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With "E" of the First Gas 
 
 BY 
 
 Sergeant William L. Langer 
 
 AND 
 
 Private Robert B. MacMullin 
 

 Copyrighted igig 
 By Robert B. MacMullin 
 
 MAY -3 1919 
 
 HOLTON PRINTING CO. 
 
 NINETY-NINE MYRTLE AVENUE 
 
 BROOKLYN, N. Y. 
 
 ©C1.A515423 
 
 /W\3 \ 
 
■'THt:RMlTE" 
 
 Burning Out a Bothersome Machine-gun Nest at Dawn 
 
To the 
 
 Men of Company " E," First Gas Regiment, 
 
 in memory of their devoted 
 
 service in France 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 PACE 
 
 A Letthi from General Fries 7 
 
 Foreword 9 
 
 Gassing the Boche 11 
 
 "The Gas and Flame" 25 
 
 With "E" of the First Gas — 
 
 Chapter I. En Route 26 
 
 " II. Training 34 
 
 " III. The Fight in the St. Mihiel Salient. 41 
 
 " IV, The Struggle in the Argonne 52 
 
 " V. The Drive Towards Sedan 67 
 
 " VI. "FiNiE La Guerre" 11 
 
 " VII. Our Last Battle and Homeward 
 
 Bound 87 
 
 Mud, Mud, Mud! 97 
 
 In Memoriam — Lieutenant John V. Fleming 101 
 
 " — Private Robert M. Mayne 102 
 
 Casualty List 103 
 
 The Roster 105 
 
 Autographs 112 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 Thermite Frontispiece 
 
 Captain Roscoe B. Dayton, Commanding Company "E" 
 
 OF THE FlKST GaS 9 
 
 Cross-section of a Levins Projector, Dug in Ready to 
 
 Shoot 16 
 
 Our Chief Weapon of Offense 19 
 
 Chaumont 36 
 
 Map — The St. Mihiel Salient 40 
 
 Carrying Party 44 
 
 Map — The Argonne Forest 51 
 
 Varennes 56 
 
 Map — "La Fille Morte Line" 58 
 
 Over the Meuse at Varennes 62 
 
 The Gap of the Aire 66 
 
 Sommerance 68 
 
 Remains of a Boche Trench in the Argonne 74 
 
 Choignes on the Marne 84 
 
 Company Picture 116 
 
A LETTER FROM GENERAL FRIES 
 
 The following contents of a letter received from 
 Brigadier General Fries, Chief of the Chemical Warfare 
 Service, is published to the Regiment : 
 
 "The war is over and apparently the work of the First Gas 
 Regiment. If a few could be kept as Gas troops and trained 
 as such with the Army, I would be willing to have you remain 
 for a while in France; otherwise, I am making every effort to 
 have the Gas troops sent promptly to the United States. 
 
 "At this time, I desire personally, and on behalf of the 
 Chemical Warfare Service as a whole, to express to you and 
 the officers and men of the First Gas Regiment under you, our 
 pride and profound admiration of the work you have done. To 
 take a new regiment and in a few short months teach it an 
 entirely new method of warfare, known to few but the enemy, 
 and so handle that work that the Chemical Warfare Service, 
 as well as the regiment, became favorably known throughout 
 an army of nearly 2,000,000 men, is an achievement of which 
 any body of men may well be proud. 
 
 "Not only is the First Gas Regiment well known, but its 
 work has been so excellent that demands for more Gas troops 
 were constantly increasing in numbers and insistence. Every- 
 where the work has been spoken of as that of brave and able 
 men, who feared no enemy and no hardships, and who stopped 
 only when complete exhaustion overpowered them. 
 
 "Whether the Chemical Warfare Service will be continued 
 in peace remains to be seen. That your work will always be 
 remembered and that it will be the guiding star for such work 
 in any future war, should, unfortunately, our country ever again 
 have to enter upon one, is absolutely certain." 
 
 The Regimental Commander wishes to express his 
 
 deep appreciation of the loyalty and unselfish devotion 
 
 to duty of both officers and men, which made possible 
 
 the results which prompted this letter. 
 
 B. J. Atkisson, 
 Colonel, First Gas Regiment. 
 
Captain Roscoe B. Dayton 
 Commanding Company "E" of the First Gas 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 Men of Company E, the serious purpose for 
 which you came over seas, you have accom- 
 plished. The task of defeating Germany's 
 famous army was not an easy one. It was your 
 privilege to participate in the great American of- 
 fensive, to engage in a new and dangerous 
 method of fighting, and to actually inflict great 
 loss upon the enemy, I am proud to be in com- 
 mand of such a superb body of men, who as a 
 company showed great willingness and team 
 work, and who individually proved themselves 
 brave, worthy soldiers. 
 
 You and I are mighty glad that our fighting 
 days are over. We are even more anxious now 
 to muster out and shed our khaki uniforms. 
 Then may your home-coming be a welcome one, 
 and as you resume life where you left off, take 
 with you my heartiest wishes for your happiness 
 and prosperity. 
 
 Capt. Roscoe B. Dayton, 
 Commanding Company "E," 
 First Gas Regiment. 
 
GASSING THE BOCHE 
 
 Warfare has been revolutionized by the use of poison- 
 ous gases. To the destruction and mutilation wrought 
 by high explosives, shrapnel, and machine guns ; to the 
 terrors of aerial bombardment and submarine torpedo, 
 Germany has added the subtle horrors of burns, blind- 
 ness, strangling and asphyxiation. For years previous 
 to the War, Ostwald and her other great chemists ex- 
 perimented with and devised new gases of lethal potency 
 for the purpose of insuring the defeat of Germany's 
 enemies and to bring about her domination in world 
 politics, commerce, and science. With the use of gas 
 new international disputes arose as to the right and 
 wrong of the thing; but after all, international law seems 
 to operate successfully only in time of peace. All's fair 
 in war. So, without discussing the ethics of the matter 
 at all, we merely wish to show how the tables were turned 
 against the very perpetrator of the act. And it is with 
 no little pride that we exhibit the most specialized, highly 
 scientific fighting organization in the AUied Armies, The 
 First Gas Regiment, Chemical Warfare Service. 
 
 The Germans let the cat out of the bag, so to speak, 
 at Ypres in 1915, where the Canadians had brilliantly 
 stemmed the oncoming tide of Teutons. Suddenly vast 
 clouds of chlorine gas, released from cylinders, rolled 
 over the lines, killing scores of helpless soldiers, and 
 paralyzing the entire sector. Evidently the Germans did 
 not realize the eflfectiveness of the attack, for they did 
 
12 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 not follow it up with infantry operations at all. Still, 
 for several months following she accounted for huge 
 casualties in the British Army. In a remarkably quick 
 time, however, our chemists devised a sure protection 
 against not only chlorine, but any other gas the Boche 
 might possibly use. Every soldier was then provided 
 with a gas mask, which was worn as a sort of fetish 
 around the neck, ready at all times. Gas defense became 
 an established fact, and its perfection is a familiar story 
 to all. 
 
 In a short time, also, English chemists connived to 
 retaliate with gas. The Royal Engineers took up the 
 work ; and because of better prevailing wind conditions, 
 actually outdid the Germans in cloud attacks. Then a 
 new phase of the game appeared — shell gas fired by the 
 artillery. No longer did the Germans have to wait for 
 proper winds, nor fool with cumbersome cylinders in the 
 trenches. With gas stored conveniently miles behind 
 the lines, they could now gas any particular spot behind 
 the Allied lines. Blue, green, and yellow cross shell be- 
 came the dread of working parties and motor lorries 
 hitherto safe from gas. But not for long. The game 
 of checkers proceeded. English and French artillery 
 busied themselves, and by 1918 actually were throwing 
 back three gas shells for every one that came over. 
 
 The English did the Germans one better still. They 
 invented the Levins projectors, by which thousands of 
 shells could be shot simultaneously, producing such a 
 high contraction over so large an area, that the results 
 were terrible and irresistable. They brought out the 
 use of the Stokes trench mortar for cleaning out ma- 
 chine gun nests with gas and liquid fire The Germans, 
 of course, copied these methods, but were not nearly as 
 successful in putting them into operation. 
 
 In the matter of gas itself, the English demonstrated 
 their superiority. The Germans used chlorine, phosgene, 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 13 
 
 diphosgene, chlorpicrin, diphenylchlorarsine (sneezing 
 powder), and dichlorethylsulfid (mustard), all of which 
 proved impotent against the respirator box. The Eng- 
 lish used similar chemicals, but much more lethal and 
 concentrated. The "P. S." gas, for instance, will easily 
 penetrate the German "maulkorb," or "jaw-basket" 
 mask. Thermite, the spray of molten iron, has never 
 been duplicated by the Boche. 
 
 So that was the situation into which we stepped with 
 our entrance into the war. Let not all the credit, how- 
 ever, be given to the English. It is true that we appro- 
 priated the methods tried by the Royal Engineers at 
 the start, as a basis to work upon. Then the brainiest 
 and most able chemists of America organized the Chem- 
 ical Research Division of the Army, and set to work 
 improving old methods, inventing new ones all the 
 while. With the theory that the war would be a long 
 one, it became obvious that chemical warfare was worthy 
 of a separate organization in the Army, ranking the 
 Engineers. Accordingly, the Gas defense, Chemical Di- 
 vision, and the 30th Engineers were all combined into 
 the Chemical Warfare Service, with Brigadier General 
 Fries as Chief. The combatant troops became known as 
 the First Gas Regiment, Colonel Atkisson commanding. 
 We went into action as early as February, 1918, on the 
 Flanders front, at Armentieres. Under capable English 
 instruction we soon learned "how the Royal Engineers 
 did it," and co-operated with them successfully through- 
 out the spring, and later at Chateau Thierry. 
 
 So far the battle line had been more or less sta- 
 tionary — at least a matter of trench warfare, in which 
 grenading, sapping, and well-planned gas shows played 
 an important part. By September the great American 
 Army was in a position to launch an offensive all of its 
 own on the Champagne and Lorraine fronts. Ever since 
 the battle of Saint Mihiel, trenches have been almost 
 
14 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 obsolete; the line advanced so rapidly that indeed there 
 was no time to construct the elaborate trench systems 
 so popular with the French and Germans. So the Gas 
 Regiment was called upon to do unprecedented service; 
 and it evolved a style of fighting distinctly original and 
 strategic. 
 
 Before giving an account of "how the Yanks did it," 
 a review of our ordnance and organization is appro- 
 priate. In the early days it was proposed that a "flame- 
 throwing" regiment be formed, for the purpose of clean- 
 ing out enemy dugouts and trenches durmg an infantry 
 advance. Benzol, a light inflammable oil, is carried in a 
 two-gallon cylinder strapped to the back of the operator. 
 Attached is a small cylinder of compressed air, by which 
 the oil is forced out through a hose and nozzle, in a long, 
 thin stream. A range of possibly sixty feet can be ob- 
 tained, necessitating a close-order form of combat, to say 
 the least. The spray is ignited at the nozzle, and becomes 
 a blazing jet of flame. The extreme danger in operat- 
 ing the apparatus is apparent, to say nothing of the won- 
 derful target offered to enemy snipers. So the Flame 
 Regiment was abandoned. The Germans themselves 
 discontinued their corresponding corps, and I believe 
 none but the daredevil Italian "x\rditos" used "flame" 
 with any success. 
 
 The original and principal purpose of the regiment 
 was to use gas. Should the occasion warrant it, we 
 were prepared to make cloud attacks by the following 
 improved method. Cylinders containing about forty 
 pounds of the liquified gas are brought up in trucks as 
 near the line as possible, and then carried by the men to 
 the position in No Man's Land. The valves on the 
 cylinders are arranged so that they may be opened by a 
 small percussion cap, which is detonated by an electric 
 current from an exploder box. A battery of ten cylin- 
 ders is wired in series, the leads running to the rear at 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS IS 
 
 a safe distance. At zero hour, a single man can thus 
 let loose the whole battery by merely pushing down on 
 the plunger of the exploder. The liquid comes sputtering 
 out of the valves with a great hissing noise, evaporating 
 into heavy clouds which are borne by the gentle wind 
 over the enemies' lines. The noise itself is unmistakble 
 and warns Fritz in plenty of time for him to adjust his 
 mask. The wind should be blowing from four to twelve 
 miles per hour in the right direction, but Nature is apt 
 to disregard the metereological criteria at the critical 
 moment, and render the attack unfavorable. Cloud gas, 
 therefore, was seldom, if ever used by the Americans. 
 
 Gas projector shows were very prominent in the 
 Spring of 1918. Let us see with the aid of the accom- 
 panying diagram, what the Levins Projectors look like. 
 They resemble great iron test tubes, four and a half 
 feet long with an eight-inch smooth bore, weighing some 
 one hundred and forty pounds each. Their maximum 
 range is but seventeen hundreds yards, so it is necessary 
 to operate in No Man's and as in the case of the cylin- 
 ders. A battery of twenty are implanted in a ditch dug 
 for the purpose, resting on iron base plates which take 
 up the recoil. The guns are lined up with the objective, 
 set at an angle of forty-five degrees, with the muzzles 
 just level with the surface, and are held in place with 
 tamped earth. Then charge boxes containing the pro- 
 pellant of cordite and the detonating fuse are thrust into 
 the projectors, the two wires leading out of the muzzles. 
 The size of the charge, by the way, is adjusted to give 
 the proper range to the projectiles. The battery is wired 
 up in series, the main lead wires running back a hundred 
 meters or so to the exploder box, hidden in a place of 
 safety. The bombs themselves are shaped somewhat 
 like real fat cigars, the thirty pounds of gas being loaded 
 from one end in a liquified state, and the bursting charge 
 and fuse being placed in a "Gaine" tube inserted in the 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 17 
 
 Other end. The bombs, on being fitted out with Mills 
 pistol heads, are lowered into the projectors, and the 
 circuit tested for leaks. All is ready. All men withdraw 
 except those who operate the exploders. At zero hour, 
 when the various batteries are set off, the following 
 events take place : the dynamo in the exploder generates 
 the current which fuses simultaneously the tiny platinum 
 wires in each charge box ; these ignite the percussion 
 caps, which detonate the cordite which sends the shells 
 hortling on their way. The initial shock releases the 
 inertia pellet in the Mills pistol head, which sets the 
 Bickford fuse agoing in each bomb. At the end of 
 twenty seconds, by which time the bomb has soared and 
 landed at the predetermined range, the time fuse has 
 reached an explosive cap in the interior ; and thus the 
 iron shell is ripped open, releasing the liquid poison, 
 which immediately vaporizes. All this happens in a 
 much shorter time than it takes to tell it. Now imagine 
 hundreds of these batteries being set off at once, and 
 you can see what a dreadful barrage must result. Whole 
 areas are drenched with gas which no mortal can escape. 
 
 Of course, the Levins method was good only on a 
 stationary front, for a big show required several nights 
 of steady work in advance. And it used to be no easy 
 matter for a man in the carrying party to shoulder a 
 hundred and forty pound projector, in addition to his 
 rifle, pack, gas mask, and helmet, and to stagger for sev- 
 eral miles perhaps in a muddy trench in absolute silence 
 and darkness ; to stop dead as a Verey light soared over 
 his head, or drop when a machine gun started popping. 
 There was real downright drudgery and pathos in a 
 carrying party of the First Gas, yet our men worked 
 uncomplainingly throughout. War was ninety-nine per 
 cent hard labor. 
 
 Still another use to which projectors were recently 
 put was the shooting of T.N.T. in place of gas. On the 
 
18 IVITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 night of September 26, near Varennes, one of our par- 
 ties sent over a ton or more of this high explosive in 
 one dose, and completely annihilated Hill 285. Another 
 time bombs were filled with thermite, and the fuses 
 shortened to secure an air burst. Several batteries were 
 trained against a town held by the enemy ; not only were 
 the fireworks phenomenally spectacular, but they set 
 the entire town afire ! It burned for several days. These 
 feats, of course, were novelties. The fact is that during 
 the American drive very few projector shows were at- 
 tempted, the companies most generally being organized 
 into Stokes Mortar outfits. 
 
 That brings us to the use of the trench mortar which, 
 because of its lightness, its portability, and the great 
 variety of effects possible with it, came to be our chief 
 weapon of offense. Briefly, it consists of a four-inch 
 smooth-bore barrel, four feet long, weighing some 
 ninety-six pounds ; an iron base plate to take up the 
 recoil weighing sixty pounds ; and a bipod by which the 
 gun is elevated and traversed, of some thirty-six pounds 
 weight. The other adjuncts consist of sandbags, a ram- 
 rod, a kit of tools, and a pick and shovel. Five men can 
 just handle the apparatus, and therefore there are that 
 many men on each gun team. To set up the gun, ele- 
 vation and azimuth (direction) being given, the base 
 plate is lined up and imbedded in the ground at a slope 
 of ninety degrees minus the angle of elevation, and held 
 secure by sandbags. The barrel is then set at right 
 angles to the base plate, and is supported by the bipod, 
 the plane of whose legs is parallel to the base plate. 
 The final adjustments are made with the inclinometer 
 and the prismatic compass, to secure accuracy of fire. 
 
 Now the barrel is always elevated around fifty-five 
 to seventy degrees, so that a projectile inserted at the 
 muzzle will slide easily to the breech. That is the special 
 feature of the Stokes mortar ; it is not a breech loading 
 
A 
 
 IS! 
 
 sj'll 
 
 
 i: 
 
 <5-A5 
 
 r/zs/fM/rs 
 
 6T0KES 
 
 Our Chief Weapon of Offense — the Four-inch 
 Stokes Mortar, and Bombs 
 
20 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 piece, like a cannon, but muzzle loading, awkward as it 
 may seem. At the breech there is a striking pin which 
 explodes the propellant in the bomb the instant it slides 
 to the bottom. So one has but to feed the gun with 
 bombs, which go "tooping" into the air in rapid fire. As 
 many as twenty-five shots to the minute is about the 
 record firing speed. 
 
 There are a variety of Stokes bombs — one for every 
 desired purpose. In general, they are steel cylinders 
 resembling rolling pins, about fourteen inches long, hav- 
 ing a total weight of twenty-six to thirty pounds. In 
 particular, they may classified into two types : those 
 which burst after landing, and those which are timed to 
 burst at a certain height off the ground. The first class 
 include all gas shells, which are cast solid to preclude 
 the danger of leakage. In the forward end a well ex- 
 tends to the interior, and in it is inserted a Bickford 
 twenty-second time fuse; a Mills pistol head is then 
 screwed into the opening. As in the case on the Levins 
 projectiles, the purpose of this arrangement is to cause 
 the shell to be ripped open gently on the ground, allow- 
 ing the gas to seep out as a liquid. A violent explosion, 
 or an air burst, would dissipate the gas and render it 
 harmless. Hence the familiar sound of the gas shell: 
 a dull ''phlop," resembling a dud. On the rear end of 
 the bomb is attached a container for the propellant of 
 E. C. 3 powder, which is put up in the form of several 
 "biscuits." The range of the Stokes projectile can be 
 varied by the number of these biscuits as well as by 
 elevating the barrel of the gun. 
 
