We held one with
the French before they even landed
in France. Then We held the Toul Sec
tor and when they were in training we
hauled them around. Our officers are
gradually enlightening the public, and
as to the honor Of holding the Rhine,
we much prefer to come back to U.
s. A.. will give you the story of our
crossing the Rhine in my next letter.
MONTHLY REPORT.
The following is the monthly report