The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1920-03-06

Rolled the c0mtort-laden vain,
Cheered by shouts that shook the plain,
Soldicr.lik and merry;
Phrases such as camps may teach,
SabTe-cuts of Saxon Speech
Such as Bully 'Them's the peach.'
Wade i'll, Sanitary"
--BREr HARTE
During the winter of 1917-191S, the
Second Division, made up of d Marine
and Infantry Brigade, together with
the divisional trains underwent its
preliminary training in an area in the
VoSges formerly used by the French
for this purpose. In March, the d.
vision, augmented by it's artillery, was
put into the front line between Verdun
and st. Mihiel We held this front
until the middle of May, when we were
relieved and sent up to the Fifth
French Army, northwest of Paris.
While in the area about ChaumOnt-
en-Vixin, on May %, came a rumor
that the Huns had attacked on a thirty
mile front between Scissors and
Rheims. The next day this rumor was
cOrrObOrated and we heard that the
enemy had broken through at the
Chemin DIES Danes, captured twenty
five thousand French prisoners, and
was advancing without opposition. On
the morning of May 80 came an order
that the division was to hold itself in
readiness to move at a moments no.
tice. The enemy was reported to be
within a few kilometers of Chateau
Thierry.
THAT order gave rise to a thrill
which it would be hard to describe.
Our entry into the war had not been
too late. At last the test was at hand.
Our division had been picked to be
thrown across the path of one of the
most determined advances of the Hun
We welcomed the test. The division
was like a foot ball team on the eve
of its most important game. A team
trained to the minute and fretting
against the restraint which would lift
only with the referees whistle
1t was an excited group of officers
collected in the Office of the chief of
staff that same evening when orders
arrived directing the movement of the
division We stood about Colonel Pres
ton Brown, who, with a green eye
shade pulled down over his face read
out the various embarkation points
from which the different units of the
division would embark during the
night.
by sunrise the division was moving
toward the designated concentration
point at Meaux. went by automobile
with my chief, Colonel Marrow,
through Pontoise, st. Denis, SeYran,
and Claye. As we passed the long line
of dust-enveloped buses, from the
sounds of singing and joking that came
from them one would have supposed
this an excursion to a country fair
rather than a movement into one of
the grimmest battles of the war We
reached Meaux at noon.
"All day long successive units of the
division passed through Meaux and
went out to the northeast. The roads
in every direction were very much
congested; troops marching toward the
north and refugees moving to south.
There was continuous procession of
all sorts and kinds of oxen-drawn We
hicles filled with women and children.
Flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, and
small collections of geese and chickens
made up the motely array. The Marine,
as it crosses the La Ferte- Meaux road
at Trilport, was filled with slow
moving, densely packed column of can.
al-boats, moving steadily toward the
south and safety.
"On the night of May 81 the infantry
units of the division were on the
march or in bivouac along the Meaux
Vincy road. The train was halted just
outside of Meaux, and during the night
there were many hostile aeroplanes
aloft which bombed the city and at
tempted to locate the position of the
troops. Orders obtained from the
headquarters of the Sixth French Ar
nv directed that the division should
take up a position between Gandell
and Montigny, northeast of Meaux
Division headquarters was established
at May-en- Multien. During the nigh
of the 31st. however, these orders were
Ichanged and the division was ordered
to concentrate at point on the Paris
Metz road beyond NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
'The next morning / was summoned
Ito division headquarters at Montreuil
Iaux-Lions to direct the evacuation o
1.-THE forward area. | was delighted, 10
Inv chief had insisted on my belnI
with him at Meaux, from which dist
ance was impossible to co-erdlnat
1.-The medical activities at the from
INV first duty on reaching Montreul
was to visit Field Hospital One a
Bezu-le.Guery. Bezu was a village 9
not more. than fifty buildings, place
on the heights to the north OF Tn
Marine. II was built about one vino
ing street. At the extreme northef
end was a small church with tW'
stored school house building adlon
ing These two buildings were take
over by the hospital and served a mos
useful purpose during the five weef
THAT the division fought on this IRON
The schoolroom was high-ceilinge
with one wall blackboard. 1t was
room of ghosts. Under date OF MI
80 still stood the composition lesst
of that day I'm jour de grand ven
III must have been much more than
Iday of great wind to the children {
tending that last class. 1t must ma
been a day of great alarm, borne
the wings of mighty Hun adyant
Under the caption, La Pensee, the {
son went on: 'L'homme libre obeit
sa conscience ct aux lois de son pay
. Almost in the presence of the enen
the children of France were nei