 The other type of bomb includes both the smoke 
 and the thermite shells. In the forward end is inserted 
 a Gaine tube and a No. 31 time fuse. The latter is set 
 to explode the powder in the tube when the bomb reaches 
 the critical point in the trajectory. The propellant takes 
 the form of several "doughnuts" of cordite, which slip 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 21 
 
 around a container and a cartridge used to detonate 
 them. 
 
 With that basis to start upon, let us see how the va- 
 rious chemicals are used in practice. Suppose the in- 
 fantry is about to advance under heavy machine gun 
 fire. Several Stokes gun teams would then produce a 
 smoke screen across the German trenches to obscure the 
 movements of our troops. The smoke bomb contains 
 white phosphorous, and is timed to explode just as it 
 hits the ground. Dense gray clouds of smoke are liber- 
 ated, which, though harmless, have a bewildering effect 
 on those caught in it. 
 
 Or it is sometimes possible to fool Fritz with our 
 so-called "skunk" gas, an evil smelling formyl com- 
 pound. This gas is absolutely harmless, though very 
 disagreeable. The enemy, thinking it to be the "real 
 stuff," will put on his mask, while our infantry advance 
 with perfect freedom and fight to inestimable advantage. 
 
 If it is desired to make the enemy wear his mask 
 for long periods of time, lachrymatory gases are used, 
 such as bromacetone, and the so-called "S. K." gas. 
 While not deadly, unless in heavy concentration, these 
 weeping gases will produce great suffering ; and because 
 they linger in every nook and corner, even in the clothes, 
 for a considerable length of time, a high concentration 
 is not necessary. One shot a minute will do the trick. 
 
 For actually gassing the Boche, there is nothing so 
 good as the "P. S." bomb, a mixture of eighty per cent, 
 chlorpicrin and twenty per cent stannous chloride. And, 
 of course, phosgene and diphosgene are used consider- 
 ably because of their extreme deadliness. However, in 
 this case, we must take Fritz by surprise — gas him before 
 he has time to put his mask on at all. To accomplish 
 this we fare forty or more rounds of shell in rapid suc- 
 cession from each gun, thus producing a terrific local 
 concentration of gas. Phosgene does not linger such as 
 
22 JVJTH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 the lachrymatory gases do, but volatilizes very quickly. 
 For that reason it is possible to pull off a gas show just 
 before our infantry go over, and in no way endanger 
 our own men. Of course, the wind conditions must be 
 considered first, and the company meteorologist decides 
 whether the gas show will be effective. Sometimes the 
 wind will become unfavorable before zero hour; this 
 spells "washout," and a lot of wasted energy for all 
 concerned. 
 
 More than any other kind of shell, we shot the famous 
 thermite. It is a mixture of powdered aluminum and 
 ferric oxide, which on ignition reacts chemically with 
 the liberation of intense heat. The iron reduced in the 
 reaction is heated to a molten state, and falls thus, a 
 shower of "liquid fire." 
 
 It is possible to shoot T. N. T. from our four-inch 
 Stokes, but in general we left that to the regular three- 
 inch Stokes outfits attached to the infantry, who make a 
 specialty of that sort of thing. 
 
 That sums up pretty well our ordnance — what we 
 had to work with in the game of war. The distinctive 
 "Yankee" style which I have mentioned before, was 
 brought forth by the continual American advances. 
 "You gave us no rest," one Hun prisoner put it. A full 
 company was found to be too large a unit to be effective, 
 so the entire regiment was split up into platoons and 
 spread fan-like across the entire American front. Some 
 were projector outfits, but for the most part the platoons 
 were organized into four Stokes teams and a carrying 
 party. 
 
 Let us simulate an offensive typical of those in the 
 Argonne. The usual procedure, preparatory to a big 
 drive, was for the platoon to move up to some town 
 within shelling distance of the lines and to establish an 
 ammunition dump there. The bombs and equipment were 
 prepared by day and carried up to the lines under cover 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 23 
 
 of darkness. The objectives were given us by the in- 
 fantry commanders — probable impedimenta and snags in 
 the advance ; our own gun positions were then selected 
 accordingly. Firstly, they had to be within maximum 
 range; secondly, advantage had to be taken of all nat- 
 ural cover, such as woods, hills, trenches, holes, and so 
 on. Careful preparations would be made, and several 
 nights be spent in carrying up an abundance of ammuni- 
 tion with which to follow up. 
 
 The stage would now be set. The "heavies" and the 
 "seventy-fives" would open up at about two or three in 
 the morning. At four we would pull off our gas show, 
 phosgene. At five the infantry would go over behind 
 our smoke screen and through our skunk gas. As the 
 Boche machine gunners opened up, we would wipe them 
 out with thermite. Pill boxes would be smashed with 
 T. N. T. from a battery of projectors. The drive would 
 be on. 
 
 With the second wave we would take down our guns, 
 and load them onto pushcarts. Burros brought up from 
 the rear would "carry on " with the excess ammunition. 
 We would follow up the infantry as fast as we could, 
 and if they were held up at any point we would go there 
 immediately. In the Argonne Forests we were bothered 
 by myriads of snipers and machine gun nests, rarely en- 
 countering any infantry. Therefore, selecting a central 
 dump, usually old German dugouts or pioneer parks, we 
 would operate from there day and night, striking first 
 here then there, wherever resistance was greatest. Sup- 
 plies under those conditions could generally be brought 
 up by truck from the main dump almost to the lines, and 
 whenever an important objective was reached, such as 
 a village or captured town, the entire headquarters would 
 move up. And so on, till the infantry simply had to wait 
 for the artillery to catch up. In a few days the whole 
 program would repeat itself as before. 
 
24 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 Our work is now at an end, and only the memory 
 remains. From the historical account of our adventures 
 it is noteworthy that since we went into action on Sep- 
 tember 8th and continued up to the time the Armistice 
 was signed, Company E of the First Gas was continually 
 on the lines, save for a single respite of one week. We 
 pursued the retreating Hun like Nemeses, harrassing, de- 
 stroying, and killing off his last stubborn rearguard. If 
 we gave him no rest, neither did we rest ourselves. Now, 
 our ordnance has already become antiquated. New 
 mortars, guns, and gas methods will be invented for the 
 future. Yet it is apparent, as General Fries has said, 
 that the First Gas Regiment has played an integral and 
 important part in the American and Allied victories ; and 
 from this there is every reason to believe that the Chem- 
 ical Warfare Service will continue to exist and to main- 
 tain its high efficiency and reputation in the Army of the 
 United States. 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 25 
 
 "The Gas and Flame*' 
 
 Ain't it a shame, ye boys 'at came 
 At the call o' the trumpet ter fight the game 
 O' War an' Death in our country's name, 
 And joined the famous "Gas and Flame," 
 Ter have ter sweat in Virginy's sun 
 A' wastin' time when the War ain't won. 
 While our pards is fightin' like sons-o'-guns 
 Across the Pond ter halt the Hun? 
 
 Talk o' blood an' iron, an' sniper's pie — 
 Why, the most we do is swat the fly, 
 An' bunk fatigue in a canvas sty 
 With a 'skito bar fer a lowly sky. 
 Now what the Hell in the summer time 
 Is the good uv an O. D. woolen blouse 
 That swathes yer up like a bloomin' louse 
 When the mercury's out fer a record climb? 
 
 An' three lectures a week on etiquette, 
 
 While strategy's not been thought uv yet; 
 
 An' buryin' the food yer haven't et, 
 
 A-starving the pigs an' the animal pets. 
 
 Oh, they's chlorine and phosgene and mustard oil, 
 
 But I guess it ain't accordin' ter Hoyle, 
 
 Fer the issuin' gas from the Colonel's post 
 
 Is what we have ter contend with most. 
 
 I guess it's enough ter make yer sore. 
 
 This naggin' an' raggin' an' laggin' some more. 
 
 An' drillin' a man till he's stale before 
 
 He gets his chance ter fight in the War. 
 
 Now if its true, as the officers claim, 
 
 That ter-morrer's the day the "Gas an' Flame" 
 
 Pack up fer France, — why ain't it a shame 
 
 It's always ter-morrer, — an' who's ter blame? 
 
 Fort Myer, Va. Pvt. Robert Burns MacMullin. 
 
WITH •*£" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EN ROUTE 
 
 As THE years pass by it will become increasingly 
 difficult for men to understand or appreciate the feelings 
 that dominated the hearts and souls of American troops 
 still in the home land during the spring of 1918, while 
 the newspapers were occupied with chronicling almost 
 in the same breath the last gigantic oflfensives of the 
 enemy and the first brilliant successes of the more for- 
 tunate boys who were already in France. Whatever may 
 have been the forebodings and fears of the pessimistic or 
 faint-hearted, it is certain that in our company enthusi- 
 asm ran high ; impatience is the word that characterizes 
 the spirit of the men. And it is natural that it should 
 have been so, for two companies of the regiment (at 
 that time still known as the 30th Engineers, "Gas and 
 Flame") had left on Christmas Day, 1917, while the 
 end of February had seen the departure of the next two. 
 It seemed reasonable to expect, then, that Companies E 
 and F should follow them shortly, especially since "Early 
 Service Overseas" was the catch-phrase that had drawn 
 the recruits from every corner of the Union. But day 
 after day passed in infantry drill on the hot and baking 
 drill ground at Fort Myer, and hearts sank deeper and 
 deeper as rumor after rumor proved to be false. We 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 27 
 
 finally decided that ours was a jinx company. No one 
 could explain the situation. In May began the record- 
 breaking transportation of troops overseas ; but we 
 did not go. We were anxious to fight, but they taught 
 us only ceremonies and etiquette. "Gas and Flame" 
 was the alluring name of our prospective work, but 
 they trained us only in "Squads East" and "Squads 
 West." Surely something must be wrong, and soon that 
 whole company of red-blooded young Americans was 
 resigning itself in despair to the gloomy prospect of 
 indefinite drill, guard duty, innumerable inspections — and 
 fatigue. 
 
 But the end was not yet, nor was the future to be 
 less eventful than we might have hoped. It was just 
 about the middle of June that the order for our de- 
 parture finally arrived. From that time on things moved 
 quickly. Equipment was brought up to date, barracks 
 bags were packed, arrangements for shipment com- 
 pleted, — everything in perfect regulation, so faultless that 
 anything from personal appearance to baggage would 
 have caused the proverbial Hoyle unspeakable delight. 
 The preparations continued unmarred by any disap- 
 pointments until on Friday, the 21st, after a delicious 
 banquet, we struck tents, slung packs, and set out on 
 our first move, which, like so many of its successors, 
 was carried out in a drizzling, disagreeable rain. Not 
 even inclement weather, however, could dampen our 
 enthusiasm, and it was a cheerful, hopeful lot that 
 caroused in the railroad coaches until weariness suc- 
 cumbed to sleep. 
 
 The next morning found us in the terminal at Jersey 
 City, and it was not so very long before we were ferried 
 up the river to Hoboken. There we lost a little more of 
 our patience while standing in innumerable lines with 
 heavy packs on our shoulders, until finally we boarded 
 the transport. At last things seemed to be going our 
 
28 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 way, for early the next morning (I remember it was 
 clear and warm) the ship slipped out of the dock and 
 dropped down the harbor to Sandy Hook, where a 
 large convoy gradually assembled. Even the most 
 skeptical had to admit that we were under way at last. 
 
 But our jinx was still with us, as we soon agreed 
 when the convoy began to steam off while we returned. 
 It seemed incredible, and yet it was true. We docked 
 in the same place from which we had sailed and all the 
 explanation we could get was one to the effect that the 
 refrigerating plant on the ship had broken down and 
 that it might take two weeks to repair it. The prospect 
 was gloomier than ever, and we were all conjuring up 
 pictures of two weeks' confinement in our uncomfortable 
 quarters when, on Monday morning, we hurriedly dis- 
 embarked, marched through Hoboken and entrained for 
 Camp Merritt, New Jersey. 
 
 We were destined to spend only five days on land, 
 however, and although without exception we were de- 
 jected and indignant with Fortune, there were but few 
 who later on would not agree that our stay was pleasant. 
 The splendid opportunities for entertainment, the beauti- 
 ful weather and the passes to New York City which fell 
 to the lot of the more diplomatic among us, these all 
 served to make our sojourn a sort of farewell festivity. 
 In fact many regretted having to leave, when, very early 
 in the morning of June 28th (Friday) we set out on a 
 long night hike, tramping with heavy packs some eight 
 miles to the river. It was a cold, misty morning, and, 
 unaccustomed as we were to any real hardship, we 
 did not relish the trip very much. Being packed like 
 sardines on a ferry boat and taken to Hoboken again 
 did not improve our ill-humor either. In fact the boys 
 did not regain their spirits until we were once again 
 lodged on the U. S. S. President Grant and until we 
 had lined our stomachs with an ample meal. 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 29 
 
 But this time we sailed, and the Sunday morning 
 that we steamed down the harbor will ever be vivid 
 in the memory of each and every one of us. The 
 weather was all one could wish for, one of those warm, 
 sunny June days that make the whole world look gay 
 and the future promising. Add to this the ferry boats 
 full of cheering holiday crowds, the fresh green of the 
 water and the trim harbor islands rising up to meet a 
 perfect sky, then you will understand that none of us 
 waved the Statue of Liberty good-bye without fully 
 expecting to see it again. As before the ship anchored 
 off Sandy Hook, so that in the evening we had ample 
 opportunity to see in the distance the sparkle and glitter 
 of the harbor resorts. None of us were anxious to go 
 below, for, as ill-luck would have it, we had been 
 assigned to the third deck down, the memorable section 
 4-D, where the surroundings were anything but attrac- 
 tive. Who is there among us that does not recall the 
 narrow aisles, the inadequate lighting, the triple bunks, 
 the bad odors, the endless mess line, the lack of matches, 
 the salt water for washing, the countless guards, and 
 the never-to-be-forgotten "You can't stand here, you 
 can't stay there !" Life on an army transport is cer- 
 tainly not all that could be desired, and every one of us 
 was quite contented if, with a book and a greasy mess-kit 
 we could find some out-of-the-way corner to sit down and 
 keep quiet. Unfortunately, such spots were rarer than 
 hens' teeth, and wherever one went one seemed to be 
 in the way. Oh, there were plenty of inconveniences and 
 discomforts, all right, even if one omits speaking of 
 those life-boat drills that came just when they were most 
 annoying. Sometimes even now when my bones ache 
 I think that the ailment must date from those bargain- 
 counter rushes for the rafts. 
 
 But the trip had its redeeming features, too. For 
 many of the western boys the ocean was a new element. 
 
30 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 and they benefitted from the influence of the keen salt 
 air, the endless expanse of restlessly rolling blue water, 
 the splendid sky. Perhaps the most impressive experi- 
 ence of all, however, was the sight of that tremendous 
 convoy plowing its way ever on and on, carrying some 
 90,000 troops more for the Kaiser to reckon with. The 
 weather was clear and pleasant throughout the entire 
 voyage, especially so on the 4th of July, when, at 
 twelve o'clock noon the Stars and Stripes ran up to every 
 masthead while the leading cruiser thundered forth its 
 salute and the bands played. I was never so filled with 
 pride as when I watched all those ships nosing up the 
 spray and churning their way to the land whither duty 
 and the call of adventure summoned us. 
 
 We did not encounter any submarines, though on one 
 rather rough day the cruiser belched forth a few times 
 at some suspicious object, probably a whale. More- 
 over, the trip was growing tedious as the tenth day 
 passed. The considerable variations in the temperature 
 make it reasonable to suppose that we crossed the ocean 
 in zig-zag fashion, going north possibly as far as the 
 latitude of Iceland, and south to that of the Azores. 
 We had no way of knowing how much longer this 
 procedure would continue. Still signs of the approach- 
 ing end gradually multiplied ; there were life-boat drills 
 at 2 :00 and 3 :00 A. M. that lasted till daylight, and more 
 destroyers finally arrived, making possible a regular 
 patrol around the convoy. After that we all began look- 
 ing for land, for some time, however, in vain. It was 
 not until the late afternoon of a cool drizzly day, Friday, 
 July 12th, that we first sighted land in the shape of some 
 rock-bound islands. These gradually increased in size 
 and number, until at last we found ourselves steaming 
 into a rather narrow, river-like bay, the shores, bleak 
 and rocky, reminding one irresistibly of the old New 
 England coast. 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 31 
 
 So this was France, and in those few dimly-lit cot- 
 tages they spoke French, and that large captive balloon 
 was for military purposes ! For the first time we realized 
 the proximity of war, and for the first time our chances 
 of getting to the front seemed good. We went to bed 
 late that night, but few of us slept. Some were worried 
 about rumors of having to stay on board for a week 
 to do stevedore work, others were too excited about being 
 in France to care about anything else. The next morn- 
 ing dawned fair and warm and for once, though it was 
 the 13th, luck was with us. In the early hours we were 
 taken off the ship and ferried to the wharf in a lighter. 
 From the moment we landed we realized that it was a 
 country quite different from our own on which we had 
 set foot. At first sight everything seemed antiquated ; 
 there were those little old locomotives that, with the 
 date 1840 or 1850, we remembered having seen in school 
 books ; there were the narrow, crooked streets lined with 
 quaint, uncomfortable-looking stone houses ; there were 
 the wooden-shod inhabitants that spoke a language 
 strange even to those of us who thought they knew a bit 
 of French. 
 
 The question as to where we were going was soon 
 solved, when, after a hike of some miles, we found 
 ourselves marching into a prison-like enclosure sur- 
 rounded by a twenty-foot stone wall. Within we dis- 
 covered a number of low, long buildings, in one of 
 which we were soon lodged, some in very frail and 
 uncomfortable bunks, some on the floor. It was a 
 new experience and everyone took it with a smile, even 
 that ice-cold shower bath under a pipe from which 
 the water came drop by drop. The place seemed ex- 
 ceedingly old, so that we were not surprised to find 
 out that these Pontanezan Barracks had been already 
 old at the time when Napoleon I, over a hundred years 
 ago, was training troops for the invasion of Britain. 
 
32 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 Our stay in Brest was short, and while we were 
 there time passed rather pleasantly in the Y. M. C. A. 
 or at the canteens, where we had our first opportunity 
 to play with French money and to pay the exorbitant 
 charges that are prevalent in France. The weather had 
 turned cold and rainy again ; in fact it was ideal for 
 the movements of the 30th Engineers. Consequently 
 we started out on Monday, the 15th, and marched back 
 to the docks, where we entrained. All of us were 
 anxious to get into those "dinky" little coupes. No 
 one had any faith in them, and our mistrust was not 
 decreased when, on a slight grade, one of the couplings 
 broke. The rear end of the train, which began to return 
 to Brest, threatened to collide with some other cars, 
 so we all jumped off, landing unharmed, though in 
 ludicrous postures. We were soon again under way, 
 however, trying to get settled comfortably in the narrow 
 little compartments, which were made to hold eight 
 men, eight packs, and ample rations of the kind we now 
 know so well, corned beef or "Willy," tomatoes and 
 bread. 
 
