Newark post., February 12, 1919, Page 2, Image 2

About Newark post. (Newark, Del.) 1910-1969

Image provided by: University of Delaware Library, Newark, DE

                
A first hand account of two of
the (leei.Mie battle.^ of^ the vient
war iivu v;von in too following let
ter received by George Griffin last
In a British Hospital
at Hardelot, !■ ranee
January 14, 1919.
Mv father told me you would like
me to write up for you the story
of mv tr-als and ('.ventures ovor'
here, and as I am now in a hospital
and have plenty of time 1 will try!
voll something of mv warl
experiences, and if vou think the
Newark Po-t would care to print
them you might send them hi
the benefit and" curiosity of' some
who did not get over here. Some
of the bovs were verv mncli mr
out because the nnnMicp was
sirnc'l before thev could vet over
und of course it is a V erv nice t-in
to take hi peace times but ïn war
, .' ' ' '' Aai
times it was anything else than a
, ,
pleasure jaunt, and the bovs who
rp hel-p Karl „ +; m
are neie had a much tolghet time
than any of the folks at home had
any idea ol. \ el again there 'cere
some bright periods, even on the
very front lines, in the range of
Jene s gun.-, the >o\s could find
something to amuse them and to
lau » h over -
I left Newport News, Va., on the
12th clay of July 1918 and after
an uneventful voyage, landed in
the city of Brest, France, 12 days
later. I did not come over with my
regular outfit, as about f>0 of us
were left at Camp Lee, Va., when
our Division sailed, on account of
measles which had broken out in
our barracks about three days be
fore. So we had to go over as cas
nais. We traveled around France,
probably a month before
caught up with our Company. In
thp moan L 0 : n „ niimiF
tne mean time neing m anout a
dozen different camps and dumps,
traveling in those little French box
cars like a bunch of sheep.
we enjoyed it, as every thing was
so new and strange to us. We fin
ally caught up to our Company
while they were in the trenches in
the Lorraine sector, close to the.
t
s
of the Germans at that time. This
was a very ciuiet sector, there not
having been any fighting at that
point for some time, and was then
being used more for training pur
poses than for anything else, bv
both sides. The verv first first
night 1 spent in mv dueout in the
trenches the Germans bombarded
us with their artillery nearly all
night, and every one I heard com
ing I would say to mvself, that one
has mv name on it I bet. But none
hit verv near where I was, ailf]
even so anlv about one in twelve
would go off. the rest being duds,
and I began to think that the Ger
man army, and their artillery es
penally, was a joke, but I found
out mv mistake later as you will
see. We usually stayed in the
trenches about twelve days at a
time, and then moved back in re
serve and for rest for about two
weeks, and then again to the front,
The last time we went up we only
stayed three days, when an order'
came for us to move to the Verdun
sector. We accordingly were
lieved by a French division, and
immediately after we commenced
our long and tiresome journey to
Verdun, being something over
week on the way. Of course we
were not traveling all the time, and
part of the distance was made by
rail and the rest by a French truck
train. We arrived at our destina
NEWARK SOLDIER
TELLS OF THRILLING
EXPERIENCES
Corporal Little Now in British
Hospital Writes to
Local Friends
Dear Mr. Griffin:
to tell
city of Strassburg, the capital
Lorraine which was in the han
a
tion about the 20th or 21st of Sep
tember and pitched our little pup
tents in a large forest and tried
to make ourselves as comfortable
as possible. We expected an ar
tillery bombardment all the time
we were in the woods, so we had
to dig trenches all through the
growth about six feet and covered
over with timber and dirt, so that
we could have as much protection
as possible from shrapnel, if Jerry
took a notion to throw a few iron
pills among us. But fortunately
for us he did not, as I don't think
or six thousand troops in the im
mediate vicinity, it was supposable
that if he knew we were there, he
would have put a barrage over on
us. On the afternoon of the 25th
he knew we were there, for we
kept under cover most of the time,
and as there were, possibly, five
afternoon of the 25th
we were ordered to make up a light
pack and get two days rations (a
tin of bully beef and 6 hard tacks)
and 160 rounds of ammunition per
man and get ready to move out im
mediately. Of course after that
order there was a a great deal of
excitement for up to this time we
i had been kept in the dark as to I
I when we would get into action, but j
now we knew we were going over
; to meet "Fritz" in his own garden.]
