The Carbon County news. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1931, 1928-11-08
A REMINDER OF
TEN YEARS AGO BY
ONE CONCERNED

signed. 1t ended a terrible conflict
and the relief was great to think that
such strife was to be concluded. The
boys had been bathed in fire and
many of the gallant army had been
laid to rest, not only in France but in
our own land. There was mourning as
we'll as rejoicing at the end
Ten years has seen many changes
AMI today we hardly realize what ter
rible things have happened. It is easy
to forget and with the soldiers them
selves, the past IS only memory. 4
few days ago we received an article
from one of the lads who left home
and loved ones to help in making the
world safe to live in. It is a grim
reminder of the dark past and We are
pleased to print it in this issue.
The article was written by R. F.
Winter of Fromberg, Mr.. Winter does
considerable writing for outdoor life
magazines under the name of pryor
Pete He is am authority on hunt
ing and trapping. having been en-
ployed by the government in many
departments and at present is editor
of where to Go" departments in
Outdoor Life and Recreation. At the
close of the World war Mr.. Winter
was sergeant of company c.. 345th
battalian tank corps. The title of the
article as submitted to lis is "Remm-
iseenses.'
in cleaning out my old desk last
evening | came upon shet of French
note paper, bearing on its heavily
glazed surface the unmistakable, IT.
regular alignment of the field corona,
once the pet property of company C.,
345th battalian tank corps.
"Unmistakeable that is, to any of
the original members Of company c.
For under the manipulation of Mervin
Smith, with his shrapnel battered desk
for reference, and the G. H. Q. for
compelling incentive, the turkey
tracked chirography of this corona
had furnished us our daily premonition
of the events before us, the dire re-
suits of indiseretions in the past, for
so long time as to indelibly
stereotype on our minds every askew
character on its battered keyboard.
Not infrequently, too, this old ma
chine would furnish duplicates of
passes at some time issued, with which
one might visit again some especially
meritorous village that lay within
reach of our hitch hiking methods of
transportation.
"Once to my positive knowledge it
ratified out pass for which there was
no precedent, and one that was never
sanctioned by any higher command
than the writer | am the proud
holder of that pass today. 1t is among
the most highly priced of my SOU
venirs la guerre.'
mo wonder then that the finding of
more of its work should bring on a
flood of memories. At the tpo of that
sheet in my own handwriting is the
information: Written by Sergeant F.
G. Eberhard No. II, 1918, while re-
turning from the front to Yarrennes.
Then the title written on that old
corona, MY Flag old Glory, and
then following below, the poem itself:
I have done the task, hard, Cruel
ling, bloody;
You asked Of me,
In that land Of death, dark, she'll
holed, muddy;
Across the sea.
| offered all, to you without reserve,
For Freedoms story;
My bit was small, much more do
you deserve;
My Flag-Old Glory.
Though I return, glad, joyous, sat
isfied;
My duty's done,
| shall not boast, for comrades brave
have died,
For Victory won.
Should you call again, shall come
to do,
The task before me;
You gave me life, I'll give it back
to you, a.
My Flag-Old Glory.
ABE
Nothing | have read in years has
given me the thrill l experienced on
reading again that poem by Abe as
we called him. In an instant | was
back again on an old Mack truck with
a leaky top, piled high with ammo
cases, chow and officers bed rolls,
and dunnage belonging to the COM
pany.
ut was raining; we were following
a winding road over rolling hills,
through the remains of villages to
our winter dug-out billets at Var
rennes. | could see Abe on top of
that pile of jolting dunnage, scrib-
bling on the back of an envelope the
words of that poem Gassed so badly
he could not speak above whisper;
weak, just out of hospital, too game
to go back to another, that is how he
appeared in my memory image of that
morning 10 years ago.
That winter Abe and | shared the
same dug-out together. During those
long winter evenings l learned his
dead earnest patriotism, his ideas of