 At first we were delighted with the trip, for the 
 scenery was wonderful. We found France a veritable 
 garden land. The rock-bound coasts, the sandy beaches, 
 and later the soft hills, the clear-cut fields of waving 
 wheat or the trim vegetable patches, the groups of red- 
 tiled stone houses, the canals and the white roads, both 
 lined with fabulous lines of splendid trees, all these are 
 memories inerradicably impressed on our minds. Re- 
 markable as it may seem, all the days of our trip were 
 characterized by fair weather, so that we got the maxi- 
 mum of enjoyment from the four-day ride that took us 
 from Brest via Rennes, Laval, Le Mans, Chartres, Sens, 
 and Troyes to Chaumont. Not infrequently we stopped 
 for some time in the larger places, so that we had a 
 chance to see, at a distance to be sure, such notable 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 33 
 
 sights as, for instance, the famous cathedral at Chartres. 
 But the tediousness of the riding and the lack of sleep 
 combined with the startling news from the Chateau 
 Thierry front, where the Boche was preparing his 
 thrust toward Epernay, made us impatient to reach our 
 destination. 
 
 It was early on the morning of the 18th (the day 
 on which the Americans successfully counter-attacked at 
 Chateau Thierry) that we pulled into Chaumont, and 
 that, once again in a drizzling rain, we set out to cover 
 the five miles up hill and down, past the experimental 
 field, to La Ville aux Bois. Everyone was stiff and 
 cramped from the long railroad ride, so that the way 
 seemed particularly long. But even so, I believe not a 
 few of us were struck by the remarkable beauty of the 
 landscape, for the surroundings of Chaumont, with its 
 wooded hills, green meadows, and the winding Marne 
 Canal are eminently picturesque. Moreover, we soon 
 regained our spirits when the kitchen of "Q" Company 
 had feasted us with hot cakes and coffee. Tired as we 
 were, it did not take long for us to make ourselves 
 comfortable in the barns and hay-lofts which, during 
 the period of our training, were to be our homes. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 TRAINING 
 
 Excepting for the fortunate few who found diver- 
 sion in the occasional society of some fair French 
 demoiselle the period of our training was rather a dis- 
 tasteful one. We had come to France practically ig- 
 norant of the nature of our work and were quite anxious 
 to do something besides infantry drill. Our desires 
 were at first fulfilled, at least after a fashion, for it was 
 not long before we were at the experimental field digging 
 trenches. Some of us had taken part in this great outdoor 
 sport in the States, and had found it not particularly to 
 our liking. But there we had dug in earth, here we were 
 required to chisel in solid stone, and we found it decidedly 
 not to our liking. Still, someone wanted the trenches to 
 blow up, and so they were finally finished. Then, by way 
 of offering us something new to occupy our attention, 
 a complete schedule appeared, announcing a succession 
 of close-order drills. We entered upon these with all 
 the enthusiasm that could have been expected, and felt 
 more than relieved when, towards the end of July, 
 new arrangements came into effect. 
 
 From that time on we were kept busy, too busy, in 
 fact, for comfort. The work consisted of drill in vari- 
 ous branches of our service, ranging all the way from 
 thorough gas-mask training to practice in projector, 
 trench-mortar and even cylinder methods. The com- 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 35 
 
 pany, divided into four platoons, spent most of the 
 time on the projectors, with which the first four com- 
 panies had made their reputation. Only one platoon 
 specialized in Stokes Mortar work, the possibilities of 
 which were only at that time being revealed by the 
 companies then in action on the rapidly moving front 
 between Soissons and Rheims. Up to that time the 
 American front had been practically stationary, and it 
 was, of course, impossible to predict how long it would 
 remain so. At any rate, it is to be regretted that more 
 time was not spent on the Stokes, since that was to 
 be our weapon par excellence on the line. None of us, 
 however, were in any way harmed by the work of the 
 strenuous hot days in August during which we dug 
 projector batteries into the rocky soil, nor shall we 
 forget those evenings when the call for assembly took 
 us away from a letter home or interrupted a show in 
 the Y. M. C. A. tent. It wouldn't have been so bad, 
 we decided, if only it were the real thing. And that was 
 really what made the work so irksome. In the States 
 we were burning to get to France, in the S. O. S. we 
 were even more eager to get to the front. How could 
 it be otherwise? The dispatch riders and truck drivers 
 came back with the most thrilling stories and most de- 
 sirable souvenirs, while the newspapers brought daily 
 reports of the wonderful exploits of our countrymen 
 at Chateau Thierry. Under such conditions it was un- 
 seemly, we felt, to be spending time on the imitation 
 thing, or to be strolling on the streets of Chaumont. We 
 felt worse than rookies in the presence of the seasoned 
 officers who were our instructors, and were more than 
 anxious to see real action. 
 
 Meanwhile living conditions were almost better than 
 could have been expected under the circumstances. We 
 had guard duty frequently enough to keep us interested, 
 and since the weather was hot throughout August, an 
 
36 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 occasional swim in the Marne Canal or a pass to 
 Chaumont was quite acceptable. In what few spare 
 moments were left the more assiduous and conscientious 
 wrote letters or inflicted their few words of broken 
 French on the innocent inhabitants. Many of the boys 
 showed themselves very adept in acquiring the "lingo" 
 and before long they were able to say "oui," "bonjour," 
 "beaucoup," "pas bon," "comment ga va?" "fini," "parti," 
 "toute de suite," "vin rouge," "cognac," etc., though it 
 must be admitted that these words and phrases were 
 rarely pronounced either as they are spelled or as the 
 rules of French Phonetics specify. They served their 
 purpose, however, and caused great satisfaction and 
 gratification to those who mastered them. 
 
 It was about the last week in August when the 
 prospects of going to the front finally improved. The 
 sergeants had been receiving interesting talks on such 
 subject as billeting men and constructing gas-proof cur- 
 tains on dugouts, and though in action they never had 
 an opportunity to make use of the information imparted, 
 the lectures at least served to raise our hopes of an 
 early departure. Then, one bright, hot morning we were 
 ordered to pack up and move. Everyone was excited 
 and things went helter-skelter until we were finally 
 lined up, equipped with heavy packs, gas-masks and 
 steel helmets, in short, with enough paraphernalia to 
 take us clear to Berlin. Proudlly we marched away, 
 midst cheers and "bonne chance" of the inhabitants. 
 Everything was "jake" till we reached the incinerator 
 on the outskirts of the town. There we were led across 
 a few open fields, and soon found ourselves once more 
 in front of our billets in La Ville aux Bois. The practice 
 departure had been a huge success ! 
 
 We were not obliged to wait long, however, for the 
 real departure. After a review of the battalion by 
 Brigadier General Fries, held at the experimental field. 
 
< G 
 
 5 s 
 
 u 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 37 
 
 the last preparations were completed, and in the small 
 hours of the morning of August 29th we left our training 
 camp to entrain in Chaumont. As is usual on such 
 occasions it took quite a while to arrange the details of 
 transportation. At last, however, we were packed, not 
 into passenger coaches this time, but into the famous 
 French box-cars with the significant inscription "40 
 Hommes, 8 Chevaux." No one has ever decided whether 
 this meant that the car was to accommodate forty men 
 or eight horses, or forty men and eight horses. Suffice 
 it to say that, with thirty-five men in a car, we were 
 gasping for air like fishes out of water. But what did 
 it matter, weren't we going to the front? 
 
 It was not quite a hundred kilometers from Chaumont 
 to the town of Lagney, which was to be our destination, 
 but what with the innumerable long stops, the inefficient 
 switch system and the indirect route I think it is any- 
 thing but surprising that it took us until night to make 
 the trip. Our route took us through Neufchateau and 
 Vaucouleurs. It was just north of this latter place 
 that, while side-tracked at Pagny, we saw our first air 
 battle, and I think as we watched the shrapnel burst 
 high in the air, soft and white, like bits of cotton batting, 
 many of us realized that the actual front would prove 
 quite different from what even the most detailed descrip- 
 tions had been leading us to suppose. 
 
 As we left the train at Lagney Woods it was pitch 
 dark, — inky dark — as it seems nights can be only at 
 the front. We were taken to some old French barracks 
 in the woods, and it was not long before we had made 
 the acquaintance of the French double bunks, mere 
 wooden frames strung with wire. Before morning we 
 had all decided that while they might be good for some- 
 thing, they were certainly "pas bon" for sleeping. Every 
 time that one man moved, the entire tier would feel the 
 far-reaching effects, and besides, do you remember the 
 
38 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 checker-board it left on your back? Or were you the 
 last on to get your bed-sack filled when that straw 
 finally arrived? 
 
 But these were minor details. The camp was really 
 a beautiful place. Our chief objection lay in the fact that 
 while it was technically in the Zone of Action it really 
 was only half way between the S. O. S. and the real 
 thing. What was the use of digging reserve trenches 
 when none of us believed for a minute that Fritz could 
 ever drive us back to where it would become necessary 
 to make use of them? From Lagney we could often see 
 the anti-aircraft guns puttering at some bold fish-tail, 
 and at night, after learning to appreciate the significance 
 of the phrase "Get those damned lights out !" we some- 
 times heard an enemy plane above us. Bombing, like 
 shell-fire, has always seemed a bit unfair to me. Some- 
 how it makes one feel so helpless, there is no chance of 
 reprisal for the individual man. The advantage is all 
 with the shell, and you have no "come back." 
 
 Meanwhile the officers and some of the more for- 
 tunate "non-coms" were going "up to the line" almost 
 every night, and, returning in the morning, they brought 
 stories of shell-fire and "close shaves" that made our 
 hearts beat faster, thus incapacitating us somewhat for 
 the very interesting and thrilling British Stokes Mortar 
 Drill as taught by Captain McNamee of the Royal 
 Engineers, who was acting as an instructor. Later on a 
 detail was sent forward to establish a dump, and we all 
 envied them their oportunity. Still a little while and 
 the entire second platoon left for parts unknown. We 
 realized then that the big push, which was being ru- 
 mored around, would take place soon if it was to take 
 place at all. Down by the railroad one could see long 
 lines of cars with batteries of artillery passing and each 
 morning the road running north was lined here and 
 there with overturned trucks or broken telegraph poles. 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 39 
 
 evidences of the tremendous truck trains that passed 
 each night. Before long we, too, began to pack up, 
 conscientiously rolling a regulation pack and anxiously- 
 filling our belts with all the ammunition we could lay 
 hands on. We turned in on the night of September 8th, 
 happy in the anticipation that the following day was 
 "der Tag." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE FIGHT IN THE ST. MIHIEL SALIENT 
 
 When we awoke on the morning of September 9th 
 and found that it was dreary and drizzHng we knew for 
 certain that that was our last day at Lagney. We spent 
 the dayhght hours in cleaning up and in trying to burn 
 a large heap of wet straw without causing any smoke. 
 When it grew dark we lined up and finally got under way 
 on our forced march. As I think back on that awful 
 night, I find myself quite at a loss for words to describe 
 it. Our destination was the town of Limey, some 20 
 kilometers away. By the road we followed, through 
 Menil-la-Tour, Royaumeix, Manonville and St. Jean, 
 it was considerably longer, however. And it seemed 
 still longer to us as we trudged on through the rain and 
 the unspeakable mud, slipping and stumbling on a strange 
 road in the inky blackness of the night. We had not gone 
 more than a third of the way when we came up with one 
 of those endless artillery trains that serve more than 
 anything else to clog up the roads and delay traffic. With 
 their weary horses and pack wagons the numerous bat- 
 teries pretty nearly monopolized the narrow passage so 
 that we were compelled to tramp most of those weary 
 miles on the edge of the ditch. When finally we did lose 
 the train we were so weary that, no matter how brief 
 the stop, most of us would sink down in the mud and 
 doze off. 
 
42 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 Day had already dawned when we drew near our goal. 
 Beyond St. Jean the company had separated, one section 
 going with Lieut. Paine to a position in the vicinity of the 
 Pont de Metz, the other continuing towards Limey. The 
 end of the journey was almost entirely uphill, and we 
 practically stumbled into the town when finally we did 
 reach it. For most of us it was the first time we had 
 seen a ruined village, and Limey was certainly ruined. 
 For four years it had been under shell-fire, and only since 
 August had it been in the hands of the Allies. Many of 
 the ruins were already overgrown with grass and shrub- 
 bery. Others were quite recent. None of the buildings 
 were untouched. Most of them were nothing but frag- 
 ments of bleak walls. The church was still standing, 
 though it, too, was badly battered. Altogether it was a 
 scene of desolation if ever there was one. 
 
 But most of us had no eyes for such things when we 
 first arrived. All we remember is that it was very still 
 and that the day was one of those colorless, lifeless ones, 
 — quite appropriate for the surroundings. We crept into 
 an old cellar that had been fitted up with wire bunks, 
 and slept, slept, slept, in spite of our drenched clothing 
 and the rotten air of the surroundings. Unfortunately 
 our dugout was in a direct line of fire between the enemy 
 and the church and we discovered that night and during 
 the succeeding days that it was no easy matter to unload 
 rations or packs without attracting attention and drawing 
 the fire of the enemy. Any number of the boys can tell 
 of those first experiences when shells struck in dangerous 
 proximity. On the whole, those first few days on the 
 line were far from pleasant — anything but encouraging. 
 The cold, damp dugout, the meals of bully beef and beans, 
 the slimy mud and the unceasing rain not only made it 
 disagreeable living, but made it particularly hard to do 
 work properly. 
 
 On the afternoon of the 10th I accompanied Lieut. 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 43 
 
 Robinson on a trip through the trenches in search of a 
 position. It was in that same vicinity that Lieut. 
 Richardson had been struck in the face by a shell frag- 
 ment a few days before. Although the wound at first 
 had not appeared serious, complications set in and kept 
 him in the hospital until about October 20. There was no 
 one in the company who did not feel keenly the loss of 
 his leadership and friendship. 
 
 The trenches were a hopeless labyrinth, full of mud 
 and water, and, as I found to my surprise, practically 
 empty. The 90th Division was holding the line at that 
 time and had, during the few weeks preceding, made 
 an excellent record in turning back raids and taking 
 prisoners. We spent several hours splashing our way 
 about, so that it was quite dark when we got back. The 
 Boche kept up a desultory artillery fire which we soon 
 learned to ignore. Only it seemed too bad that our guns 
 never replied. We could easily see them, — countless 
 batteries of them — apparently in position and yet silent 
 as a group of sphinxes. 
 
 The attack was to take place on the night of the 11th 
 to the 12th. It was still raining and no one was enthusi- 
 astic about going out. We started about 8:00 P. M., the 
 gun teams going ahead with the Stokes. It had been 
 planned to put in at least one battery of projectors, too, 
 but this arrangement was not carried out, because the 
 zero hour had been made earlier than was expected. 
 How we should ever have succeeded in carrying heavy 
 projectors through those narrow, muddy trenches I do 
 not know. As it was we set out with rifles and belts, 
 gas masks, light packs and no less than four bombs 
 apiece, a weight of about 105 pounds. 
 
 The night was terribly dark and the trenches in the 
 worst possible condition. It would be useless for me to 
 attempt a description of the hours of that night, as we 
 trudged and crawled through that mud and water. 
 
44 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 There was not much activity in the trenches, certainly 
 not enough to give reason to suppose that a large scale 
 attack was about to start. The enemy, to be sure, kept 
 up his Verey lights and fired at intervals. Still, most of 
 us were quite startled and surprised when, about 1 :30 
 in the morning, the sky lit up behind us and the 
 American barrage began. It was a terrific concentra- 
 tion of artillery and sounded fine — we had been waiting 
 for it so eagerly. Soon it reached the intensity of drum 
 fire and the German retaliatory fire gradually diminished 
 till it finally ceased. We continued our journey under 
 the swishing and whine of flying shells and the thunder 
 of an unbroken series of detonations. It is difficult 
 to express in words the sound of a heavy barrage, but 
 it has always for me had an analogy to what one hears 
 beneath a wooden bridge when a heavy vehicle passes 
 overhead. The low grumbling of the echoes, punctuated 
 by the loud reports of new shots and the sudden flashes 
 that set off the landscape in a wierd light, all this makes 
 a unique impression on the human mind. 
 
 After depositing our loads at the position we started 
 back for another, though few of us had any faith in 
 our ability to survive another trip. And going back 
 was quite a different proposition than going, for, as if 
 by magic, the trenches had filled with men, most of 
 them Marines (5th Regiment) and troops of the 9th 
 Infantry (2nd Division) who were to go over the top 
 with the first wave. Those rows of cold, shivering men, 
 equipped with grenades and with bayonets fixed, crouch- 
 ing in the mud of the trenches and waiting for the crucial 
 moment, is another sight we shall never forget. It was 
 hard to have to crawl over them, but we had to do it. 
 Only after considerable trouble did we finally regain our 
 dugouts in the town. It was then near four o'clock, — the 
 zero hour for our guns was five, and for the doughboys 
 5 :30. We were just about to start back for the trenches 
 
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 11 
 
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WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 45 
 
 when the Boche suddenly opened up with a concentrated 
 bombardment of the town. Everywhere the shells were 
 bursting. For a moment we were undecided, but then 
 we set out on a run, for we soon realized that duty 
 called no matter what the circumstances. We reached 
 the trenches without mishap. The first wave was just 
 about to go over, and our machine guns had just opened 
 a rolling barrage to precede it. For green men it was a 
 novel experience — this stuttering breathless chatter of 
 the machine guns just behind one. The trenches were 
 in places so congested that to get through would have 
 been impossible had we not struck on a rather clever 
 idea. "Heads up, men, high explosives, watch these 
 sacks" ;— shouting words to that effect worked like magic 
 and we secured an easy passage. But we lost our way ; 
 Lieut. Robinson had stayed at the position and in the 
 confusion we went wrong. The infantry went over and 
 we watched the lines follow each other through the 
 fields of barbed wire, over the German trenches and 
 into the woods where the enemy had his artillery. 
 Having seen some of our thermite bursting just before 
 dawn we realized that our second load would be too late 
 anyway, so after trying to find the right trench by going 
 over the top we gave up and waited for developments. 
 