Must before we left the woods our
1 battalion was drawn up in a circle
and our Chaplain gave us a little
talk and made a very touching I
I prayer, and before he had finished J
inhere were tears in the eyes of [
liear ] v every man there, as he be- j
,_, an to rea ji ze the seriousness of i
the mission that he was about to (
undertake, and also to realize that
j many would not come back, but
who it was that must pass over the
(great beyond, it was well for ur, j
j that we could not know. We start-(sup
! ed toAvard the front lines when the !
; aveniny shad ™ 8 were silently
r f !1;n)J 1I, { and fa>d over our lit
c ! n .. yet fe . el th . e thrill |
and he st . ir of awakened as we
bad ,een by our Chaplain. We
I ,ived at the place where we were j
1 * 0 sta rt our advance about 11
forp' c Dck.
; Preparing for the Advance 1
T( . , ... , . , . , „ '
** " as a beautiful night, a full J
! î aoou Ughted up everything almost,
'ke da\ and made us think of dear
■ 0 d ,^ marica , and borne with great-1
er Ionp,n ? t * T ?J er before, and,
as we waited beside a hill it was
i, ni .a i 10 i! 0 ;, 0 ,wln
naicl to believe tftat we weie about.
fn nna iho (...j..»
J to take 0 part 111 one of the hardest
and most decisive battles of the
j vvar Many of the boys, however
, (Vere ] v ing around talking and
| laU g hin g till you mIght have
j thought they were on a picnic. The
advance was to start on a sixty
I mile front that mor ning, the (
i French on one side, the British on
[the other with the Americans in
the center. The barrage opened at i
12 o'clock, and just imagine a line
! of cannon almost touching hubs,
for fifty or sixty miles, and of all
calibres from one of the British
monster 1G or 18 inch guns to the
j little French 75's and you may get
some idea of the intensity of the (
barrage. The earth trembled and
shook as though in an earthquake;
the powder smoke hung over U s
we'like clouds from h— 1 shutting out i
Might of moon and substituting b
n *• u. ■ i j
j reflection the weird and uneartly
light of the continuous flashing of
mightv guns till the verv heavens
ButLemed cm fire. It was one of the
i greatest, if not the greatest, bar-|bfe.
rage of the war and cost many|
thousands of lives and several mil
| lions of dollars. It was a wortdev- !
ful experience to have seen and
.. . It ., , '
! lived through it, but I never wanti
! to witness another like it. I can [
j still hear those thousands of shells (
roaring, screeching and screaming
as the great guns hurled them over
1 r ,ur heads and far into the ranks
0 f the demoralized Germans. j
„ r 4 ,
. went over the t( f a ?, G 0 clnck (
the . mornnig ' and 1:k a many,
I other 'nexpenenced troops we ex-1
j Pected to meet opposition the first
; î hing ' but we kept going and go-1
! ! n f and the on.y things we ran
[ mto J ere a few ^'P^ 8 with their |
['nachine guns, and who would fire
" ntl1 the Ve 7 .^ "lornent and,
'h en come out with their hands up
Joutmg Kamerad! Kamerad! but t
1 tbat = wa " the last word that many ;
; ,f , he ™ ever uttered. They tried to
kd as ./ nany of as as poss , 1) e and
[ whe " tjey saw; they were done for,
f ouldnt P^ibly hold out any
. ; ^nger, would come out and expect
j us take them prisoners The
j & reat barrage m this case bad been
( our salvation.
We captured the great Argonne^day
( Forrest, in which the French lost
re-(so many of their brave troops in
1914, and the Germans now had to
[ abandon what had been their home
Mor four long years. Hundreds of
a terrified prisoners were taken out
of their numerous dugouts in
forrest, and lots of the German
dead were seen all through 'the
wood, showing they had to leave
in such a hurry that they did not
have time to take all their dead
with them. The first night after
the capture we laid right out in
the open fields with our rain coats
under us and our overcoats
us, but it was impossible to sleep
owing to the cold. I ate nearly all
my rations the first clay, and the
second and third days I did not
have anything at all to eat, except
what we could find with the dead
including the German
dead, for we were hungry enough
to eat almost anything* We met
severe opposition on the second
day as we moved out into the open (
country in full view of the enemy's
observation ballons and artillery, j
I It was then that I found out that :
[the German artillery was no joke. [
As we advanced across an open
j field one morning we were caught
in their barraere firing Doint blank i
soldiers
in their barrage firing point blank j
at us. First one of our comrades j
would fall and then another, till [
we were ordered to lie flat upon
j the ground, though the shells were
; falling around us so close that the
blasts of a-ir from the explosions
would lift one from the earth and
I expected every moment would
I be my last. I tell you I prayed as
j I never prayed in my life before,
and I think nine out of every ten |
men in the field did the same. We
stayed in that sector five days and !
six nights and lived about six
years in that one week. It was not !
