Milford chronicle., 1919-02-14
LETTERS FROM OVERSEE

Issoneourt. France, Jan. 20, 1919.
Editor The Chronicle.
Milford, Del
] Dear Sir:
: Experiences of soldiers you have
read and heard by the thousands, still
every boy insists that his be heard.
Mine is entitled
"A Picture Of He'll"
( One day last August a Lieut.. was
trying to picture TO US one under shell
I fire. though he had a very poor con-
ceptiOn, owing to the fact that he had
never experienced it himself So il
passed on to one day in September.
We started on our march to the front
and a very long and hard one it was,
for we had just about twice as much
equipment as we needed, all marching
was done at night and it was very
hard al times to steal a smoke. AT
last we reached an old abandoned
French training camp in the Argonne
woods, where we occupied our first
dug-outs and saw our first air-battles.
On the night of September 25th we
marched to the edge OF the real mo
Mans Land. There the major gave
0luGAo " AdlA Ouk III the MNbNe anu
make ourselves comfortable for the
night. So we spread our raincoats on
the ground, covered ourselves with
our overcoats and assimulated sleep.
All around us was our artillery, though
l did not know as every piece was
camOufiaged and it was as dark as
Africa. Just about a. m. the whole
works cut loose, anything from one
FOUNDER to an eighteen-inch coast
piece. The whole earth seemed to
quake. l thought l had good ear
drums but this liked to have put them
out of commission. At daybreak the
major gave me a field message TO take
to Brigade Headquarters, as l was al
ways a battalion runner since our
arrival in France The Brigade p. c.
was about three kilos away. He gave
me an asmuth and l started on my
first mission under shell fire. After
some difficulty | finally located the
place. delivered my message and re-
turned to the spot where l had left
my outfit. To my surprise l found
that they had gone "over the top"
while l was gone and left no one to
tell me what to do. While / was rest
ing a bit and eating some hard biscuit
the Regimental Sgt. Major came along.
He was in the same fix so we started
out together over the famous mo
Mans Land" l am sure that He'll
looks as good as this place, for there
was not a space ten yards square free
of barbed wire entanglements, she'll
holes deep enough to bury Jumbo"
in and blown up dug-outs and trenches
with dead Boches and horses thrown
in. That night we located the Regt.
P. c.. When shortly afterward we
noticed a little "fiare-up" the Col or
dered an investigation, when to our
surprise we found three German Off
GERS who had just committed suicide
after burning their maps and valuable
papers. In ones hand was a hymn
book, which one of my pals has now.
The next day everything was in ac-
ton, even the tanks, but l am sorry
that this day my friend, the Sgt. Major,
was killed, and the next day the Major,
but on they went for five days until
hey reached their final objective fif-
.een Iilometers away.
Accounts of the other scraps / was /
n, which were worse and lasted long
er, will omit, as it would be like !
a phOnograph record.
A few verses l dedicate to the Sgt.
Major as follows:
)ut of the mouth of hell they came.
Through the darkness, mud and rain,
step b. step till almost dawn,
TO a "frst-aid station" near Mount !
FaucOn.
Heavy was their load that night
FOR on their litter lay c
| comrade mortally wounded /
md almost less his sight.
Where's irst-aid?" one bearer cried /
Is I was passing by q
KilO ahead" l then replied, a
'hough the lad l knew would die. t
Ie raised his unhit hand
md pressed it to his breast; a
lie cried for Mother and his God, a
md now he lies at rest. e
IN the field of honor,
he great Argonne, II
n the tattered hills Il
ear Mount FaucOn. Il
pring's sun and breeze k
hall come at last
nd kiss that cross of wood; II
he flowers and grass Will robe his u
grave "
here once an angel stood d.
0 take his soul to a land above
here ali is sunshine. peace and love. Vi
Pvt Chas L. Esham. al
al
Metz, Dec. 20, 1918. re
ear Mother and All 10