 We were so tired that it was quite agreeable to us 
 to rest out there, with the aeroplanes swooping low 
 over the advancing infantry and the hammering of the 
 machine guns. Wounded men were already coming 
 back, but so were the prisoners — not single or in small 
 groups, but in droves or herds, as you like. Most of 
 them were young and hale in appearance, though there 
 were a few older, war-worn men among them too. I 
 spoke to several of them and invariably they said they 
 were glad to have been captured. One even stated that 
 he was glad that the attack had been made, for he 
 believed it would bring the end nearer. Such being the 
 
46 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 spirit, it was not hard to understand why large numbers 
 of the captives were entrusted to two doughboys who, 
 with rifles slung, would march, one at the head, the 
 other at the tail of the column, with an expression of 
 endless self-satisfaction on their faces. 
 
 Meanwhile the boys on the gun-teams were working 
 hard. They had carried the heavy guns out to the 
 position and now had to set them up and prepare the 
 ammunition all in the pitchy darkness, the rain and the 
 mud. Two guns went into position with a farmhouse 
 for the target. It was our purpose to screen the infantry 
 as it advanced on the target in order to attack the machine 
 guns located there. Another two guns were installed some 
 three-quarters of a kilometer beyond, their purpose being 
 to throw a smoke screen before the infantry as it advanced 
 on Remenanville, a small hamlet just within the German 
 lines, which was totally destroyed. Our last two guns 
 were still further away from Limey. They were to 
 throw a flanking screen on the advancing troops. At 
 zero hour, 5 :00 A. M., our Stokes went into action, the 
 six together firing 100 rounds of smoke. The men at the 
 guns deserve great credit indeed for the splendid work 
 they did that night, when, under the most unfavorable 
 conditions, they not only carried their guns out and set 
 them up, but also prepared a large amount of ammuni- 
 tion which was hopelessly muddy and dirty. The in- 
 fantry advanced much more rapidly than had been 
 anticipated, so that it became inadvisable to shoot more 
 bombs. Nevertheless, with what we did shoot an excel- 
 lent screen was maintained in front of the 2nd and part 
 of the 5th Divisions. As soon as possible the guns 
 were dismantled and four, with 80 rounds each of smoke 
 and thermite started out to follow the infantry. On the 
 way Lieut. Robinson came upon the carrying party which 
 then joined the gun teams in getting the material up to 
 Remenauville. The infantry was so far ahead that it 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 47 
 
 was obviously useless to attempt to catch up with it 
 that day. Consequently we left our supplies under guard 
 and returned to Limey for some sleep — sleep made 
 doubly sweet by the consciousness of work well done. 
 The following- morning we set out for Thiaucourt, which 
 the infantry had reached the previous day. The streets 
 of Limey and the one road leading in our direction 
 were crowded with prisoners and our own men, — to say 
 nothing of the endless lines of artillery, trucks and 
 wagons that follow an advance. The train had stopped, 
 but the mud was frightful, making the roads almost 
 impassable at places. We enjoyed our trip more or less, 
 however, for the sight of the battlefield, covered with 
 barbed wire, torn by shell fire and strewn with discarded 
 equipments of all kinds, was a novel sight for most of 
 us. Moreover, there was an opportunity at last to get 
 souvenirs ! 
 
 The first section was less fortunate in its operations. 
 While the second section had gone to Limey, the first, 
 comprising about one-half the company and the com- 
 pany headquarters had taken up French dugouts in a 
 ravine north of the St. Dizier-Metz road near Fond des 
 Quatre Vaux, and about 1 kilometer behind our front 
 line. It was the purpose of Lieut. Paine to lay down 
 a smoke screen in front of our infantry as it advanced 
 on and beyond the town of Regnieville. With this end 
 in view four guns were installed in our front line 
 trenches, and ammunition was taken up. Besides smoke 
 bombs there was an ample supply of thermite which was 
 to be used against the enemy's machine guns in case 
 the wind proved unfavorable for smoke operations. 
 Everything was ready when, one hour before zero, or- 
 ders were received from infantry headquarters stating 
 that the plan of the tank attack had been changed and 
 that they would be within our line of fire. Consequently 
 it had become necessary for us to change our position. 
 
48 WITH "E" OP THE FIRST GAS 
 
 Every effort was made to install our guns in the new 
 location, but with the very limited time at our disposal it 
 is not remarkable that we did not succeed in completing 
 our work in time. So the first section at the very outset 
 had the discouraging experience of doing a great amount 
 of hard work without having the satisfaction of getting 
 results. Modern warfare is indeed at least 90 per cent, 
 hard labor. 
 
 After this unfortunate beginning the section was 
 assembled, and, with two guns and 30 rounds each of 
 smoke and thermite, proceeded to Thiaucourt, where it 
 joined the second section, which had reached the town 
 on the previous day. 
 
 Thiaucourt is a fairly large town that had been in 
 the enemy's hands for four years. What ruins there were 
 had been caused, I was told, not by the American bar- 
 rage but by our bombardment of the place during the 
 Seicheprey engagement in July. The Germans had 
 planned the deportation of the civilians, but the attack, 
 of which they had apparently got wind, came so quickly 
 that their arrangements proved impracticable. Conse- 
 quently they were still quite numerous when we arrived. 
 The Germans, they said, had taken to their heels at the 
 approach of the Yankees, and their terrific cries, 
 "Die Amerikaner kommen !" had echoed and re-echoed 
 through the streets. Certainly the great amount of 
 equipment and stores was ample proof of their hurried 
 departure. 
 
 We secured good lodging in vaulted cellars, and after 
 the kitchen had been set up we were well taken care of, 
 though the enemy occasionally gave cause for excitement 
 by his sporadic shell-fire. The civilians treated us 
 "royally" and we have them to thank not only for many 
 a bit of tasty food, but for many interesting stories and 
 anecdotes as well. Reconnaissances were made daily 
 while we were at Thiaucourt, but no suitable targets 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 49 
 
 were located. As it happened the advance came to a 
 standstill some kilometers above Thiaucourt and so it 
 vk^as impossible for us to continue as had been arranged. 
 
 On Sunday, September 15, therefore, we started back, 
 marching with heavy packs. The road was very hilly, 
 and after some 10 kilometers of up-hill and down we 
 were quite ready to stop for the night in the camp previ- 
 ously occupied by Section 1. Early the following morn- 
 ing — a wonderful autumn day — we started out again, 
 this time without packs. Our destination was Lagney 
 Woods, a good, long hike, even though conditions were 
 better than on our way up. Many of the men were 
 exhausted from the strenuous work of the preceding 
 week, and so our arrival on the old camp found most 
 of us on our last legs. We did not know how long we 
 were to stay and so were glad, after a good night's 
 rest, to take advantage of the opportunity, to bathe and 
 obtain a change of clothing at Menil-la-Tour. We had 
 found by experience that on the line nothing belongs to 
 anybody — it is common property in a way. A striking 
 example of this was the occasion on which we returned 
 to our dugout in Limey to find not only strange men 
 sleeping on our bunks, but to discover that most of our 
 belongings were gone. Consequently most of us were 
 quite destitute when we reached our base at Lagney. 
 
 We had to walk the 5 kilometers to Menil-la-Tour 
 and back. That would not have been so bad, had we 
 not been routed up out of our sleep at 4:00 A. M. the 
 following morning to take another long hike in heavy 
 marching order. This time our way took us to Rosieres- 
 en-Haye, a town some 16 miles distant in a northeasterly 
 direction. There, tired and worn out, we were met by 
 a convoy of French trucks which were to take us to our 
 next destination, the town of Les Islettes in the heart 
 of the Argonne, about half-way between Clermont and 
 Ste. Menehould on the Verdun to Paris highway. 
 
50 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 Measured on the map the distance to be covered is 
 about 85 kilometers. By the road we took, through 
 Toul, Void, Bar-le-Duc and Clermont it is probably 
 nearer 125. At any rate, it took us three days to com- 
 plete the trip, what with the quality of the French trucks 
 and the lack of ambition among their drivers. Those 
 of us who did not spend most of the time trying to sleep 
 saw some interesting sights, pre-eminent among them 
 the sombre and forbidding old fortress of Toul. These 
 were, however, very inadequate recompense for the dis- 
 comforts of the journey, and it was with a sigh of relief 
 that we got off at our new base. 
 
THE /JI?GONNE F0RE5T 
 
 The Argonne Forest 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE STRUGGLE IN THE ARGONNE 
 
 We found Les Islettes ("Lizzie's Slats," the boys 
 called it) a fairly large place quite full of troops. We 
 had an idea that we would stay there for some time and 
 so set to work energetically in making our rather poor 
 billets comfortable. The second platoon, which had left 
 Lagney several days before we went to Limey, rejoined 
 us. It was a happy reunion, and "swapping stories" 
 was the amusement of the hour. We learned that the 
 platoon had been attached to Company D, which had 
 operated from the vicinity of Rambluzin, northwest of 
 St. Mihiel. The boys had there received some instruc- 
 tion in Stokes Mortar work, and, assimilated with the 
 various sections of the sister company, had made an 
 excellent showing during the operation, the end of which 
 found them at St. Maurice. From what they told us 
 they had had a very interesting time, for St. Maurice 
 was a sort of resort and had been left well stored with 
 good things. The only event to mar the adventure was 
 the wounding of Dan Smith, who was struck in the 
 forehead by a shell fragment. The wound did not 
 prove very serious, so that he was with us again before 
 we had gone far on the following push. 
 
 Contrary to our expectations, our stay at Les Islettes 
 was to prove a short one. After enjoying the scenery 
 and the supplies of the French commissary to the best 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 53 
 
 of our ability and the condition of our purses, we set 
 out, once again in the rain, on the evening of the third 
 day, Sunday, the 22nd of September, and marched uphill 
 for some twelve kilometers to a French station, a series 
 of dugouts built into the side of a steep hill called "Le 
 Mont des Sept Fontaines." The second platoon, under 
 Lieut. Burr, had been detailed to operate with "C" Com- 
 pany, and left soon after our arrival at the new position. 
 The Third Platoon, forming the Second Section, had 
 taken positions on our left, near Le Four de Paris, from 
 which location they were to cover the line running 
 through the western half of the forest, while the first 
 section, comprising the First and Fourth Platoons under 
 Lieutenants Paine and Fleming, was to operate in the 
 eastern half. This was a convenient arrangement, for 
 it coincided with the plans of the larger units. Thus 
 the first section operated behind the 28th Division (and 
 later the 82nd) west to a north and south line running 
 through La Chalade, while the second section was to 
 support the 77th Division (later the 78th) in that por- 
 tion of the forest lying west of said line. 
 
 At this point it may not be inappropriate to say a 
 few words about the Argonne front by the way of 
 introduction to the most extensive of the American 
 operations in France. The forest itself is a stretch of 
 wild country some seventy kilometers long and about 
 fifteen wide, consisting of thickly wooded steep hills and 
 deep ravines or gullies, the whole being wonderfully 
 adapted to ambuscades and machine-gun work. In 
 September, 1914, the Germans, meeting with practically 
 no resistance, had swept through the entire forest clear 
 down to the outskirts of Bar-le-Duc. On account of the 
 unexpectedly strong resistance at Verdun and because 
 of the fateful battle of the Marne, it became necessary, 
 however, for them to withdraw again. Their retreat 
 stopped in the northern part of the forest, just south 
 
54 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 of Apremont. Later in the fall of 1914 they began their 
 advance once more, but instead of sweeping through 
 they met the most stubborn kind of resistance from 
 the French artillery and machine guns that had in the 
 meantime invested the underbrush and thickets. By 
 dint of hard fighting the enemy advanced very slowly 
 until, after terrific losses, the line had been halted on 
 the strong line. Hill 263 — La Harazee. There, on that 
 line (the so-called "Fille Morte" or "Dead Girl" line) 
 the opponents had been locked in a death grapple for 
 just about four years. So intense and continuous was 
 the fighting here that this line was mentioned on an 
 average in thirteen of the daily communiques each 
 month. Under these conditions it will not be hard to 
 understand that here the most desperate fighting and 
 the most diabolical methods had been the usual thing, 
 and that we were to start on a line of well constructed 
 and complete defenses. 
 
 For convenience of treatment and because of the 
 complexity of operations, I shall take up the work of 
 the company by sections. The first section spent the 
 three days in intervening between its arrival and the 
 opening of the attack in cleaning ammunition. At night 
 this ammunition, as well as the guns, would be carried 
 over the hill to the position, which was in a gap at the 
 foot of the famous Hill 263, our target. The attack 
 was to be a surprise and the line was to be held by the 
 French until the zero hour, so it was essential that 
 our operations should be quietly carried on. I remember 
 that it was no easy matter, but there in the moonlight, 
 to follow a French guide through the trenches, when 
 every twig brushing against a helmet and the noise of 
 every misplaced step sounded so loud that one would 
 think it was heard in Berlin. The French were holding 
 the line by a series of outposts, beyond which was 
 our emplacement. On one occasion at least the enemy 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 55 
 
 discovered our presence and followed us back with 
 artillery fire, the detonations of the bursting shells re- 
 verberating and re-echoing through the stillness of the 
 night. 
 
 The initial operation was to be a big one; six Stokes 
 mortars were installed. The target was Hill 263, which 
 it was planned to take by a flanking movement. To 
 make this possible we were to shoot phosgene and ther- 
 mite to weaken the resistance of the enemy and "skunk 
 gas" to make him wear his mask and interfere with his 
 work. Most important, however, was to be the smoke 
 cloud which we planned to lay down on the hill. Shel- 
 tered by this the infantry was to make its flank attack. 
 The zero hour was 5 :30, September 26th, and at that 
 time our guns began firing. The artillery had already 
 been laying down a barrage for some hours. Every- 
 thing proceeded according to schedule, excepting that, 
 by order from the First Corps Headquarters, no gas 
 was fired. The Infantry advanced and took the famous 
 old position without much difficulty. 
 
 On the afternoon of September 26th I was fortunate 
 enough to get an opportunity to visit the old line. For 
 a wide belt through the forest the land was desolate. 
 Trees, as well as the underbrush, had been shot away or 
 left in a charred condition. The entire area was covered 
 with fields of barbed wire and cut in all directions with 
 great trench systems or dugouts. But most striking 
 was the effect of the shell-fire and mine explosions, 
 which left the whole landscape torn and scarred. Some 
 of the mine craters were at least one hundred feet in 
 diameter and forty feet deep, enormous wounds where 
 the very bowels of the earth had been torn out. At a 
 loss to adequately describe the scene, a German writer, 
 in a volume published earlier in the war, asks his readers 
 to imagine the ocean at its roughest and then imagine 
 
56 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 it instantly changed into clay. Such is the "Fille Morte" 
 line. 
 
 On the evening of September 27th we followed the 
 infantry, travelling over the wretched roads with light 
 packs and carrying two bombs apiece. It was very dark 
 and quite late when we reached Varennes, the famous 
 town in which, some century and a quarter ago, Louis 
 XVI and his family were stopped and turned back as 
 they were attempting to flee the country during the 
 great revolution. There were very few troops in the place 
 when we arrived, and consequently we had our choice 
 of the dugouts. We chose those around the German 
 Headquarters and officers' apartments. The walk had 
 been a long one and we were tired, so tired that we 
 hardly minded carrying the bloody forms of four dead 
 Boche out and then sleeping in the damp bunks where 
 we had found them. Some of the men were called out 
 again before daylight and proceeded to Montblainville 
 in the expectation of shooting again, A show proved 
 impracticable, however, and the men returned later, 
 having lost Sergeant Tuttle, who was wounded in the 
 lower leg by a bit of shrapnel and had gone to the 
 hospital. He never returned to the company. 
 
 The section kept its dugouts in Varennes until Sep- 
 tember 30th, during which time the enemy shelled 
 sporadically and rather unsuccessfully. All along at 
 least one platoon was attempting to operate behind the 
 infantry, between Montblainville and Apremont. The 
 former town proved especially disastrous for us, because 
 of the frequent shell fire. Besides Sergeant Tuttle, 
 Privates Noel and Pruette were wounded there, to say 
 nothing of cases in which men very narrowly escaped 
 injury. It was in this town, too, that a shell killed 
 seven and wounded fifteen men who were standing in a 
 line outside the Y. M. C. A. 
 
 On Sunday, September 29th, the platoon that was 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 57 
 
 forward with Lieut. Fleming, succeeded in staging the 
 first of several shoots directed against large nests of 
 machine guns that were holding the thickly wooded 
 summit of "La Chene Tondu," an eminence west of 
 Apremont, called "Mudra Hohe" by the Germans. We 
 had to carry the ammunition all the way from Montblain- 
 ville, a distance of some two and a half miles and no 
 easy matter, considering that the enemy was shelling 
 the road almost incessantly. Our first shoot was from 
 a position half way up the hill, and that afternoon 
 we shot ten rounds of smoke and six of thermite. We 
 went back and brought up more ammunition, but ar- 
 rived too late to make use of it that day. It was im- 
 possible to determine the effect of the fire, since the 
 density of the vegetation made observation impossible. 
 Snipers were quite active in that vicinity, so we took 
 our guns to the foot of the hill and returned to Mont- 
 blainville for the night. 
 
 The machine guns on the heights proved much more 
 formidable than had been supposed they would be, and 
 the 111th Infantry was unable to take the position. 
 Consequently we went up again on Tuesday, October 
 1st, taking two guns and abundant ammunition. The 
 near edge of the plateau was held by our troops and it 
 was from there we were planning to shoot. We had a 
 terrible time carrying the heavy guns and ammunition 
 up the precipitous ascent, for it was inky dark. We 
 finally reached our destination, however, and slept a 
 few hours behind a low stucco building which was being 
 used as an advanced P. C. The infantry outposts were 
 just beyond, as were also some of our machine guns 
 that were trying to silence the enemy. On the following 
 morning we set up our guns and fired, at 10:00 A. M., 
 sixty-eight rounds of thermite and twenty-two of smoke. 
 The operation was not so successful as it might have 
 been, owing to some mistake in the information given 
 
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WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 59 
 
 us by the infantry. A slight advance by our troops 
 took place, however. 
 
 We immediately prepared to shoot again and carried 
 more bombs up the hill. Before long we had three guns 
 set up out beyond the P. C. and in a rather exposed 
 position. There was abundant ammunition also. But as 
 is usually the case, when you're ready, the others aren't. 
 A zero hour was fixed and then changed again and 
 again, until we finally despaired of shooting at all. More- 
 over the hill-top was a rather warm place to stay in, 
 for snipers by day and machine-gun duels by night 
 kept us on our toes both day and night. At last, on 
 October 5th, at 12:15 P. M., we started our bombard- 
 ment. It was a perfect operation, the smoke and 
 thermite acting exactly as was desired. The three guns 
 together fired ninety rounds of smoke and seventy-seven 
 of thermite, at least a third of the total under direct 
 machine-gun fire. Only the gun teams had stayed on 
 the top of the hill during the firing, the rest waiting at 
 the foot. We had the satisfaction of knowing that the 
 infantry went through for a gain. 
 