I until the fourth day that they |
J could get any food up to us, and we j
[ were nearly starved, and dead of
j thirst, for the only water to be had
i was that whjch had collected in,
( shell holes, and that was so im
pregnated with person gas that it
would have been sure death to
have drank of it, though at times I
j was sorely tempted to try a little
anyhow. After the first night
! we dug little trenches to stay in at
nights. But I know did not sleep
two hours in the entire six nights;
| that we were there, for it rained
[nearly every night and we were
ar-jwet to the skin all the time, be
j side having to stand in mud and |
water up to our knees with no
[place to sit down. When we finally
1 *. ot relieved about 12 o'clock of the [
' S1 * th n, ffht. we were pretty near
J all } n> We hiked eight or nine Kilo
meters or about six miles, that
night back to where our kitchen
was stationed, and our mess ser
géant had a good hot meal waiting
r or us and no chicken or turkev
, V ,J1 rKf "
that i ever ate faster! ns (rnorl
. . , . a , n as g00fl
that slum that night,
Sent to St. Mihiel Sector
.. , ,
Z hat ! ° Ur meal 1
Wag ° n
t ' ,. » ' pac , s ,' 011 m '
( 1,1 , my hand an , d . weat
Z P U 'il r c
to f.l,T SUCh a ,r® 1 . ief
i nd ' e ,,f, ar sp 1 ins
erve racking artillery,
The next few days were spent
in traveling back into France and
we thought we were due for a little
rest. We arrived in a little town
Uflse to the city of Toul and had
( a good night's rest, and had begun,,
to get cleaned up a bit, and expect
ecl to get a few days in which to \
recover some of our spent energy, I
i but the next night after we got ini
["'ere were again ordered out; this t
time in Hip < 5 (
lime 10 tne fi>t. iiliniel sector. Wei.
were taken up there in American |
niotor trucks, and I don't believe
I ever saw a darker night in my
bar-|bfe. The place we were to take
over was right in a woods and it I
was raining hard all the evening, [
! and to get along we had to take aj"
bold of each others hands to keen
Nfrom crpttina- To,.,, l
Ilom petting lost, and Jerry hap
[ P<med to hear us coming in, and at
( once threw some shells right
am °ng us, but luckily no one was!..
bit. That was one of the worst
Places I ever saw in my life. Mud
j knee (lee P and we had little holes,
in the ground to sleep in. Thev
( were about six feet long bv three I
feet deep and just wide enough |
for two me n to sleep beside each
other We slept fairlv well but
had to get in and out of them on
our hands and knees like ground
| hoga . We did no attacking on this
front but were only put there to
bo ,d the line. Jerrv used to shell
us every nighti but our artillery
t woulcl silence him. The last night
; vve were there he put a mustard
gas attack over on us> and we had
some pretty heavy casualties. But
; l heard afterward that our artil
j lery gave him one of th kind
the next night, with a little added
for inter est. We remained there
j about two weeks when we were
(moved back to Toul, and the nextj
were put on a long train of!
[cars and started for Belgium. We!
(traveled three or four days and
finally landed at what was former-1
[ ly the large city of Ypres, a city
| no longer, not even of desolation,
( not one building standing, the
the'ground simply churned into a
j troubled sea of debris by giant
shells, f.or that one place had been
! under shell fire for four years, and
(you can not imagine what it looked
like. It was here the Germans put
j over the first gas attack of the
( war, on the Canadians, they of
! course not being prepared for any
over'thing of the kind, were slain by
thousands,
as
;
fairly large town, but the only
thing I could see that looked any
thing like a town was a little piece
of brick pavement, the rest was
nothing but shell holes, and you
( would never suspect that the place
had ever been the home of a peace
j ful people. We hiked several davs
: through Belgium and about the
[ middle of October they started the
twelfth advance in which we par
ticipated. Two of our regiments
i were in the nH-npb „.Li
For miles and miles
you can not see a tree or house
standing and just a short distance
from Ypres, a soldier told me, 1
was standing in what had been a
par
our regiments
j were in the attack first, and mi
j and the other regiments of the 'di
[ vision
were in reserve ,and lust
followed up the advance at a dist
ance of three or four miles The
first night of the drive we billeted
in an oid cow stable, and I did not
know the French had any artillerv
concealed there and * ' '
when their
75's cut loose the next mem .
about ?» o'clock I thought t te wor
had come to an end for sine. ie
[barn was an old building an,\ wa>
and every time one of the g un ?!
