The central record. (Lancaster, Ky.) 18??-current, 1920-09-23
FRONT LINE
EXPERIENCES
Floyd Swope Writes
Cleveland Paper OF
Some of His War
Experiences.

ployces OF the Cleveland TWIST bfiH
Company. 81 Cleveland ohio. con
tains an interesting article ~ Ian
caster boys experience on the front
line which We are glad 10 read and
reproduce.
II says
We have read and heard - much
about the Great War that most Of u
are pretty well fed up on u now.
and besides the war Is over. thank
God
However. ms good friend the ID
itor % th. Drllcr has asked me to
tell abou, my first time over the
Top" So. there you are.
served with the Devil Dogs" or
Marine 81 the Second Division, \. =.
D.. 18th Co. 9th Machine Gun Bat
TALON
am one ~ the few lucky fellows
Who served on five different fronts,
and came through without being
wounded gasscd or killed knock
on wood "
will never forget my first time
over the Top" w were ordered
1, get rad ~ all unnecessary baggage
and 10 gci automatic pistols Of 81
dead men. u necessary as our ma
chine gun -auipmen, was heavy. and
rifles caught IN bushes and small
trees had rife. as ! Was trained
with Infantry. bu, put IN n Machine
Gun Company at the front Al this
time. early In June. we were short on
trained Machine Gunners. I had to
learn. practically under she'll fire.
Well. had To get a pistol. so hav-
ing a little time before the ssse hour.
! started out. Tn. first two dead men
! stumbled on were two German
strctehcr bearers who had been killed
by the conclusion Of small shell
The shell had evidently struck the
wounded man. because there were
parts of him and the strctcher scat
tered around The Germans were
men 81 middle az, and both were
bleeding from the ears One ~ them
had death grip on a piec. Of old
brown army bread Hut no auiomat.
&c in sight, moved on a little fur
Their through the bushes and ran upon
two dead French "poilus" who had
been dead several days. a. their faces
were black. Their automa,ics were
gone. so ! moved on. came upon a
dead Marine who had fallen IN n for.
mer advance He had fallen forward
facing the enemy and his pack. equip
ment. etc. was still on his back
took his pistol A, this time there
Was 50 much firing on both sides tina,
there was no time Ia bury the dead
] rejoined my company. and pretty
soon the zero hour arrived l, was
daybreak and the skies were never
bluer-even the little birds seemed
happy don't see how they could be
then. Our artillery fire had been
very active. and just AS they le, w
we started forward. single file. each
man bending under his load Ma
chine Gunner's life at the front wa,
no joke. We moved along IN a walk
with orders to consolidate "a certain
position in the woods. One wave OF
Infantry preceded US We had u few
losses during this move until We hac
almost reached some old German Dul
Outs-thc enemy was retreating dog
gedly mt this point. We had almos
reached our point when IL SCENE,
that all the artillery IN Germany ha,
been turned loose upon Us. Tn,
Lieutenant in charge said. Drop. an'
find q hole damned quick" We did
You sure can under shell fire.
jumped into shallow dug out. bu
there was already somebody in Their
"A dead man. SO jumped out an'
jumped into a larger hold with thre'
other fellows. u was all right-w,
were "Buddies." After hours o.
shelhng the Germans let up. The.
had the wrong range. They wer'
Smelling the old trenches little ahea'
81 US that We were supposed to be in
Our Lieutenant, a prince Of a fellow
} said. Boys. We will dig in and con
solidate here" He was one Of tn
coolest men at the front ! ever knew
He has since received several hig
decorations case that was just
NJ least.
Most Of my experiences ON my frs
front-Chateau Thlerry Sector
were similar To this. Of course,
saw things that ! want to forget
We will