 The four days and nights on "La Chene Tondu" 
 had been racking. We had been sleeping in the open 
 and living on iron rations, while all the time the enemy's 
 fire had been wearing us down. On one occasion a shell 
 burst so close to a party of our men that no less than 
 six were wounded. Corporal Murray, Privates Wachter 
 and Taylor seriously and Engineer Palacki and Private 
 Rowlands slightly. The remainder of us were sorely 
 in need of rest, and so it was particularly fortunate for 
 us that the infantry soon made a rapid advance. We 
 had returned to Montblainville where we lived rather 
 wretchedly in some German shacks. Several batteries 
 of heavy guns just behind us kept us awake at night, 
 while in the daytime there was little to do but wade 
 
60 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 around in the slime and mud. Montblainville was a 
 distinctly disagreeable place in which to stay. 
 
 Our next "home" was decidedly better. On October 
 10th we marched up the further side of "La Chene 
 Tondu" to an extensive German camp called "Boriswald 
 Lager." It was a pleanant spot, with good shacks and 
 excellent dugouts. Moreover, there was a well built 
 spring, so that we had all that could be desired. The 
 second section of the company joined us there and for 
 a day or two we had a real reunion. Then, on October 
 11th, the first section, which had been operating with 
 the 28th Division, was ordered back to Varennes, to 
 which town the Division had been withdrawn after 
 being relieved by the 82nd. 
 
 Meanwhile this new division had established a line 
 running east and west just north of St. Juvin and Som- 
 merance. The section was attached and on October 13th 
 arrived in the vicinity of Fleville, where it was repeatedly 
 under heavy shell fire. Reconnaissances were continu- 
 ally made, but in accordance with Brigade orders, no 
 operation was to take place until the line had advanced 
 far enough to bring Imecourt within range of our guns. 
 It was while waiting for the infantry to make this ad- 
 vance that Lieut. Fleming was struck by a shell frag- 
 ment during a reconnaissance. The wound was in the 
 right side and consisted of a torn lung and other internal 
 injuries. He died the following day in a nearby hospital. 
 The loss of one of our most able and popular leaders was 
 a severe blow to the entire company, particularly to those 
 who had known him intimately. 
 
 Lieut. Le Veque took command of the section after 
 Lieut. Fleming's death and under his direction an opera- 
 tion was prepared. The location was a particularly 
 dangerous one, so that many had forebodings of disaster 
 as the ammunition was carried up the shell-swept hills 
 north of Sommerance. But the show was destined never 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 61 
 
 to take place. At the eleventh hour orders came in re- 
 calling the entire company, and it was on October 18th 
 that, after a long truck ride, the sections rejoined the 
 rest of the company in the town of La Grange aux Bois, 
 just east of Ste-Menehould, where we were to go into 
 rest billets. 
 
 While the first section was carrying out the opera- 
 tions described above, the second section, under Lieu- 
 tenants Robinson and Thompson were following the 
 infantry in the western half of the forest. This section 
 had left Les Islettes at 8:00 P. M. on September 23rd 
 and taken up a position in the 77th Division sector 
 just north of Four de Paris. There it was rejoined 
 on the 25th by the second platoon, which under Lieut. 
 Burr, had left Les Islettes at 7 :00 A. M. of the 24th and 
 had installed fifty projectors with T. N. T. in "C" 
 Company's position on the 35th Division sector, east 
 of the forest. These projectors were later shot by "C" 
 Company and proved very effective. During the little 
 expedition, which involved very hard and rapid work 
 for the men who took part, Pivate "Happy" Powers was 
 wounded by a bit of shrapnel which struck him near the 
 left temple. Though the wound seemed slight, its effects 
 proved quite serious, and it was some time before our 
 comrade was back with us. 
 
 The initial operation of the second section was di- 
 vided into two parts as follows : Under Lieut. Robinson 
 two mortars were installed near the Four de Paris, 
 which, by the way, was heavily bombarded on September 
 25th, giving rise to the supposition that the enemy sus- 
 pected offensive preparations on our part. At zero hour 
 (5 :30 A. M. on September 26th) both the mortars to- 
 gether fired sixty rounds of smoke and fifty of thermite 
 with a local salient as the target. The bombs were 
 sent over in the form of a rolling barrage, the range 
 being raised 100 yards at 5:40, an additional 150 yards 
 
62 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 at 5 :45, and then another 150 yards at 5 :50. The pur- 
 pose of the operation had been to screen the infantry 
 by a smoke curtain and to drive away enemy machine 
 gunners. Akhough the resistance offered at this point 
 was quite determined, the salient was successfully taken. 
 
 Meanwhile Lieut. Thompson had installed one mortar 
 at a position in front of our outpost line, with the 
 salient in front of the Tranchee de la Baltique as the 
 target. At the zero hour (5:30 A. M. on Sept. 26th) 
 this gun fired 20 rounds of thermite. The attacking 
 infantry (307th and 308th Regiments) encountered but 
 slight resistance, and it seems reasonable to assume 
 that the enemy had retreated from the salient during 
 the artillery barrage that preceded the attack. After 
 the operation the whole section was assembled and on 
 the 27th moved forward, with a mule team carrying 
 two guns and ammunition, to the support of the 308th 
 Infantry, which had advanced to the Tranchee Tirpitz. 
 
 At this time the 1st Battalion of the 306th Infantry 
 was planning an attack on a series of machine-gun nests 
 and dugouts near the St. Hubert Pavilion. The section 
 was called on to assist in the action, in conjunction with 
 the three-inch Stokes of the infantry and the supporting 
 artillery. With two guns thirty rounds of thermite 
 were shot between 5:00 and 5:15 P. M., while at the 
 same time, with thirty rounds of smoke, a sort of rolling 
 smoke screen was laid down. The infantry, however, 
 failed to attack. Consequently the shoot was of no 
 value, excepting insofar as it harassed the enemy. On 
 the following day, at 10:00 A. M., the two guns again 
 shot at the St. Hubert Pavilion, using thirty-seven 
 rounds of thermite. With this protection on the flank, 
 the infantry attacked east of the pavilion and took its 
 objective, meeting with no opposition from the point 
 at which our fire had been directed. 
 
 It was on the following day that our smallest opera- 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 63 
 
 tion was carried out. Its purpose was to silence a machine 
 gun in the Bois de la Grurie, which was annoying the 
 leading battalion of the 307th Infantry. At 4:15 P. M. 
 the team under Lieut. Robinson fired five rounds of 
 thermite. Two direct hits were obtained and no further 
 fire observed from that locality. 
 
 Following this shoot, on the 30th, Lieut. Robinson 
 made a reconnaissance, but did not succeed in locating 
 a target. The section, however, with six guns, moved 
 forward to La Haute Chevanchee, where Captain Day- 
 ton and Lieut. Thompson reconnoitered the 306th In- 
 fantry sector, again without success in finding a target. 
 Later on, however, under orders from the 307th Infantry, 
 Lieut. Robinson installed two guns and at 4:15 P. M. 
 fired thirty-five rounds of thermite at the dugouts on a 
 hill directly north of Depot des Machines (Machinery 
 Park), the purpose being to assist a wide flanking attack 
 by the infantry. This target could not be reached by the 
 artillery, and it may be worth remarking that while, 
 on September 29th and 30th, the infantry's three-inch 
 Stokes had not yet come up, our own four-inch guns 
 were in action. 
 
 On October 2nd, the section was again called on to 
 assist in silencing enemy machine guns that were holding 
 up the attack. On this occasion two guns were installed 
 in the Bois d'Apremont, and at 4:00 P. M. thirty rounds 
 of thermite were fired. The infantry failed to attack, 
 much to our chagrin, for the thermite bursts were par- 
 ticularly well timed and our work would certainly have 
 been of assistance had the projected attack been carried 
 out. 
 
 The next action, on October 4th, proved more suc- 
 cessful. Called upon by the 305th Infantry to silence 
 machine guns in their area, two guns were installed, and 
 at 5 :00 P. M. we bombarded the area with fifty-one 
 rounds of thermite. After the fifth shot the fire of the 
 
64 WITH "E" OF T^E FIRST GAS 
 
 enemy ceased, and was not resumed. On the following 
 morning, from a new position, two guns again went into 
 action, the purpose being to assist the attacking bat- 
 talion of the 305th Infantry in a flank assault on some 
 strong points. Our men shot ninety-six rounds of 
 thermite at 10:30 A. M. and had the satisfaction of 
 hearing the enemy's machine gun fire die away after 
 the first ten minutes of our bombardment. On this occa- 
 sion the Boche tried hard to locate us with his artillery, 
 but failed to do so. As for our infantry, it attempted to 
 advance but was repulsed. 
 
 Up to this time the operations had all been with 
 thermite and smoke, so that a projected gas shoot on 
 October 6th offered something in the way of variety. 
 During the night two guns were installed and at 1 :00 
 A. M. of October 7th we fired fifty rounds of phosgene. 
 The wind was favorable (five miles per hour and south- 
 southwest) so that our bombs, which at first drew 
 machine-gun retaliation, soon silenced all opposition 
 from the enemy. It was during the preparation for this 
 action that Private Hyett was struck in the foot by a 
 bit of shrapnel. He was sent to a hospital and did not 
 rejoin the company until the middle of December. 
 
 The following few days proved unfavorable for fur- 
 ther operations on our part. The infantry advanced 
 rapidly until October 10th. On the 9th two guns were 
 ready to shoot on machine guns in order to assist the 
 307th Infantry in a flank attack on Hill 198. It was 
 found, however, that the enemy had withdrawn and 
 that our operation would not be needed. On the 10th the 
 section moved to Boriswald Lager, where one part re- 
 mained with the first section until sent forward to 
 relieve the other part, which had established a dump 
 at La Besogne Ferme. From this date until the 17th, 
 when we went to La Grange aux Bois for rest, the 
 section was inactive. Daily reconnaissances were made, 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 65 
 
 but conditions were not favorable for operations. The 
 infantry was stopped in the gap where the Aire crosses 
 the forest from St. Juvin to Grandpre. Attacks were 
 repeatedly made, but the enemy, commanding the further 
 heights, kept up an incessant machine-gun and artillery 
 barrage in the gap. Not infrequently the fire reached 
 such an intensity that carrying parties going to and 
 from the new dump in Marcq or reconnoitering parties 
 in the vicinity of Chevieres and Grandpre would find 
 themselves in very precarious situations. The weather 
 continued rainy and disagreeable, causing deep mud- 
 sloughs and making it possible for the enemy to keep 
 the gap full of gas. All things combined made the 
 men weary and tired, so that it was with anything but 
 enthusiasm that we were told of a projected attack that 
 was to be staged in the open fields and directed against 
 the upper part of Grandpre, which was still in the hands 
 of the enemy. We were expecting to go out in the small 
 hours of the morning of the 18th, when, at about 9:00 
 P. M. of the 17th, the order arrived which took us out 
 of the line. It was an alacritous crowd that started early 
 the following morning on the return trip, and a happy 
 crowd that went to sleep in La Grange aux Bois that 
 night, with no shells and no gas to worry about. Just 
 before leaving La Besogne we lost Pvt. Patterson, who^ 
 in the vicinity of Fleville, on the 15th, was struck by 
 a shell fragment and sent to the hospital. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE DRIVE TOWARDS SEDAN 
 
 The nine days' rest at La Grange aux Bois was 
 surely needed by the entire Company, which had been 
 almost incessantly under fire since the 10th of Sep- 
 tember. We found the town a quiet, neat and on the 
 whole a very delightful place with good billets, good 
 wine, good bread and good cheese. On the second day 
 of our arrival we were taken to Raricourt in trucks and 
 there had an opportunity to take a bath and get new 
 clothes, while our retained belongings were being de- 
 loused by a dry steam process. We sha'n't so soon for- 
 get what a relief it was to be really clean once more. It 
 actually seemed too good to be true. But it was not for 
 long that we were to be permitted to strut about the 
 streets or keep the chairs warm in the cafes. A 
 schedule was very soon published, and before long we 
 found ourselves out at bayonet drill. What was even 
 worse, however, was the Stokes Mortar drill. Each 
 morning we took the guns out for exercise and set them 
 up with the meticulous care of the drill regulations, 
 after which we affectionately carried them back again. 
 Still, time passed quickly and uneventfully, excepting 
 for one air raid by moonlight and the adventure of a 
 few of our men, who, innocently sightseeing in Ste. 
 Menehould, were picked up by an M. P., and later fined 
 for being in a forbidden area. The rest period is also 
 
68 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 memorable for the return to the Company of Lieut. 
 Richardson, who had been in the hospital since being 
 wounded before the St. Mihiel operation. The appear- 
 ance of his familiar face was welcomed by all of us. 
 
 We left La Grange aux Bois quite unexpectedly on 
 the morning of Sunday, October 27th, and travelled in 
 trucks almost all day till we reached the town of Cor- 
 nay, just west of Fleville and in the same locality from 
 which the first section had been withdrawn nine days 
 previous. We found lodgings in very inferior buildings, 
 most of the place being in ruins or being already occu- 
 pied by other troops. On inquiry we learned that the 
 line had not moved since we had been there last, and 
 that the Germans were holding a rather strong defense 
 line called the "Freya Stellung." It was obvious from 
 the very considerable aircraft activity and the great 
 concentration of artillery round about that a concerted 
 attack was to be made at an early date. That our part 
 in it was to be of quite considerable proportions we 
 soon discovered, when, after reconnaissance north of 
 Sommerance, forward dumps were established along 
 the National Highway from Fleville to St. Juvin. It was 
 on one of these reconnaissances that Lieut. Richardson, 
 who had just returned from the hospital, was again 
 struck by a shell fragment, the wound, curiously enough, 
 being in practically the same place as the first one. On 
 the same occasion Sergeant Casey was wounded in the 
 arm and leg. Lieut. Richardson rejoined the Company 
 late in December. 
 
 During the first half of the week following our re- 
 turn to the line we spent the nights in carrying guns 
 and ammunition to the position. It was planned to dig 
 in sixty projectors (40 for C. G. gas and 20 for T. N. T.) 
 as well as to operate six Stokes guns, the latter to shoot 
 gas as well as thermite and smoke. At this particular 
 time the enemy line ran east and west parallel to and 
 
o 
 
 u — 
 
 fc 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 69 
 
 not very far north of the road from St. Juvin to the 
 town of St. Georges. As it approached this last place 
 it made a dip southward to include the town. The gun 
 positions were all in the vicinity of this bend, perhaps two 
 and one-half kilometers east of St. Juvin and one kilo- 
 meter west of St. Georges. The projectors, which, like 
 all our material, had to be carried several kilometers 
 along the road or over the shell-torn open hills, were 
 planted in a patch of bushes that ran from the road to 
 within two hundred to three hundred yards of the enemy 
 lines. The work was fraught with danger and difficulty, 
 because of the fact that the enemy suspected an attack 
 and kept his Very lights up, at the same time harassing 
 our operations with machine guns and artillery fire. We 
 were on the outpost line, the first concentrated line of 
 infantry being along the road in the vicinity of St. Juvin, 
 where the men had dug themselves into the bank along 
 the road. As for the Stokes, they were to be operated 
 in two batteries of three each, one of the three to be 
 located in a reinforced shell crater some fifty yards from 
 the road and fifty yards west of the bushes. The other 
 battery was also located in a reinforced crater, some 
 hundred yards beyond the bushes toward St. Georges 
 and perhaps another hundred yards off the road in a 
 southerly direction. 
 
 Those were anxious nights, the ones in which we 
 covered the road from St. Juvin to the position, carrying 
 heavy projectors, mortars or bombs. The awful quiet that 
 usually prevailed, the enemy's lights, and the difficulty of 
 the work was enough to keep us on our toes at all 
 times. It was on these trips that we first made use 
 of two small, rubber-tired hand-carts. They saved us 
 considerable work, but were very dangerous because of 
 the occasional squeaking of the wheels. All told it was 
 very likely the hardest work we did on the front, carry- 
 ing those large stores of material over kilometers of 
 
70 iVITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 up-hill into the very face of the enemy, and they were 
 weary feet, indeed, that, sometimes at 2 :00 or 3 :00 
 A. M., started on the long 10 kilometer hike back to 
 Cornay. 
 
 At last the night for the attack came — October 31. 
 The Stokes were dug in that same night, and the sandbag 
 reinforcements in the shell-holes were completed. We 
 went up that night somewhat anxious and uncertain. 
 Among other things we had twenty-five new men with us, 
 who had just arrived from "Q" company and most of 
 whom were new to fire. And several of us, I think, had a 
 presentiment of an awful ordeal to come. The enemy's 
 continued shell-fire convinced us again and again that 
 we were bucking a consolidated line of resistance. 
 
 Our zero hour was to be 3 :30 A. M., and ours was to 
 be the honor of opening the attack in that particular 
 sector, for the artillery barrage was not to start until 
 3 :37 and the first wave of the Infantry was to go over 
 at 5 :30. By midnight all preparations were completed. 
 Only the men who were actually to operate the guns 
 were kept on the positions. Besides these, there were two 
 parties of twenty men, each with a sergeant in charge, 
 which were held in reserve some 200 yards west of the 
 positions. They were to act as carrying parties in case 
 it should be necessary to follow the infantry immediately. 
 The operation opened promptly at 3 :30 with the explo- 
 sion of a battery of projectors with H. E. and another 
 battery with C G. gas. Shortly after the Stokes opened 
 fire, while at 3:37 the artillery behind us began laying 
 down a terrific barrage on the enemy's lines and the 
 back areas. But the attack was not to prove a one-sided 
 afifair. Our Stokes had fired only 41 gas and 24 thermite 
 bombs when the hostile machine-guns, which had located 
 our emplacements, covered the entire position with such 
 an intense fire that further operation of the guns was not 
 to be thought of. Moreover, the enemy's artillery replied 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 71 
 
 to our own almost immediately, bombarding in a sys- 
 tematic fashion the entire ridge and particularly the 
 road. The shells literally rained about, high explosives 
 varying with gas and occasionally shrapnel. How shall 
 I adequately describe our experiences during those five 
 horrible hours, as we lay in shell holes or on the road — 
 those dreadful, endless hours of paralyzing uncertainty 
 and suspense, during which machine guns united with 
 shell-fire and. gas to make death seem ever so much 
 closer than life. For a time it seemed likely that the 
 enemy's infantry would attack before our own, and so 
 we lay there, huddled together, nerves tense, weapons 
 ready, determined, if the occasion should arrive, to sell 
 our lives as dearly as possible, for I hardly believe there 
 was one of us who expected to get away alive. 
 
 It would be useless to tell in detail of all the narrow 
 escapes, of all the minor happenings of those hours, but 
 it does seem to me that at least one act of heroism de- 
 serves special mention. As I said before, the enemy 
 was throwing over considerable gas. Still there was a 
 fairly good breeze, and in most cases it dissipated quite 
 rapidly. It was with some surprise, therefore, that the 
 men became aware of an ever-increasing odor of phos- 
 gene. This in itself was strange, for the enemy was 
 shooting almost exclusively sneezing gas. On investiga- 
 tion it turned out that a fragment of one of the numerous 
 shells that struck close by had torn open one of our 
 own phosgene bombs, and that the gas was rapidly 
 escaping in our very midst, causing a terrifific concentra- 
 tion. It was then that, without a moment's hesitation, 
 the sergeant, not stopping to put on his mask, seized the 
 broken bomb and carried it out of the hole, where, under 
 the most intense fire of the enemy, he buried it and re- 
 turned, safe in spite of all. 
 