[would bark, the jar would knoc
down two or three bricks among
us, and we were in almost as much
danger of falling bricks as if we
[had been in the line. Remember
we were in the dark. We followed
up the advance for five days, and i
then were relieved and sent back
to the city of Thielf for a few day's :
rest. After several days stay there
we again were ordered to the lines,,
this time my regiment making the;
attack and the others in reserve.
It was Sunday evening, November
10th when we arrived at the place ;
of battle, having passed thiough
the town of Syngem where the
French and Belgium* h d on
artillery engagement and the din|
was terrific, you could hardly
[the fellow next to you
After we got through the town we
had a long stretch of unprotected
road to go over, and Fritz saw us
and opened up with both machine
guns and artillery. The machine
gun bullets were thicker than mos
quitoes on the Delaware marshes
in summer time, but it happened
... , . . .
tor that s P ecial occasion
J b ® coming
across in a stea • stream -
Gets News of Armistice Signing
n ,„. . „, oa , ot . „
Our artillery was to laj over a
, . r V
r Z
bieaieaant ca ?Y. a , :
"5^ "
ed and we v ere not to go Over that
IÏoV'Zwptp^ ^
„„ at ,\,' c '' a , e 1 ; 11 ? 1 1 • a
ZÏZZdîrÏZVZw
w if °" both . slde , s at 11 o clock.
Well you can imagine what an ef
L. . „„„„ ,, ,
!f, C a upon the boys,
JhrpZfbZ hffa ZcZf . bank: \'
. ■ , . air ' a ,..
| ZJTf kI Z i el, T
/• v ^ an(l .? ot
nntil ', n a t ' bomoarding
U f u T ntl1 dinner i . time ' , E V, ery min '
Ute 1 was expectl . np a she11 to com e
m my dugou J t u ; ith me - and made
up aiy mind ll one came in ' 1
! ^ uld t K ° out ,! f lt would let me -
n ? on aI1 ,„ finng ceased «« d
p did not seem like the same world
aft «»-/hat and I, like many others
C 4 ° uld hard1 / rea l lze the ^uth of
^ and after dark 11 8eemed
st '' ange se u e llghts Winning
ab " Ut u and to be a jle to strike
r iatc , h , ° 1 utsidp ; wlthout getting
knocked down for it. Shortly after
') < L s , ta . rted 011 our long bike
° ut ,° f , Be ^ lu m and clear back to
Dunkirk, France. Just now, when
™ y outfit 18 getting ready to
h ° n ? e l so .? n for me or not - Th is is
with boils and I am afraid I will
neVe , r be , T le to 0Vertake m - v Com -
,, . an /' and * am read - v to go home
11 ,* now -
( We may be sent to Berlin yet, as
they are having all kinds of trou
; b i e there, and I hear that Ameri
can troops are to occupy the city,
80 J don't know whether it will be
borne soon for m eor not. This is
Eie p ffh hospital I've been in and
*be third British one, owing to the
that many of the American
hospitals are closing up. This one
soon he closed, I hear, and
*be patients sent to England, but
they can send me to U. S. A.' and
^ suit me much better,
near i
speak. [
that not many of us were hit,
though I thing every man was up
on the bit of expectation. After
a time we came to what they call
the Scheldt river, but it is not any
wider than White Clay Creek at j
the Paper Mill bridge. We expectc-d j
to have lots of trouble in crossing
the bride spanning it, but fortun
ately we got over without any ac
cidents. We were told to move
down the river bank a little way
and dig ourselves in. I didn't have
anything to dig with but my mess
kit cover, but you can dig with
anything when some one is shoot
ing at you, and I assure you Jerry
was shooting some too. I thought
he must have been saving up his
a
go
I have now given you a very
short sketch of the worst side of
my visit to France. Of course,
there is a brighter side to it. Kind
ness and consideration shown to
! a11 of lls »- a bit of social contact
showing up the funny differences
between fbo bw ' » , ,
tl ? , llVes and hablts
these P eo P' e an d our own. There's
! a heart ach e too, to much that
have seen - Lut it would take a book
to relate all the store
iournpv a , ,
tv, anfl stay 011 ^ b ' s s ' f le of
ocearu when we get back
t0 Newark again, I will tell you all
about it. So hoping soon to get
back to the good old state of Dela
ware again, and to see all my old
friends
of
we
of our
once more, I remain
Yours
very sincerely,
Corp. Orville Little,
25th Gen. Hospital,
Hardelot, France.
