Newark post., 1921-01-26

again. Three days later found US in
reserve in woods. We could hea,
the firing in front of us and at night
we would see the flashes from the
guns as they threw their barrages.
With us all was excitement. Laison
men dismounted and mounted, sour
ried everywhere. Rumors of every
description dictated by wild fancies
flew with them. Our captain lined us
up one evening and gave US the news
that we were going to get the big,
chance the next morning (Oct. u,
1879 After darkness had fallen we
were marched up long winding shell
torn road, past large French ceme-
| terry, near some battered forts. About
midnight we heard heavy humming
above US and as they would pass an
open place in the clouds, we could see
the outline of a squadron of Fritz
bombing planes on their way to bomb
some defenseless town far from the
battle lines. Here and there in the
sky one would see the flashes of an
exploding shell which the anti-air-
craft guns sent out with the hope Of
bringing some Hun-bird home to
roost
We maneuvered into Death Valley.
| Even in the darkness Dead Mans Hill
/ loomed up before US as a dim. somber
and grim monster of destruction. The
understanding was that the artillery
was to shell the German lines from
o'clock until 7, which was our zero
hour. We were to follow a rolling
barrage. But except for an intermit-
tent shell exploding now and then
everything was silent. About o'clock
! the 111th Machine Gun Battalion
came up and threw barrage for US
so that we could cross ravine. Jerry
had two machine guns planted IN
hidden nest which swept the ravine
and took heavy toll from us. As we
entered the ravine Fritz turned loose
and before he could be silenced we
had suffered nearly 200 casualties.
This was enough to break the heart
of any troops, but our troubles had
only begun. Crawling from shell hole
to shell hole we at last arrived at our
Jumping off place. At the whistle
blew and over the ridge we went;
there was no yelling on our part. l
can still see those silent determined
faces, those white, tense faces, that
showed through the Crime and dirt.
We advanced to the wire entangle-
ments where our wire cutters had
their hands full. Here we lost our
Platoon leader, a gallant fellow. His
last words were: Take the boys over
to the second platoon and stick with
them, I'm done, buddy" The French
who were on our right, had failed to
keep in touch with US and Fritz, as
result had fanked US and kept up a
continuous machine gun barrage on
our right. I, with another buddy,
crawled into German grenade dump
We had been there but few minutes
when he called to me, saying, "Pard
there's something wrong with my lee
| its numb" / went over to him ano
saw that a bullet had cleanly cut his
| little toe off. We both then crawleo
back to the rest of the fellows, fol
| to stand up was to invite death.
| met an old buddy of mine from the
1O4th Engineers, who were right be-
hind us. He had can of tomatoes
and some French hardtack, the kline
that looked like grenade and tool
a rock to crack. 1t was here that
saw Jerry standing with his back tt
tree, his arms by his side and his
head dropping forward. l went to-
wards him with drawn revolver
When l got up near him l found tina
he had been bayonetted through the
chest, the point being driven through
him and into the tree, thus keeping
him from falling.
J Our company had been scattered
and with the help of another Sergt