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About The Monmouth herald. (Monmouth, Or.) 1908-1969 | View Entire Issue (April 19, 1918)
Mm SYNOPSIS. CHAPTER -TnA by th MWt of th linking ot the Luslluila by ft Germsn submarine, Arthur Guy Kmpsy, mi Ameri can, htm hi offlr la Jersey City ftnd to to England wher h ftnllati In the Brltlah army. CHAPTER n-Aftar a period of train ing. Empay voluntter for lmnwdlat ierv. lea and aoon flnda hlmaelf In rest blll'tt "aomawhara Is Franca," whara ha first stakes thy acqualnunoa of tha avcr-prea- CHAPTER m-Empay attends hli (I rat church aarvlcea at tha front whlla a Ger man Fokkar circle over tha congregation, CHAPTER IV-Empay'a command go Into tha front-line tranche and la unoer fir for tha flrat time. CHAPTER V-Empay leama to adopt tha motto of the Brtlah Tommy, "If you are going to get It, you'U get It, ao never CHAPTER VI-Baek tn raat biiieia, Em. per gets hla flrat experience aa a meaa orderly. CHAPTER VII-Empey leaxns how tha British soldiers are fed. . . CHAPTER vm-BIck In tha front-Una trench, Empey eea hla flrat friend of tha trenches "go West" CHAPTER IX-Empey make hla flrat Tlalt to a dugout tn "Suicide Ditch." CHAPTER X-Empey leama what eon tltute a "day' work" tn the front-line trench. CHAPTER XI-Empey go" top" for the flrat time In a charge on the German trenchea and la wounded by a bayonet thru CHAPTER XIII. My First Official Bath. Bight behind our rest billet was t large creek about ten feet deep and twenty feet across, and It was a habit of the company to avail themselves of an opportunity to take a awlm and at the same time thoroughly wash them selves and their underwear when on their own. We were having a spell of hot weather, and these baths to us were a luxury. The Tommies would plash around in the water and then come out and alt In the son and have what they termed a "shirt hunt" At first we, tried to drown the "cooties," but they also seemed to enjoy the bath One Sunday morning the whole sec tion was in the creek and we were hav ing a gay time, when the sergeant ma jor appeared on the scene. He came to the edge of the creek and ordered : "Come out of it Get your equipment on, 'drill order,' and fall In for bath parade. Look lively, my hearties. Ion have only got fifteen minutes."" A howl of Indignation from the creek greeted this order, bat out we came. Disci pline Is discipline. We lined up In front ot our billet with rifles and bay onets (why you need rifles and bayo nets to take a bath gets me), a full qnota of ammunition, and our tin bats. Each man had a piece of soap and a towel After an eight-kilo march along a dusty road, with as) occasional shell whistling overhead, we arrived at a little squat'frame building upon the bank of a creek, Nailed over the door of this building was a large fign which read "Divisional Baths." In a wooden shed In the renr we could hear a wheezy old engine pumping water. We lined up In front of the baths, soaked with perspiration, and piled our rifles Into stacks. A sergeant of the R. A. M. C. with a yellow band around his left arm on which was "S. P." (sanitary police) In black let ters, took charge, ordering us to take off our equipment unroll our puttees and unlace boots. Then, starting from the right of the line, he divided us Into squads of fifteen. I happened to be In the first squad. We entered a small room, where we were given five minutes to undress, then filed Into the bathroom. In here there were fifteen tnbs (barrels sawed . In two) half full of water. Each tub contained a piece of raundry soap. The sergeant Informed us that we had Just twelve minutes In which to take our baths. Soaping ourselves all over, we took turns In rubbing each other's backs, then by means of a garden hose, washed the soap off. The water was Ice cold, but felt fine. Pretty soon a bell rang and the wa ter was turned off. Some of the slower ones were covered with soap, but this made no difference to the sergeant who chased us Into another room, where we lined up In front of a little window, resembling the box office In a theater, and received clean underwear and towels. From here we went Into the room where we had first undressed. Ten minutes were allowed In which to get Into our "clabber." My pair of drawers came up to my chin and the shirt barely reached my diaphragm, but they were clean no strangers on them, so I was satisfied. 