The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1922-05-12

.insthe following article:
II * the side OF a muddy. she'll
torn road, lust outside the war
commune of Hamel, IN
Iii e#department@o Of Somme, there
LAY three bodies, covered with
ssbIankets,5awa the disposition
of$thes burial detaii.
Ss1sShot down in the intensive
fighting,they hurriedly had been
4 placed to the side of highway.
Game alull of few minutes IN
tfes struggle and budd1es TOOK
the bodies, placing
Them side by side. They were
Scheckeda for burial.
Theoutfit moved forward.
BY The Roadside
Rain. driven bysa wind of high
velocity, came down in ver1taole
ssheets. Shells. from the guns OF
Huns, being slowly pushed
back and fighting desperately,
struck and exploded with rever-
gberating crashes, vieing with the
and lightning of the ele-
sments.e
ss Ulnd the rain-soaked blankets
sSlayst he$t three x anks. who had done
@fheir n b IT, and who had paid the
MtolI ssofs battle, mute evidence OF
s8war's penalty
ore outfits passed this temper
saryMresting place, moving toward
sSthe material Tor the
sstrife;Snew faces turned toward
sssthe fray; column after column
sSmarching swiftly by wounded
SbeingS carried back.
Night came. but no surcease
n n
sScrashes Of heavy cannon, mingled
wi tt 81 staccato like put-put-put
1ofsmachinefgun The battle RACED
night.
The Tommies Come
with the early dawn British
Soldiers moved up. There was no
road there now. "A hail of shells
shad&comp1etely obliterated it. But
theaTommies, rain-drenched. trud-
sged toward the newly-established
they paused to rest for a mo-
Ssment orsso.
tBIimey, Iooky that" said one,
THAT blankets moyin'!!"
And 50 it was.
Stepping over to the side of
what had been road, they lifted
sfhes blanket. One of the three,
who had been left for dead the
day before, was unconscious al
Though still alive.
~. They pushed him to the rear
n after first aid had been admini-
stored
the state house Of West
sVirginia, pretty Charleston,
Clifford r.. Meyers is busy man
sandSswel1-known state official.
he RI
you that he is very much alive.
,,aTrue&he has but one leg. He left
Sthe other back there in the COM
mune of Hamel, department of
Somme, along the muddy, she'll
torn highway.
5If you can induce him to re
nnihisces he will tell you how 1t
have been left for dead, to
have been officially reported dead,
andto have come back to life.
Listed as Dead
ut was with company E, 131St
sinfantry,sthat Meyers served Fol
blowing his being wounded by
shrapne1 and high explosive. his
this word back in
10 CLIFFORD Meyers died July 4.
commune Of Hamel. Somme,
franc
twas signed by the chief of the
Decentralization service, S. Q.
&S.SFTance.
sAndzit9was not for months later
THAT his family learned he was
Sstill alive. For Meyers was sent
foMhospita1a after hospital by the
British and finally sent to Eng
aIand.EFroma there he was returned
and taken to Walter
Reid shospita1, in Washington.
Today he is commander OF
tile Charleston, w. Va, chapter OF
American Veterans
of 81 theWorld war. He is state
Historian and archivist of West
He is a leader in civic
in Charleston.
AS head Of the d. A. v. chapter
hesShasS proved himself to be a
active and very much
Aaiixe header of the disabled, as
y RelIsasasfriendo Of every ex-service
%Sman.
state historian and archivist
SsMeyers9 has complete charge of
y the valuable documents of the.
#state The state museum is under
ssfiisS direction as we'll. Eighty
thousandgvo of history and
sEofherworks are under his care,