 With the reserve parties, meanwhile, things, to say 
 the least, were no better. To keep out the chill night 
 
72 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 winds the men had spread their shelter-halves over the 
 fox holes which had been dug into the side of the bank, 
 when the enemy's barrage opened it was directed par- 
 ticularly at this spot, where he believed the infantry 
 was lying in readiness to go over. It was not surpris- 
 ing, then, that the entire vicinity was thoroughly bom- 
 barded. In quick succession the shells struck, many 
 of them so near that they blew men to pieces less than 
 ten feet from us and peppered our shelter-halves with 
 stones and lumps of mud, leaving many of them per- 
 forated like sieves. Had the enemy used shrapnel, most 
 probably not one of us would have survived. As it 
 was we managed to escape injury until 8:30, when, the 
 fire increasing in intensity, we left our holes and covered 
 the distance to St. Juvin, a good part of it on our hands 
 and knees. It was without one of our dearest comrades, 
 however, for at 6 :30 A. M. Pvt. Robert Mayne had been 
 struck in the back by several shell-fragments, one of 
 them finding the heart and causing instant death. On 
 the following day we hurried him close by where the 
 shell fell, and later on erected a wooden cross over 
 his grave. In addition to his death we had another 
 casualty that night. It was that of Pvt. Alterici, who 
 was affected by gas more seriously than the rest of us, 
 and who was sent to the hospital, from where he was 
 not released in time to rejoin the company. 
 
 A weary, exhausted, nerve-racked group of men it 
 was indeed that, about noon November 1, assembled in 
 a gully north of Sommerance to rest and dig in for the 
 night. The artillery was still firing furiously, but the 
 enemy's barrage had ceased very suddenly about 10 
 A. M. and now only occasional shells from long range 
 rifles would explode in the vicinity. The weather was 
 gloomy and the moist air chilled one to the bones. Yet 
 it was with that meticulous care that is characteristic of 
 worn-out men, that we prepared our fox-holes, carrying 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 73 
 
 boards and iron sheeting from abandoned machine- 
 gunner's dugouts in order to make our "houses" as 
 comfortable as possible, even though only for one night. 
 
 And in truth we left the next morning, setting out 
 in two sections as had become our custom of late. The 
 first sectioin, under Lieut. Le Veque, started from the old 
 positions with guns and mules, and, following the road 
 from St. Georges, passed through Imecourt to Siury-les- 
 Buzancy, which is less than three kilometers south of 
 Buzancy itself. The second section, under Lieutenants 
 Thompson and Cobern, started across the battlefield with 
 guns on one of the hand-carts, while the men carried 
 the ammunition and their packs. 
 
 That^ too, was an extremely disagreeable trip, over 
 the shell-torn fields where the dead lay strewn about and 
 one's feet sank continually in a glue-like mud such as 
 France only can boast. We kept on as fast as we 
 could, trudging towards Alliepont, and from there to 
 Imecourt. I think by far the most redeeming feature 
 of the trip was the opportunity it gave us to see at 
 first hand the terrible havoc wrought by our own artillery. 
 The German barrage had been very heavy, but had 
 consisted chiefly of shells of smaller calibre, while our 
 own guns had been, to a great extent, large calibre 
 howitzers, etc. The enormous craters and the incredibly 
 large number of them convinced us that if being under 
 the German barrage had been hell, being under our own 
 must have been worse than hell. 
 
 We stopped a few hours in Imecourt, and later went 
 to Sivry, where we found the first section already lodged. 
 The enemy was retreating much more hurriedly than 
 had been expected, and the town was filled to more than 
 its capacity by troops, guns, field-kitchens, etc. Many 
 of us had to sleep in stables that first night. Under the 
 circumstances, however, we were glad to find shelter 
 anywhere and to enjoy a full night's rest without being 
 
74 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 called out. It had been a real job to drag the heavy 
 cart through the soggy mire for the many miles we had 
 covered that day. 
 
 On the next day, November 3rd, the advance con- 
 tinued. Buzancy had been occupied by one battalion of 
 infantry, which, passing through, had found only two 
 Germans. There seemed little chance of our being really 
 useful while things progressed so favorably. Still, it was 
 necessary to be on hand in case we were needed. So 
 the first section started out late in the afternoon and 
 marching with heavy packs overtook the infantry just 
 south of Sommauthe. Here they dug in and spent the 
 night in the rain and mud. On the following days the 
 infantry continued its rapid forward movement, while 
 our men kept as close to the advancing battalion as pos- 
 sible. The weather continued miserable, and above 
 Sommauthe the roads were unspeakably muddy, until 
 finally it was barely possible for traffic to make any 
 headway. The section eventually reached the hamlet 
 of Warniforet, where it was held by orders pending a 
 divisional relief. 
 
 In the meanwhile the second section was leading a 
 rather uneventful existence in Sivry. Very little hap- 
 pened beyond occasional air battles, and, during the 
 first days, the arrival of a few farewell shells. On the 
 6th his section, too, moved forward to Sommauthe, 
 which was still under shell-fire from the east, though 
 not from the north. Conditions in Sommauthe were 
 even worse than in Sivry. It was practically impossible 
 to find billets of any kind, while the congestion of 
 traffic was worse than I had ever seen it before. Add 
 to this the commotion caused by the arrival of hundreds 
 of fugitives from towns further up. They came in 
 droves, half-naked, hungry, exhausted, homeless, and 
 were lodged on trucks, in the church, or in some of 
 the buildings. The town was practically uninjured by 
 
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WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 75 
 
 shell-fire, so that the quartering of troops in large num- 
 bers had proved quite feasible. 
 
 It was on the 7th of November that orders arrived 
 recalling the entire company to Alliepont. The first sec- 
 tion, which had been as far north as La Besace, packed 
 up and started back, carrying all its possessions and 
 material with it. That was on the 8th. On the way 
 back the movement of the troops were very much ham- 
 pered by the conditions of the traffic and by the refugees, 
 whose pathetic plight readily gained the sympathy of the 
 boys and induced them to further burden themselves 
 by carrying the smaller children and some of the meagre 
 belongings of the unfortunates. The section reached 
 Sommauthe that evening, and slept in the quarters which 
 the second section had left that same morning. Mean- 
 while this second section had marched back all day and 
 reached its destination, where it was making the best 
 of a dirty mudhole for a home. The rest of the company 
 joined it there on the following day. It seemed good to be 
 together once more, and after getting settled a bit I 
 think we rather enjoyed those two days spent in sitting 
 about the fire, "swapping" opinions about the coming 
 armistice, and gathering in what we could still find in 
 the way of souvenirs. 
 
 And then, on the very day the armistice was signed 
 and only a few hours after it went into effect, we began 
 loading our trucks and, saying a final farewell to the 
 battle-line, started back to our rest billets at La Grange 
 aux Bois. We had been in the fighting, without respite 
 almost, for a little over two months, but they had been 
 months of strenuous work, hardship and continuous 
 danger. It was with little regret, then, that we left them 
 for good, and, passing through Champigneulles and St. 
 Juvin, followed the National Highway towards Clermont. 
 We found our billets practically as we had left them 
 two weeks previous, and, after a good night's rest, woke 
 
76 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 in the morning to hear the greatest news that has ever 
 reached the ear of man. And up there in AlHepont the 
 few who had been left to load the last trucks, heard 
 the news too, and celebrated as best they could by shoot- 
 ing German machine guns and Verey lights, these last 
 no doubt, that they would light the beaten foe on his 
 "strategic" retreat to the Rhine. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 "finie la guerre!" 
 
 The experiences of the company after the armistice 
 was signed were so prosaic and seem so colorless as 
 compared with the events of the two preceding months 
 that there is little need of relating them in any detail. 
 The great news was received with joy and the ringing of 
 bells in the little town where we were quartered. But 
 in France the occurrences of the past four years had 
 made unlikely that any boisterous celebrations would long 
 continue. I think what we felt most and what the people 
 about us experienced most deeply was a sense of de- 
 liverance and gratitude. What a relief it was to see 
 the bright auto lights gleaming on the white roads, and 
 what a pleasure to look at the illuminated windows, — to 
 be able once more to turn in at night without having 
 to fear an air-raid. 
 
 On Wednesday night, November 13th, we gave a little 
 exhibition shoot with thermite partly for the benefit of 
 a company of British Royal Engineers who were tem- 
 porarily attached to our regiment and who, having done 
 only projector work themselves, were somewhat curious 
 about thermite shot from Stokes Mortars, partly also 
 in order to add a bit in the way of a general celebration. 
 We later grew to be quite chummy with the Tommies, 
 perhaps because they proved to be such excellent and 
 fine-spirited collaborators in an amateur theatrical which 
 
78 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 the two organizations staged in the local Y. M. C. A. on 
 one evening of the week we were there. 
 
 As during our previous stay in La Grange aux Bois, 
 the weather was beautiful, though somewhat chilly. We 
 enjoyed ourselves very much by doing very little, and 
 the persistent rumors of our early departure for the 
 States served to keep us in high spirits. The rest of 
 the regiment had been concentrated at Verdun, and we 
 were expecting to leave for that historic place at almost 
 any time. 
 
 Eventually we did set out on foot, starting early in 
 the morning of November 20. We had 42 kilometers 
 to cover, by no means a negligible distance. The day 
 was perfect and for the first 15 kilometers I think we all 
 enjoyed it. After that the hard roads began to tell on 
 us more and more. Our road led us through Clermont, 
 Parois and Dombasle. At this latter town we came up 
 with a long train of artillery horses that were bound 
 for Verdun, too. Their presence on the road made hiking 
 all the more difficult, and since we could not lose them 
 we were quite happy, all of us, when some of the regi- 
 mental trucks from Verdun met us and took us the last 
 seven miles. Night was already setting in when we 
 passed through the great gate and under the masive, 
 forbidding walls of the old fortress. The town did not 
 seem so badly ruined as many of us had expected. Then 
 we passed out of the walls again, and finally found 
 ourselves billeted in some old French Army barracks 
 in the Faubourg du Pave. The weather was cold, the 
 rooms large and chilly without windows and the bunks 
 hard, so that we spent a rather uncomfortable two days 
 there. 
 
 It was on the 22nd that we were moved to other 
 barracks within the walls, and at the further side of 
 the town. After cleaning them up we were very com- 
 fortably lodged, perhaps more comfortably than any- 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 79 
 
 where in France. We had ample opportunity to visit the 
 town, which proved to be much more ruined than we 
 had at first supposed. Most of us had a chance to see_ 
 the great catacombic dugouts under the walls, and some 
 even took a trip to the famous battlefields northeast of 
 the town. We had very little to do, excepting for three 
 regimental reviews that took place on successive after- 
 noons and that necessitated a rather long walk through 
 the city. 
 
 Then came Thanksgiving Day, and, unlike most or- 
 ganizations, we were not disappointed in the question 
 of turkey, for an abundant supply had been brought 
 from Paris. We had an enviable meal that day, with 
 most of the favorite dishes we had been accustomed to 
 enjoy in the States. Soon after preparations were started 
 to move the entire regiment to the vicinity of Chaumont, 
 where we were to await final orders for shipment. An 
 early return to the States seemed certain, so much so, 
 in fact, that we repacked our barracks-bag (which we 
 had not seen since leaving La Ville aux Bois) for ship- 
 ment, and were alarmed every time more than six men 
 appeared on the morning call for the "sick, lame and 
 lazy," {aspirin-aspirants the Germans called them). 
 
 Bright and early in the morning of Saturday, Novem- 
 ber 30, we set out in trucks, packed in like pickled her- 
 rings, and, after an all-day trip that took us through 
 Bar-le-Duc, St. Dizier and Joinville, reached Choignes 
 that same night. Perhaps if we had known how long 
 was to be our stay at Choignes the waiting might have 
 been somewhat more tolerable. As it was, we expected to 
 stay but a short time, and consequently not only the con- 
 tinued delay was trying, but the inconveniences of con- 
 ditions and weather also proved most distasteful. From 
 the very beginning circumstances seemed hard. Most of 
 us arrived after dark, and, after an all day's ride in the 
 chill air, were cold and hungry. Had we not been very 
 
80 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 tired, too, I doubt whether many would have slept that 
 first night, lying on the ground in tin shacks or in some 
 village barn. Never, during our stay in the vicinity, was 
 the air so penetratingly chilly as during those first days. 
 
 Conditions were, to be sure, soon remedied, for, within 
 a day or two the billets were supplied with stoves, lamps 
 and, to some extent, at least, with wooden bunks and bed 
 ticks. It takes a soldier but a very short time to make 
 himself at home anywhere, and experience had long since 
 taught us that even presumably the shortest stays may 
 prove to be anything but brief. So it did not take us 
 long to get comfortably settled, even as it did not take 
 the office long to issue a complete schedule of drills and 
 inspections. The weather grew mild again, raining al- 
 most incessantly and causing everywhere a deep layer of 
 very adhesive mud. But the expectation of an early 
 departure made all things more or less inconsequential, 
 so that at first the company took quite pleasantly to the 
 morning drills. As a drill field we used a fine meadow 
 which lay between the street and the Marne, and 
 which was admirably adapted to sports as well as to 
 manoeuvres. 
 
 And the advisability of instituting a schedule of 
 sporting contests soon became apparent, for the drizzly 
 weather together with the very short days, made the 
 hours of the evening seem most tedious and caused the 
 men to feel more acutely than ever the desire to devote 
 the few daylight hours to something more interesting than 
 infantry drill. At first a football team was formed with 
 a view toward playing with similar teams from the other 
 companies. The connoisseurs in our own organization 
 all agreed that we had exceptionally promising material, 
 and everyone looked forward to the opening game. Un- 
 fortunately it was never played, partly because of the 
 delay in forming teams in the other companies and 
 partly because of the fact that the Marne, which last 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 81 
 
 summer had been nothing but a rivulet, was continually 
 rising until, swelled by the continuous rains, it became 
 a rushing, turbulent, unbridled torrent, the yellowish 
 waters tearing along its course and finally half flooding 
 our beautiful field. Incidentally it was our drill field 
 as well as our athletic arena that suffered. At any rate 
 it put an end to the dreams of the football fans. 
 
 In another branch of sport, however, the plans not 
 only materialized, but even turned out as successfully as 
 could ever have been hoped from the football. I am 
 referring to the boxing matches. As far back as the 
 Fort Myer days this had been a favorite pastime in the 
 company, and there are few of us who do not recall the 
 old ring down in the hollow behind the tents, where, 
 night after night, members of the company challenged 
 comers from other organizations. 
 
 At La Ville aux Bois, too, before the company went 
 to the line, there had been one or two matches, in which 
 our company had acquitted itself with distinction. It 
 was with considerable enthusiasm, then, that boxing was 
 revived at Choignes. Under the patronage of Captain 
 Dayton training was started, the object in view being a 
 decisive match between the first and second battalions. 
 Company "F" co-operated very actively with our own 
 organization so that when the great day finally arrived 
 we felt quite well prepared for our rivals. It was on 
 December 19th, a rainy day like most of the days we 
 spent in the Chaumont area, that the fans boarded a 
 truck and went to La Ville aux Bois, where the contest 
 was to take place. Quite a considerable group of spec- 
 tators had assembled there, among them numerous of- 
 ficers whose presence was to some extent indicative of 
 the widespread interest. And those who went were well 
 repaid for their trouble. The bouts proved exceptionally 
 interesting and exciting, and the match turned out an 
 unqualified success for our battalion and more particu- 
 
82 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 larly for our company. The senior battalion won but 
 a single bout, that of the heavy-weight class. The light- 
 weight and bantam-weight bouts were both won by our 
 company, the former by Private Sweet, the latter by 
 Private Caroselli. The results were not a surprise to 
 anyone, for we were well aware of the talent we pos- 
 sessed; on the other hand, the outcome could hardly 
 have been more gratifying. Company "E" did not lose 
 a single event. 
 
 For the entertainment of those for whom pugilism 
 held no appeal provision was also made. Not long after 
 our arrival the amateur show which had been so suc- 
 cessful at La Grange aux Bois was again staged, this 
 time in the local Y. M. C. A. tent and, of course, in a 
 considerably altered form. It proved very successful 
 and was followed by various other entertainments under 
 the direction of Sergeant Tieman and with the assistance 
 of the Y. M. C. A. at Chaumont. Perhaps the most 
 memorable of these little performances was that given 
 by the American Harry Lauder and his troupe. All 
 in all, the theatricals helped to take the dreariness out 
 of many a long, rainy, muddy evening, and helped the 
 men at least for a time to forget the eternal question, 
 "When do we go home?" 
 
 Never shall we forget how prominent that question 
 was in the minds of all of us, nor how maddening was 
 the desire to get away. At first it had seemed reasonably 
 certain that we should leave on the 15th or thereabouts. 
 Every rumor that indicated such an early departure was 
 eagerly pounced upon, and there were enough of them. 
 When the barracks bags were unpacked and the squad 
 boxes supplied in their stead it seemed that the prospects 
 were unquestionable. We packed them in fervent haste, 
 had them inspected and began to wait, packs rolled, 
 wooden bunks gradually disappearing when firewood 
 was scarce or too wet. But the wait proved a long one. 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 83 
 
 Day after day passed in desultory drilling and working, 
 to say nothing of the guard duty that came every third 
 day. Already the first Christmas boxes were arriving, 
 and still we were hoping. Some of the boys lost hope, 
 I believe, for otherwise it would be almost impossible 
 to explain why they should have signed up to stay in 
 France for a number of months. This was in connection 
 with a regimental platoon to consist of volunteers who 
 were to make a tour of various camps to exhibit the 
 work of the regiment. Quite a number of men submitted 
 their names and, changing their minds, withdrew them. 
 The more determined, and those who were actually ac- 
 cepted, were Lieutenants Cobern and Mousby, Engineer 
 Palacki, Sergeant T. D. Taylor, Corporals McMahan and 
 Dowd and Privates Eden, Grigsby, Nardiello, Pruette 
 and Rust. The little group left the company just before 
 Christmas. Most of those who went were old members 
 of the organization and it was hard to see them go, 
 especially while most of us still had hopes of leaving 
 for home before long. When last heard from the 
 platoon was still in the vicinity of Tours, whither they 
 had gone after leaving the company. 
 