11)11" who vent MIKilJYWEY MACHINE GUNflCR. JCRVING IN FRANCE- 1 17 BY A Bathroom at the Front ai tne expiration or tne time allot ted we were turned out and finished our dressing on the grass. When all of the company had bathed It was a case of march back to billets. That march was the most uncongenial one Imagined, Just cussing and blind ing all the way. We were covered with white dost and felt greasy from sweat The woolen underwear Issued was Itching like the mischief. After eating our dinner of stew, which had been kept for us It was now four o'clock we went into the creek and had another bath. If "Holy Joe" could have heart our remarks about the divisional baths and army red tape he would have fainted at our wickedness. But Tom' my Is only human after all. I Just mentioned "Holy Joe" or the chaplain In an Irreverent sort of way, but no offense was meant as there were some very brave men among them. There are so oany Instances of he roic deeds performed under fire tn res cuing the wounded that It would take several books to chronicle them, but I have to mention one Instance per formed by a chaplain, Captain Hall by name. In the brleade on our .left be we 1 jti ; , I tpw. i- ii k. .-er "w m cause it particularly appealed to roe. A chaplain la not a fighting man; he la recognised as nonrombntant and carries no arms. In a charge or trench raid the soldier gets a feeling of con fidence from contact with his rifle, re volver, or bomb be Is currying. He has something to protect himself with, something with which he can Inflict harm on the enemy In other words, be Is able to get his own back. But the chaplain Is empty-handed, and Is at the merry of the enemy If he encounters them, so It Is doubly brave for him to go over the top, under Ore, and bring In wounded. Also chaplain la not required by the king's regulations to go over In a charge, but this one did, made three trips wider the hottest kind of fire, each time re turning with a wounded uihq on his back. On the third trip he received bullet through his left arm, but never reported the matter to the doctor until late that night Just spent his time ad ministering to the wants of the wound ed lying on stretchers. The chaplains of the British army are a fine, manly set of men, and art greatly respected by Tommy. CHAPTER XIV. Picks and 8hovela. I had not slept long before 'be sweet voice of the sergeant Informed that "No, 1 section had clicked for another blinking digging party." I smiled to nysc'.f with deep satisfaction. I had been promoted from a mere digger to member of the Suicide club, and was exempt from all fatigues. Then came an awful shock. The sergeant looked over In my direction and said: "Don't you bomb throwers think yon are wearing top hats out here. 'Cord- In' to orders you've been taken up on the strength of this section, and will have to do your bit with the pick and shovel, same as the rest of us." I put np a bowl on my way to get my shovel, bat the only thing that re sulted was a loss of good humor on my part We fell tn at eight o'clock, outside of our billets, a sort ot masquerade party. I was disguised as a common laborer, had a pick and shovel, and about one hundred empty sandbags. The rest, about two hundred In all, were equipped likewise: picks, shovels. sandbags, rifle and ammunition. The party moved out In column of fours, taking the road leading to the trenches. Several times we bad to string out In the ditch to let long col umns of limber, artillery and supplies get past The marching, under these condi tions, was necessarily slow. . Upon ar rival at the entrance to the communi cation trench, I looked at my Illumi nated wrist watch It was eleven o'clock. Before entering this trench, word was passed down the line, "no talking or smoking, lead off In single file, cov ering party flrat" This covering party consisted of 30 men, armed with rifles, bayonets, bombs, and two Lewis machine guns. They were to protect us and guard