Return to the Land

with gas masks, helmets, ammunition and rifles. The old Colonel issued an order for all of the automatic gunners to be posted on the mountain near Foys to watch for air planes during the night so as to assure the safety of the sleepers in the village. I being unlucky again, due to the fact that I was a gunner. So about 2 o’clock in the morning I heard the exhaustion from the motor so I began to prepare to open fire on the plane – which seemed to be nearing me, When suddenly I heard rapid firing of anti-aircraft and machine gun firing to my right flank, but soon the firing ceased and the plane was nearing me in the lone still darkness. When I was ready to begin firing he very quickly sailed higher and to the upward right. So shortly after the plane stole away into darkness, I suddenly heard someone walking very heavy towards me and naturally I did not recognize him but when the man in the darkness spoke short and snappy I very quickly recognized it to be my Major Callitt requesting me to tell him why I fired on the plane, so very snappy and courteously I told him that it was not me that did the firing that it was to my right where the firing took place, but still he would not believe one word I told him so I told him that I would call my first Lieut. So I did and I related the whole story to Lieut. Before we went back to the Major. So the Lieut. Seeing the grave position that I was facing argued and finally convincing the Major that it was not me, but another outfit on our right flank, so before he went away he was feeling pretty good for the had feared that our outfit had been given away by me, so he told me in any case of that kind for me to execute my own judgments which I had done that night. So the following afternoon started into the front line trenches and on our way we were halted at the edge of Bruyers to act as rear guard for the regiment and to move a train of supplies up to the front or as far as St. Die - so one night the First Sergeant told me to get my helmet, gas mask, rifle, and ammunition for I would have to go with a truck train of supplies up to the front, so the truck drivers which had been up a few nights before told me that it was very bad comparatively the same as “hell” but I did not witness it that bad but I re ally experienced what the front was – we had to cross a mountain or a long woods hill of hemlock trees, and I could not see may hand before me so when we got on top of the big hill this side of St. Die our way was lighted with flares and bursting shells on the front – we moved under a camouflaged road up to St. Die and a part of this town was laying flat with the ground due to the fact that the Germans captured it from the French. Then the French recaptured it thus the town had been shelled very heavy in gaining the city. Sept. 27 th , left Etival at 7 o’clock p.m. while on our way got lost and soon we would have been in the German trenches, but a French soldier halted us and piloted us in to the trenches that were designated for us, it raining all night and the roads very muddy – finally reached the front line trenches about daybreak on the morning of the 28 th . So my squad went on guard in the trenches just as soon as we unslung our packs - without time enough to change our wet and muddy clothing - I stood 2 hours guard and off 4 with the exception of trench raid and everybody had to get out then. Here we lived in a little dugout in the bank and

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