 And then, in the midst of our hopes and discourage- 
 ment, came Christmas. The first snow fell just about 
 that time, a soft, thin, white veil that barely covered the 
 ground and yet clothed the landscape in a finer radiance 
 than it had had even in the summer. It was a distinct 
 relief after the weeks of almost unintermittent rain, but 
 it made Christmas perhaps even more sombre by re- 
 minding us of the homeland and the comforts we had 
 been hoping to enjoy by that time. From a material 
 point of view, however, the festival was more successful 
 than could have been expected. Turkey had again been 
 ordered from Paris, and, with other unusual delicacies, 
 served to make a real feast. During the afternoon and 
 
84 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 evening many of the men found recreation and entertain- 
 ment in Chaumont, for which town passes were quite 
 generously issued during our stay at Choignes. 
 
 At Christmas the outlook for our departure was poor 
 enough. But in reality, it was no longer indefinite nor 
 far off. It soon became known that we were to leave 
 shortly and all preparations were pushed with a vim. 
 The v/eather improved somewhat, though it still con- 
 tinued raining freakishly during the greater part of the 
 time. Tuesday, December 31, was the day fixed for the 
 great event. It was one occasion on which the top 
 sergeant had no difficulty in getting the company out 
 in the small hours of the morning. The cooks served 
 an early breakfast, and by daylight all policing and 
 packing was completed, so that by 7:30 we were ready 
 to fall out. It was a long but welcome march up the 
 winding, hilly road to Chaumont, but neither that nor 
 the touching farewells of the inhabitants of Choignes 
 could detract or diminish the enthusiasm of the boys. 
 Everything was going fine until we learned that the 
 cars that were to take us to the coast had not yet arrived. 
 Then we spent several anxious hours on the boulevard 
 near the station, victims of the capricious showers, whil- 
 ing away the time in eating ham or cheese sandwiches, 
 which, at an incredibly extortionate price, could be had 
 in a restaurant close by. At last the long train of cars 
 arrived and, after scraping six inches of manure off the 
 floors and replacing it by new straw, we were ready 
 to entrain. Our trip this time was to be not in passenger 
 coaches, but in freight or box cars. Fortunately, how- 
 ever, these were not of the famous "Homnies 40, 
 Chevaux 8" brand. On the contrary, they were American 
 cars of a large and new type. I'm sure they would have 
 proved very comfortable had it not been necessary to 
 crowd so many men into one car. In many there were 
 upward of sixty. 
 
u 
 
 a '-Tt 
 
 - oi S 
 
 = 2-'' 
 J2.5 
 
 
IVITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 85 
 
 We were quite ready, however, to put up with any- 
 thing so long as we were going in the homeward direc- 
 tion. The train was pulled by an American locomotive 
 manned by American engineers, so we had hopes of 
 making good time, at least better time than we had 
 been able to make on the journey from Brest to Chaumont. 
 As a matter of fact, we travelled at a very good rate, 
 and should have reached our destination in a couple of 
 days, perhaps, if we had taken the same direct route 
 which we covered last summer. But we went in a curve, 
 striking south first through Langres and Dijon, then 
 west through Nevers, Bourges and Tours, then north- 
 ward to Le Mans, from which our road led west again 
 through Laval to Brest. On the whole the trip passed 
 quite satisfactorily. The weather was mild and fair 
 throughout and the food exceptionally good, due chiefly 
 to expenditures from the company fund, as a result of 
 which we had chocolates, jam and fresh bread to take 
 the place of bully beef and hard tack. At some of the 
 larger stations we were served with hot coffee, which 
 went a long way toward making us feel comfortable. 
 The chief difficulty was encountered during the nights 
 when, in each car, every one of some sixty odd lanky 
 Yanks tried to stretch out at full length on the floor. 
 To do this was physically impossible, so a situation 
 usually arose in which legs were piled two or more feet 
 high in the centre of the car. After a while the par- 
 ticular pair of legs that was most oppressed would revolt, 
 throw off its oppressors and soon the far-reaching effects 
 of the movement would be felt through the entire car. 
 They would become audible, too, for everyone felt it 
 his duty to heap imprecations on the head of the un- 
 known rebel. One night, I remember, in our car, a 
 brilliant recruit laid a case full of hard-tack on a pile 
 of these sleeping legs, thinking to economize space in 
 that way. The legs, however, immediately and simul- 
 
86 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 taneously awoke and pushed the case further along where 
 another heap of indignant limbs rose and passed it on. 
 For quite a while the heavy case surged about, no one 
 daring to withdraw his legs from under it, because of 
 its weight. Finally a resourceful veteran shoved open 
 one of the doors and the dangerous case, the inscription 
 on which had been obnoxious for some time, was 
 promptly conducted to and through the open door. 
 
 So time passed in smoking, eating and arguing (not 
 in sleeping, God knows!) until after a journey of two 
 days and three nights, one fine morning we pulled into 
 Brest, where the sight of the sea and the ships riding 
 at anchor in the harbor soon revived our spirits and 
 our hopes. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 OUR LAST BATTLE AND HOMEWARD BOUND 
 
 During our leisure hours on the train we had had 
 ample opportunity to speculate on our probable stay at 
 Brest, if not to formulate hopes that perchance we might 
 go on board directly from the train. The disillusion- 
 ment that was to follow was, then, particularly bitter. 
 To begin with, we were surprised to find the water-front 
 quite changed from what it had been last summer. 
 Everywhere large warehouses had been constructed, 
 powerful cranes erected and railroad facilities amplified. 
 Soon after detraining the regiment had its first experi- 
 ence in connection with the large mess halls. Leaving 
 our packs in a large shed, we were taken for breakfast 
 at an enormous kitchen which, as we later learned, was 
 for the purpose of feeding details at work on the docks. 
 Since it was practically a replica of the troop kitchens at 
 the camp, it may not be inappropriate to say a few 
 words about it here. The chief features of it were its 
 capacity and its system. Lining up in what seemed 
 like endless columns outside the shed, the men file by the 
 serving benches and into the dining compartment. This 
 latter is a large shed containing hundreds of long 
 benches and about breast-high, from which the men 
 feed in a standing position. Since the hall has no floor- 
 ing and it rains almost continuously in the vicinity of 
 Brest, the ground under foot usually becomes a deep, 
 
88 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 sticky mud. After gulping down one's slum amid the 
 pushing and jostling of the circulating crowd, one leaves 
 by the further end and tries to clean one's mess-kit in 
 a barrel of greasy water. 
 
 Having breakfasted in this fashion we set out up the 
 long, winding hill in the direction of the Pontanezan 
 Barracks. We were in good spirits, the weather was 
 fair, and we were relieving our feelings at the expense 
 of the innocent M. P.'s, all of which made the long, up- 
 hill grind more tolerable. Soon, however, we were in- 
 formed that any questionable remarks as to M. P.'s 
 or S. O. S. men would be radically dealt with and that 
 the authorities of the said down-trodden S. O. S. would 
 take measures to keep the offenders in Brest for an 
 indefinite time. The prospect held more terrors for us 
 than any shells or machine guns could have inspired. 
 
 At one time we had hoped that on our way back 
 through Brest we should not be quartered again in the 
 old Napoleon barracks within the walls. Soon after 
 our arrival at the camp, however, we wished only too 
 earnestly that such had been our fate. For to say that 
 our surprise knew no bounds would hardly be putting 
 it too strongly. In the embarkation camp at Brest 
 the old Pontanezan Barracks plays only a very minor 
 part. For possibly two or more miles beyond the bar- 
 racks the surrounding country was built up with tin 
 shacks, troop kitchens or tents. It was for one of these 
 tented areas that we were destined, and, as a matter of 
 fact, it was the most remote corner of the camp. As 
 we were trudging wearily along the crowded road it 
 began to rain again — that cold, driving rain that had 
 been the usual thing ever since Thanksgiving. We were 
 chilled and drenched, then, when, after stumbling over 
 a long, wretched road, we reached our destination. 
 
 Our tents, we found, were situated in an area where 
 the mud was at its deepest. It is not surprising, then. 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 89 
 
 that within the tents the ground was not only muddy, 
 but that in many of them the water was standing in 
 large puddles. It had been raining for many days and 
 the sides of the tents were rolled up; that accounts for 
 the condition in which we found them. Moreover, there 
 were no bunks in any of them and stoves in only three 
 or four. Of firewood there was no trace anywhere. 
 Under these circumstances the reader can well imagine 
 what our first night was like, a case of sleeping in the 
 mud and keeping warm as best one could with wet 
 clothes on and damp blankets only at one's disposal. 
 
 The next morning we got up, or rather, were gotten 
 out, at an early hour, while it was still dark. It was only 
 one morning of many similar ones to follow — wrapping 
 oneself in a clammy slicker and drawing on soaking 
 wet shoes and gloves, wading through mud ankle-deep, 
 trudging somewhat over a mile to a kitchen, standing 
 in an almost interminable line, while the cold rain beat 
 down upon one, and, dripping from either end of one's 
 cap, trickled clear down one's neck and back. And then 
 the kitchens, where a lot of marine recruits, lately arrived 
 overseas, glorying in their bit of authority, raged and 
 raved till they made one's fists itch. The food in itself 
 was fairly good, though by the time one had followed 
 the intricate windings of complex labyrinthine passages 
 and found a foot of space at one of the benches it was 
 usually cold or at best luke-warm. 
 
 After meals one could return to the mud-hole if, 
 perchance, the company was so fortunate as not to be 
 on a detail. These details were of various kinds. At 
 first they were in connection with supplying ourselves 
 with means of existence, carrying wet duck-boards to 
 sleep on and procuring a limited and insufficient number 
 of stoves with a few sticks of wet, green wood for each. 
 Later on they were of a more important nature, dealing 
 with work connected with the camp. The first of these 
 
90 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 took us out to dig in an enormous pit, destined for 
 garbage. The rain was particularly cold that day and 
 the wind high ; at the same time, there was room for 
 only about one-third of the men to work in the pit and 
 for them it was well-nigh impossible to accomplish any- 
 thing in the rocky soil. So we stood about, reeking wet 
 and cold, till finally we were permitted to take refuge 
 in an empty shack. On another occasion we got up at 
 four A. M. in order to get breakfast and board trucks 
 for Brest, where we spent the day on the freight cars. 
 The worst part of that particular detail was the fact 
 that we could not help seeing various organizations 
 marching by on their way to the boat, — lucky dogs, we 
 thought them, to be getting out of that hell-hole. 
 
 After a time we began to get night details, the first 
 one at Brest, unloading lumber from a large freighter. 
 It was a beastly night and we had to wait an exceptionally 
 long time for the trucks that were to take us down. As 
 I think back on those hours of misery — useless misery 
 and discomfort, — I realize to the full my inability to 
 adequately picture what we and thousands of others of 
 the "brave and victorious American boys" suffered at 
 the hands of the S. O. S. authorities. If, in my predica- 
 ment, I appeal to any of the boys for assistance, they 
 usually burst out in a violent stream of invective so 
 strong that it would hardly be fit for appearance in print. 
 At any rate, one thing we learned, namely, that rain and 
 mud can go a longer way toward taking the heart out 
 of man than can shot or shell, and that one does not 
 need to go to the front to find a battle. No less deeply 
 impressed on our minds than the thrilling events on the 
 line will be those stormy nights when our most cherished 
 love letters and, despite the most rigid regulations, the 
 duck-boards, too, went toward building a fire around 
 which we huddled, waiting for the gust that was to 
 tear the tent from its moorings. 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 91 
 
 In all this there was one consolation — conditions were 
 gradually improving and the indications were that it could 
 not last forever. It does not take a soldier long to make the 
 best of a bad thing, so that we were soon as comfortable 
 as circumstances would permit. Moreover, some atten- 
 tion was being paid to our equipment, and the first of a 
 long series of inspections were being held. All of which 
 led us to hope for an early departure. The inspection 
 for cooties revealed the fact that in many cases the little 
 pests had found good grazing in the company. Their 
 prosperity, was, however, to be but short-lived, for after 
 a bath and a thorough oil treatment, they made their 
 appearance only very spasmodically and in very limited 
 numbers. As to the equipment, that, too, was rigidly 
 inspected. On the significant day that his highness, the 
 camp inspector, was to make his tour, we were quite 
 aflutter, just like recruits. When finally he arrived, we all 
 wore our best smile while, to the music of the band, the 
 officers conducted the inspector about. We were later 
 given to understand that he was quite delighted and that 
 the ordeal had been successfully passed. 
 
 It seemed that from that time on things improved. 
 Even as regards the weather, this applies, for occasionally 
 we had an hour or two of clear sky. The big event, 
 however, was moving from the tents to tin barracks near 
 the walls. There was nothing particularly wonderful 
 about these galvanized iron shacks, but at least we no 
 longer had to worry about the tents blowing down and 
 besides there were wire bunks. Wood for the stoves was 
 also accessible, and we had duck-boards on which to 
 walk. Best of all, though, was the kitchen, which not 
 only fed as good or better than any of the five we ate 
 at during our stay at Brest, but was within a hundred 
 yards of our barracks. At dinner we now had a band, 
 to the "jazz" of which we could chew our food by the 
 numbers and digest it rhythmically. Day by day the 
 
92 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 weather improved and details came at ever greater inter- 
 vals. To minister to our comfort we were even supplied 
 with two extra blankets, while a delayed pay-day brought 
 the wherewithal to make a visit to the Y. M. C. A. 
 worth while. 
 
 All this was, of course, well enough, and was appre- 
 ciated for what it was worth. But with us the pressing 
 question was ever "When do we go home?" Toward 
 the fifteenth of the month we felt sure that we were 
 going, and the betting was spirited. But the days passed 
 and we were still on detail, still waiting. After a while 
 even the rumors died away, as is usual before the 
 rumored event comes to pass. The first indication of 
 our approaching departure, and one which but few recog- 
 nized as such, was a very rigid physical examination to 
 which we were subjected and a very hurried trip to the 
 delousing plant, for the few who were found afflicted 
 with the persistent cooties. That was on a Wednesday. 
 We were due for a detail that night and some of us grew 
 suspicious when it did not come. Then, next day, rumors 
 were rampant in the company once again. This time, 
 however, they seemed well-founded. That same after- 
 noon we had a personal inspection with full packs and 
 the billets were thoroughly policed. After that things 
 went quickly. Full instructions as to conduct and pro- 
 cedure were issued, blankets were turned in, packs were 
 not to be broken, and reveille was fixed for 3:15 A. M. 
 But few of us slept at all that night. After reveille the 
 billets were again policed, and at 5 :00 A. M. we had a 
 special breakfast. From that time until 7 :30, when we 
 fell out, we sat around the dying fires, smoking and 
 worrying. 
 
 When the company had been formed there began that 
 long series of waits characteristic of all important moves. 
 The packs were heavy, but at first we did not mind that 
 so much. The worst of it was that we were "at ease," 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 93 
 
 not permitted to speak or smoke. This was a camp 
 regulation, and it further specified that we should march 
 through the camp at attention. I hardly know whether 
 we felt more jubilant at leaving or more indignant at the 
 imposition of this and similar orders. But it could not 
 be helped ; it was a choice between asserting ourselves 
 and going home. We unanimously chose the latter. So 
 we marched out, units of a victorious army on their 
 way home tramping through and out of the camp, along 
 the hilly miles to the city and through it to the docks. It 
 was a hard hike, made harder yet by the bitter thought 
 that we were obliged to leave like a pack of slinking, 
 whipped curs the country to which we had come prepared 
 to give gladly all we had in us. 
 
 It was a keen, brisk morning on which we finally 
 embarked. As we came down the hill from the upper 
 city we saw that there were at least three transports in 
 the harbor, two large four-stackers, and, further out, a 
 two-stacker. We hoped to get on one of the former, 
 and were, perhaps, somewhat disappointed when the 
 lighter passed by both of them and made off in the 
 direction of the two-stacker. As we approached it, how- 
 ever, we were soon reconciled, for she was a larger 
 ship than we had supposed. Moreover, we found that 
 rumor had been right, she was the Royal Mail Steamer 
 "Celtic." From the smoking funnels we conjectured 
 that she would probably sail soon. 
 
 Somehow, from the very moment we approached her 
 the ship gave the impression of quiet and comfort, per- 
 haps because of the presence of only a few people on 
 the decks, among whom were several ladies as well as 
 members of the regular crew. In general it was quite 
 a different spectacle than was the appearance of the 
 "President Grant," swarming with troops and sailors. We 
 went aboard about 2 :30 P. M. and from that moment 
 wonders multiplied. Instead of filing down into the con- 
 
94 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 gested and gloomy bowels of the ship we were conducted 
 to the first deck, into a large, roomy compartment, well- 
 lighted and with portholes for ventilation. There were 
 long, clean wooden tables and benches, hammocks with 
 heavy, white blankets, which were slung in the same 
 room at night, clean wash-rooms, and, above all, plenty 
 of room on the decks. The food, too, was exceptionally 
 good, a fact which, together with the convivial spirit at 
 the tables, made our meals (breakfast, dinner and "tea") 
 enjoyable times indeed. Nor was our patience long 
 tried in waiting for the ship to pull out. At five in 
 the afternoon she turned around and, nosing into a keen 
 breeze, started out toward the setting sun. 
 
 No group of men was ever more anxious to get to 
 its destination, but this fact did not detract in any way 
 from our enjoyment of the trip. The weather was almost 
 invariably fair and the sea reasonably calm. On only 
 one or two days was it so cold that it was uncomfortable 
 outside. But we were bucking a stiff wind all the way, 
 and it was invigorating, indeed, to sit on the deck, smok- 
 ing and reading, or chatting while the crystal spray 
 dashed away from the ship. In the evening the decks 
 were illuminated (all so unlike the trip over) so that 
 a little promenade before turning in was all that could 
 be desired. As to troublesome regulations and disagree- 
 able work, there was none. Minor cleaning details and 
 one guard were the only demands made on our time. 
 There were only some 2,500 souls aboard, so that, with 
 our own regiment the dominant organization, we felt 
 quite at home, certainly happy and contented. Without 
 exception we agreed that in the transport of troops life 
 could hardly be made more pleasant than was ours while 
 "Homeward Bound." 
 
 And then, on Saturday afternoon, the keenest eyes 
 sighted a lighthouse. Everyone was on deck and there 
 were endless arguments until eventually we could all see 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 95 
 
 it. Words cannot describe our delight. We stood as 
 though rooted to the spot, and gradually the low-lying 
 land of Fire Island rose from the sea. A little later we 
 passed the lightship. x\fter that wonders multiplied 
 quickly, for within a short time land appeared on the 
 other side, too. Before long we saw the ghstening lights 
 of Long Island and by nightfall we were in the lower 
 bay, where the pilot came aboad and we later dropped 
 anchor. No one slept much that night. Till a late hour 
 we stayed up and watched the lights. At four in the 
 morning we were up again, in readiness to go. Towards 
 eight o'clock the ship weighed anchor and we were on 
 our way up the harbor, past the wonderful lady of our 
 dreams and to the dock. During this little trip we were 
 accompanied by the patrol boat of the Mayor's Com- 
 mittee, by which we were given our first ovation. At 
 the pier, too, there were crowds waiting for us, and, as 
 usual, the good old Red Cross with some real coffee and 
 rolls, to say nothing of the candy or cigarettes. 
 