against a surprise attack while dig ging In No Man's Land. The communication trench was about half a mile long, a zigzagging ditch, eight feet deep and three feet wide. Now and again, German shrapnel would whistle overhead and burst In our vicinity. We would crouch against the earthen walls while the shell frag ments "slapped" the ground above us. Once Fritz turned loose with a ma chine gun, the bullets from which "cracked" through the air and kicked up the dirt on the top, scattering sand and pebbles, which, hitting our steel neimera, sonnnea tue naimioue. t'non arrival In the Are trench an officer of the Itoyul Engineer gnv us our Instructions and acted as guide. We were to die an advanced trrncn two hundred yards from the Germans (the trenches at this point were six hundred yards apart). Two winding lane. Ave feet wide, had been cut through our barbed wire, for the Damage of the diggers. From these line white tape had been Inld on the ground to the point whore w were to commence work. Thl In or der that w would not get lost In the darkness. The proposed trench was also laid out with tape. The covering party went out first After a short watt two scouts came bark with Information that the work ing party wa to follow and "carry on" with their work. In extended order, two yard apart, we noiselessly crept serosa No Man' Land. It wa nervous work; every minute we expected a machine gun to open lire on us. Stray bullets "cracked" around us, or a ricochet sang over head. Arriving at the taped diagram ot the trench, rifles slung around our shoulder, we lost no time In getting to work. We dug quietly a pos sible but every now and then the noise of a pick or shovel striking a atone would send the cold shivers down out bark. I'nder our breath we heartily cursed the offending Tommy. At Interval a itar shell would go up from the German lines and we would remain motionless until the glare of It Ml llcbt died out. Continued next week Train into Monmouth - L've Portland 71.5, a in, Gerlingur 10:20, Indvpt-nd'ce 10.32, Montn'th 10:50 " Salem 9.!5, " " " " " " " " " U0,pm Dallas 2:46 " 8:10 " " 3.45, " Gerlinger 4:24, Indcpendencu 4:37, Monmouth 4:55 " " 6.00, " " 6:46, " 6:67, " 7:10 " Portland 8.30, Connects with above " Corvallia 6.45, a m Independence 7:35.... Arrive Monmouth 7:45 " 1.15, pm " 2:14 " 2:30 ' Dallas 7.00, a m, Arrive Monmouth 7:25 '. Airlie 8.30, a m and 3:45, pm. Arrive Monmouth 9:06 a m and 4:13 p m Leave Independence, 6.50 am, 7.35, 8.45, 10.35, 12.20, 1.30, p m, 2.20, 3 50, 4.40, 7.00 Train out of Monmouth L've Monmouth 7:09 a m, Independence 7 Gerlinger 7:49, Ar Salim 8:80 " Same as above - Portland 11.10 " Monmouth 1:45, pm, " 2:14, " 2:27, Salem 8:10 " Same as above Portland 6:50 " Monmouth 4:05, " 4:40, " 4:55, Salem 5:80 9:05, am Dallas 10:00 " lis " " 4;30, p m " 4:45, " 6:36 " " 9;05, a m, Independence 10:32, Corvallia 1120 " " 4;55, pm, " 67, " 7:46 ." " 7;25 a m and 8;10 p m. Arrives Airlie 8 a m and 8,40 pm Leave Monmouth 7.05, a m, 8.15 9.05, 10.60, 12.30, M, 1.45, p m, 2.36, 4.15, 165, 7.1J WATCH TALK Have in stock a fine line of twelve, sixteen and eighteen size Elgin' Waltham and Illinois watches in seven, fifteen and seventeen jeweled movements. Now is the time to get that new watch you are want ing as I am offering these movements at last year's pric es. - WALTER G. BROWN Watch Repairer and Jeweler. Perkins Pharmacy. For any thing you want or don't want try our bargain column. It will buy or sell for you. WHIWM 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 H-l'M M-MiHWIIHWiH WWW First National Bank Monmouth, Oregon Paid Capital, - $30,000.00 : Surplus & Undivided Profits, $18,000.00 : Established - 1889. : Ira C. Powell, President; J. B. V. Butler, Vice Pres. : -, Emma M. Parker, Assistant Cashier We are prepared to take care of your banking business and solicit your account. ; Interest paid on time deposits. DIRECTORS : J. B. V. BUTLER, Chairman f I. M. SIMPSON, WM. RIDDELL, ROBERT STEELE 4 IRA. C. 4 i m 1 1 1 1 m m 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Si . Q 'iff m I L Treneh Digging. POWELL 1 M 1 1 1 1 M M 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1'