A Thermos BoUle for the
School Child's Lunch
* r
i ' bp comnressed mav be
d instead of excelsior for pack
: • tween the glass and'the car
0 • , ... a SUCC ess from
., . M j be verv thing
v.m' ca ' rrv to sc h 0 ol and
•<' „ writes the c oker fie i d
; to the States Relations Ser
f Department of
Agriculture. "It-keeps liquid hot I
and one . ha ,f hours by
A bottle to keep liquids hot,
made from a salad oil bottle, an
oatmeal carton, some excelsior,
nd 13 cents worth of oil-cloth for
a cover, is the creation of an Ala
bama girl, a member of a boys' and
girls' club of that state.
Sawdust, hay, burlap, paper in
soft material that
.(actual test."
The device was shown at a re
cent county demonstration.
i
[
BROWN'S
New and Second-Hand Furniture Store
buys, sells and exchanges in all kinds of
household goods. Long distance auto
moving is our specialty. Phone 4547 W
504 MADISON STREET
Wilmington, Del.
j
n f R •
^, oonis , î;, e . nt
clean and Attractive
|
I
j
Newark Inn and Restaurait
A Thoroughly Modern Type
of the WAYSIDE INN where
the motorist may find rest and
refreshment.
GOOD FOOD
CLEANLINESS
GOOD SERVld
Private Dining Room for Dinner Parties
SPEC IAL SUNDAY DINNER
■
Main Street
Newark, Del.
Home-made PieiB..
Cakes to order ®
....OUR....
Home-made CandJ°
CONFORM TO
ALL THESE RULES
THE FIRST
REQUIREMENT
til
PURITY AND
CLEANLINESS
A fresh assortment
daffno
Also a line line of
if
Chocolates and Bonbons
Glace Fruits and Nuts
Wa
J.
and MiM
Hot Drinks and Sandwiches.
Egg Drinks
Ice Cream and Ice Cream Sodas the
year round.
A Full Line of Sunshine Biscuit and Cakes %
4tai
She
MANUEL PANARETOS
in
irks
NEWARK
KANDY KITCHEN
NEWARK#*»
DELAWA
it
lhai
11
Why Not?
fi
f ■
yeai
fern
Join
a
Y OU leave at 7.30? Well,
suppose you telephone me
when you are leaving.
Are not such calls really
necessary?
We knit; we work for the Red
Cross; we conserve wheat;
conserve food
Why not conserve telephone
usage?
:
1 ' i > N
■
J)
f
1
1
un
»rs
/■
.11
** .. V
s
lot
11
■ fi :ent
'
f v
t:I
&
vve
a'.
«
i y ;
■ Vffl
>5
nati
'»ate
b
Making only the necessary calls
will mean a better distribu
tion of the telephone equip
ment and the operators'
services. It will aid in the uninter
lupted telephone communication that
must he accorded industry and the
government for the completion of the
war program.
Conserve
'ii ■ I
l
•\ series o
- mute talk
Sem
u I n
I r clephon
«IT W
v UOnitHl
uh a uom
• t'oint o,
U andfo
uvrnen.
sure
had
that
in
been
been
i'iotii
ment
fices
U.
Calif
your telephone calls and
courage your friends to do like wise.
en
!,
:
rq
THE
DIAMOND ST \TB
T, „ TRI.KVlIoxrc l «)..
District ManaK«r
Wll.JIISOTOX. DEI,.
racy'
I
ami c, u .
.\V
Done
ir a'need
' >KM) agent's
Authorized
1
F. B. NORMAN
CO,
917 Shipley St., V,
mi
Jen, D e |
a
f:
o
F
,T
R.T
ißt
© QJ
tl
t<
tc
FUN
AL
L
DIR'
D
W
Upholste
Repair
gi
an( ai
in
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ai
at
to
Second Hand urnitui®?'
Bought and Sold " 7
$1
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ac