 It was the ill fate of our first platoon to be assigned 
 the detail for handling the baggage of the regiment. 
 We didn't care, for nothing mattered after we were once 
 on American soil again. Nevertheless it proved to be 
 anything but a negligible bit of work, for it involved 
 handling some 250 to 300 squad boxes and supply cases, 
 75 odd trunks and 80 bed-rolls, to say nothing of a heap 
 of bags and packs. These we had to transfer from one 
 place to another on the pier, then load aboard a lighter, 
 unload again onto freight cars on the Long Island side, 
 and later partly unload at Camp Mills, where the regiment 
 had gone. Since there were only some 25 to 30 men 
 available in the platoon, it was a hard job, and it was 
 after 1 :00 A. M. when we finally got to bed. 
 
 But that was all. We soon found that little or nothing 
 was expected of us over here. The barracks were very 
 comfortable and the food incredibly good. On Tuesday 
 
96 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST CAS 
 
 morning we were thoroughly and effectively deloused 
 for the last time and then permitted to go to New York. 
 On the following day we turned out early, and after the 
 usual delays, entrained for Lakehurst, N. J. It involved 
 a trip on the ferry and another lunch by the Red Cross, 
 so it was already afternoon when we reached our last 
 camp. At Lakehurst the town turned out to welcome 
 us, making us feel thoroughly that everyone was glad to 
 see us and that all would be done to make us enjoy 
 our stay. 
 
 By supper time we had reached Camp Kendrick, had 
 filled our bed-ticks with new straw and received our two 
 extra blankets. We found the camp small but very 
 pleasant, with good kitchens and comfortable, though 
 somewhat close, quarters. Within a day or two the last 
 regimental parade took place, on which occasion the 
 company was also photographed. And this brings me 
 to the last words of my narrative, written while the boys 
 are either at camp or on pass nearby, each and everyone 
 waiting for that wonderful document, — the discharge. 
 For, though we have been through hell together and 
 know that many times in the years to come we shall 
 miss the comradeship of the buddies and friends of our 
 army days, we are, after all, essentially a peaceful lot, 
 quite ready to forget the shot and shell, the gas and 
 flame, and return, each in his own way, to the pursuits 
 of civilian life, to win our future laurels in the fields of 
 peace. 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 97 
 
 MUD, MUD, MUD ! 
 
 Rain, mud; mud, rain; 
 
 Dark November, old Lorraine, 
 
 Dug-outs, barbed wire. 
 
 Rations of iron, sauce of mire — 
 
 Who will trade his homely fire 
 
 For the mud, mud, mud? 
 
 Mud, rain, rain, mud; 
 Dragging feet, aching thud, 
 Day sleep, nightmare, 
 Clamor of gongs, gassed air — 
 He who is dry, who will dare 
 The mud, mud, mud? 
 
 Rain, mud, mud, rain — 
 
 Into Hell and out again! 
 
 Dry roof, good bread. 
 
 Back in the States, my old Homestead — 
 
 And I left it all to merely tread 
 
 The mud, mud, mud! 
 
 R.B. M. 
 
Jn il^m0riam 
 
Lieutenant John V. Fleming 
 
 It is with profound regret that we record here the 
 death of one of our most beloved leaders, Lieutenant 
 John V. Fleming. During the never-to-be-forgotten drive 
 through the Argonnes, Lieutenant Fleming was leading a 
 section of Company E just north of Fleville. It was at 
 this point that the enemy had put up such a fierce resis- 
 tance, for firmly emplaced in the famous Freya Stellung, 
 he had brought our infantry to a standstill. It was Lieu- 
 tenant Fleming's purpose to break the line with a well 
 timed gas show. Previous to the attack, on the morning 
 of October 15th, he was summoned to the post of com- 
 mandment, whereupon he set out at once with two 
 runners on the road to Sommerance. At eight o'clock, 
 midst enemy harassing fire, a fragment from a Boche 
 shell lodged in his lower right chest. He was imme- 
 diately removed to Mobile Hospital No. 2, near Varennes, 
 but succumbed the next morning at seven-thirty. The 
 funeral was held soon after, and he was buried in honors 
 by his own men in the officers' graveyard at Varennes. 
 
 Lieutenant Fleming was bom in San Francisco in 
 1891, and was educated at St. Mary's College. For sev- 
 eral years he specialized in highway and irrigation work 
 in California. When war broke out with Germany, he 
 enlisted in the Fourth Company, Engineer Officers' Train- 
 ing School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and on re- 
 ceiving his commission, was stationed with the Fifth 
 Engineers at Louisville, Ky. In the spring of 1918 he 
 was transferred to the 30th Engineers, "Gas and Flame," 
 at Fort Myer, Va., where Company E was organized. 
 He was married a little over a year when he crossed 
 
102 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 overseas, his wife returning to her home in Vallejo, Cah- 
 fornia. In France he was ever with his men, who soon 
 recognized his capable leadership and generous demo- 
 cratic friendship. Both behind the lines and in action, he 
 won our implicit faith ; this, even more than fearlessness 
 and bravery, is the greatest tribute we can render. 
 
 Private Robert M. Mayne 
 
 There was amongst us a comrade well beloved by all. 
 From beginning to end he shared our hardships and our 
 victories. At Fort Myer, at Ville aux Bois, at St. Mihiel, 
 and clear through the Argonne Forests, he proved himself 
 an ardent, virile soldier. The war was so near an end 
 when he gave his life, that for most of us it is hard to 
 realize that good old Bobby Mayne has "gone West." 
 
 Robert M. Mayne was born in 1899, in Huntington, 
 Ind., was educated at Huntington High School, and was 
 engaged in automobile work previous to the war. He 
 enlisted February 21st, 1918, in the 30th Engineers, and 
 came over with Captain Dayton's boys. He participated 
 in every all- American drive in France; but on October 
 31st, that fateful Hallowe'en night, he was hit by a high 
 explosive shell while on a carrying party in No Man's 
 Land. Death came instantly. The next morning, after 
 the infantry advanced, he was buried by his own men 
 about half a mile east of St. Juvin, on the St. Georges 
 Road. 
 
CASUALTY LIST 
 
 OFFICERS 
 DIED OF WOUNDS 
 Fleming, John V., 1st Lieut Oct. 15th, 1918, Varennes. 
 
 SLIGHTLY WOUNDED 
 Richardson, Ralph B., 1st Lieut.. .Sept. 8th, Oct. 28th, 1918, recovered. 
 
 ENLISTED 
 KILLED IN ACTION 
 Mayne, Robert M., Pvt. Nov. 1st, 1918, St. Juvin. 
 
 DIED OF DISEASE 
 Maeding, Jack, Pvt January, 1919. 
 
 SERIOUSLY WOUNDED 
 
 Noel, Prosper L., Pvt. 1st CI Sept. 29th, 1918, recovered, in hospital. 
 
 Miller, L. P., Corp Oct. 2nd, 1918, recovered. 
 
 Murray, John J., Corp ^Oct. 2nd, 1918, recovered, returned to U.S.A. 
 
 Taylor, R. I., Pvt. 1st CI ^Oct. 2nd, 1918, recovered, returned to U.S.A. 
 
 Wachter, John J., Pvt. 1st CI.. Oct. 2nd, 1918, recovered. 
 
 Powers, Elmer J., Pvt Sept. 22nd, 1918, recovered. 
 
 SLIGHTLY WOUNDED 
 
 Brickey, Merle O., Pvt Nov. 1st, 1918, in hospital. 
 
 Casey, John F., Sgt ..Oct. 28th, 1918, in hospital. 
 
 Harmon, Forrest D., Corp October, 1918, recovered. 
 
 Hyett, Roland, Pvt Oct. 5th, 1918, recovered. 
 
 Palackey, Frank P., M. Engr Oct. 2nd, recovered. 
 
 Patterson, James T., Pvt. 1st Q Oct. 5th, recovered. 
 
 Pruette, Otto, Pvt.. Sept. 29th, 1918, recovered. 
 
 Rolands, Emrys, Pvt Oct. 2nd, 1918, recovered. 
 
 Shuckerow, Frederick J., Corp Nov. 1st, recovered. 
 
 Smith, Dan, Pvt Sept. 12th, 1918, recovered. 
 
 Tuttle, George W., Sgt. Sept. 29th, 1918, in hospital. 
 
104 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 SLIGHTLY GASSED 
 
 Alterici Louis, Pvt... Nov. 1st, 1918, in hospital. 
 
 Sander, Jacob D., Pvt Sept. 12th, 1918, recovered. 
 
 Stockman, E. J., Pvt. Oct. 30th, 1918, recovered. 
 
 MISSING IN ACTION 
 
 Kroog, Aaron, Pvt Nov. 1st, 1918, dropped. 
 
 Finelli, Dominico, Pvt Nov. 1st, 1918, dropped. 
 
 DROPPED ON ACCOUNT OF SICKNESS OR INJURY 
 
 Anthony, Richard L., Corp. 
 Brassaemle, Robert M., Pvt. 
 Brightman, James H., Pvt. 
 Brittaine, Herbert, Corp. 
 Curtis, Ray E., Sgt. 
 Durea, Edward R., Pvt. 
 F'ischer, John W., Pvt. 
 Fite, William A., Pvt. 
 Hall, Frank C, Pvt. 
 Howard, Benjamin E., Pvt. 
 Hoover, Charles, Pvt. 
 Hurdle, Harry, Pvt. 
 Jacobs, Claude E., Pvt. 
 Jenkinson, Roy A., Pvt. 
 Kommer, Harry, Pvt. 
 Lalone, Ralph L., Pvt. 
 
 Manette, John M., Pvt. 
 Marx, Nicholas, Pvt. 
 Messmer, Charles, Cook. 
 Mohn, Newton C, Pvt. 
 Montgomery, Pearl E., Pvt. 
 Morrison, Frederick, Corp. 
 Mclntyre, Robert A., Sgt. 
 Pennington, Yates, Pvt. 
 Rainey, Maurice A., Pvt. 
 Roberts, Myron, Pvt. 
 Shiflet, George A., Pvt. 1st CL 
 Tennant, Walter J., Pvt. 
 Wegis, Anthony, Pvt. 
 Williams, John, Pvt. 
 Zangger, Karl, Corp. 
 
THE ROSTER 
 
 Note: — o indicates men of the original company. 
 
 a indicates men who became subsequently attached. 
 
 d indicates men who were dropped permanently from the company. 
 
 X indicates men who stayed in Europe with the exhibition platoon. 
 
 OFFICERS 
 
 Dayton, Roscoe B., Capt. Engrs. (o) 1121 15th St., Augusta Ga. 
 
 Luder, Earl E., Capt. C.W.S. (o) .214 North East 5th St., Washington, Ind. 
 
 Paine, Albert W., Capt C.W.S. (a,d) 1498 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, Cal. 
 
 Brodesser, R. A., 1st. Lieut. C.W.S (a,d).-552 Summit Ave., Milwaukee, Wis. 
 Fleming, John V., 1st. Lieut. Engrs. (o,d)..520 Capitol St., Vallejo, Cal. 
 
 Le Veque, Leslie, 1st Lieut. C.W.S. (a) 321 East Arch St., Marquette, Mich. 
 
 Richardson, Ralph B., 1st Lieut. C.W.S. (o) 341 Magnolia Ave,, Long Beach, Cal. 
 Robinson, W. B., 1st Lieut. C.W.S. (a,d)— 407 Delaware Ave., So. Bethlehem, Pa, 
 Trammel, Scott, 1st Lieut. C.W.S. (a,d) 1006 H St. N. E., Washington, D. C. 
 
 Burr, George C, 2nd Lieut. C.W.S. (o) Jefferson St., New Rochelle, N. Y. 
 
 Campbell, Fred'k C.,2nd Lieut. C.W.S. Ca)— 5669 Ridge Ave., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Cobern, Camden, 2nd Lieut. C.W.S. (a,x) Phi Kappa Psi, Allegheny College, Neade- 
 
 ville. Pa. 
 Hitchins, Rob't H., 2nd Lieut. C.W.S. (o,d)— Frostburg, Md. 
 
 Mousby, Paul F., 2nd Lieut. C.W.S. (a,x)..656 Pacific St., San Francisco, Cal. 
 Nutty, Pitt McCoy 2nd Lieut. C.W.S (a)— Schenley Hotel, Pittsburg, Pa. 
 Thompson, Lauren, 2nd Lieut, C.W.S. (a).. 1523 Frick Bldg., Pittsburg, Pa. 
 
 ENLISTED 
 
 Palackey, Frank P., Master Engr. (a,x).-.17 South Robinson St., Baltimore, Md. 
 
 Hughes, Jennings P., 1st Sgt. (o) —711 Sth St., New Martinsville, W. Va. 
 
 Allen, Arthur C, Sgt. 1st CI. (o) Buhl, Ida. 
 
 Kent, Victor H., Sgt. 1st C. (o) ..Lebanon, Ore. 
 
 Taylor, Thomas D., Sgt. 1st CI. (o,x) 1416 Otto Blvd., Chicago Hts., Cook Co., 111. 
 
 Test, Clarence R., Sgt. 1st CI. (o) F'ort Scott, Kansas. 
 
 Tieman, Arnold W., Sgt. 1st CI. (o) 422 West 48th St., N. Y. City 
 
 Tuttle, Mearl J., Sgt. 1st CI. (o) Paraiso, Canal Zone, Panama 
 
 Henry, Duncan C, Sgt., Supply (o) Goldfield, la. 
 
 Casey, John F., Sgt. (o,d)- .525 N. Chestnut St., Seymour, Ind. 
 
 Chaty, Arthur, Sgt. (a) .2104 Derby St., Berkley, Cal. 
 
 Collier, Edward C, Sgt., (o) 311 Stanton St., Bay City, Mich. 
 
 Curtis, Ray E., Sgt. (o,d) 407 Mississippi Ave., Joliet, 111. 
 
 Davis, Clarence G., Sgt. (a) Box 112, Charleston, Wash. 
 
 Gilmore, Clayton, Sgt. (o) ..131 So. 9th St., Reading, Pa. 
 
106 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 Herza, Frederick W., Sgt. (o) Box 1338, Fort Worth, Tex. 
 
 Langer, William L., Sgt. (o) 16 Carver St., Cambridge, Mass. 
 
 Lusk, Thomas S., Sgt. (a) Falls City, Ore. 
 
 McDade, Edward B., Sgt. (o) 312 No. 2nd St., McAllister, Okla. 
 
 Mclntyre, Robert A., Sgt. (o,d) ^69 Willis St., New Bedford, Mass. 
 
 Rick, Forrest I., Sgt. (a) 314 Andre Ave., Mount Pleasant, Mich. 
 
 Torrey, Prescott H., Sgt. (o) 25 Spear St., Quincy, Mass. 
 
 Tuttle, George W., Sgt. (o,d) 933 West 7th St., Cincinnati, O. 
 
 Weldy, Daniel W., Sgt. (o) -341 Trueman Ave., Hammond, Ind. 
 
 Adams, Howard H., Corp. (o) 35 Greenville Ave., Limanville, R. I. 
 
 Anthony, Richard L., Corp. (o,d) 1312 Garfield Ave., Canton, O. 
 
 Bandurraga, Thomas M., Corp. (o) 1442 Toberman St., Los Angeles, Cal. 
 
 Brittain, Herbert, Corp. (o,d) 299 Grove St., Akron, O. 
 
 Coe, Foster, Corp. (o) Wray, Colo. 
 
 Day, Robin D., Corp. (o) 1190 So. Liberty St., Salem, Ore. 
 
 Dowd, Patrick, Corp. (o,x) IS No. Root St., Aurora, 111. 
 
 Erskine, Ralph M., Corp. (o) 700 No. Jefferson St., Bay City, Mich. 
 
 Gamier, James J., Corp. (o) Lovelocks, Nev. 
 
 Gray, Chas. P., Corp. (o) - 308 Garrard St., Covington, Ky. 
 
 Haller, Edward J., Corp. (o) 906 East Oak St., New Albany, Ind. 
 
 Hamilton, Amos, Corp. (o) Fickle, Ind. 
 
 Hannemann, Joseph J., Corp. (o) ...6422 West Dakin St., Chicago, lU. 
 
 Hansen, Einer A., Corp. (o) 5917 Byron St., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Harmon, Forrest D., Corp. (o) R.F.D. No. 2, Bellefontaine, O. 
 
 Heagney, William T., Corp. (o)— 19 Dix St., Worcester, Mass. 
 
 Johnston, Ralph A., Corp. (a,x) Kamiah, Ida. 
 
 Lively, Carlos A., Corp. (o) 216 North Garfield St., Oblong, 111. 
 
 McMahon, Earl E., Corp (o,x).-. 317 Addison St., Washington, Pa. 
 
 Miller, L. P., Corp. (o) Riceville, la. 
 
 Morrison, Frederick, Corp. (o,d) 2104 Jefferson St., Ogden, Utah 
 
 Murray, John J., Corp. (o,d) 24 Oak St., Cambridge, Mass. 
 
 Neighbours, Ray, Corp. (o) McCredie, Mo. 
 
 O'Neil, James, Corp. (o) 98 Laurel St., Fitchburg, Mass. 
 
 Peterson, Clarence R., Corp. (o) 597 Michigan Ave., Hammond, Ind. 
 
 Ryg, Clarence W., Corp. (o) Slater, la. 
 
 Shanks, Robert G., Corp. (o) Hannah, N. D. 
 
 Shuckerow, Frederick J., Corp. (o) 28 Pliny St., Hartford, Conn. 
 
 Sivard, Dean V., Corp (o) Steubenville, O. 
 
 Spriggs, Herbert S., Corp. (o) Eureka, Utah 
 
 Taylor, George W., Corp. (o) c/o Lab. Swift & Co., East St. Louis, 111. 
 
 Wenzel, Rudolph A., Corp. (o) R.F.D. No. 5, Box 18, St. Joseph, Mo. 
 
 Williams, William C, Corp. (o) R.R. No. 3, Portersville, Pa. 
 
 Zangger, Karl, Corp. (o,). Marcus, la. 
 
 Collins, Joseph, Cook (a) 633 Cottage St., New Bedford, Mass. 
 
 Keating, John T., Cook (o) 113 Cleveland Ave., Trenton, N. J. 
 
 Long, Elmer, Cook (o) Town Creek, N. C. 
 
 Messmer, Chas., Cook (o,d)... Hamburg, la. 
 
 Peck, John H., Cook (o) 340 Grandview Ave., South Bellevue, Ky. 
 
 Baumgartner, Herman F., Wagoner (o) Berne, Ind. 
 
 Grain, Hersey N., Wagoner (o) Waverly, 111. 
 
 Flores, Frank A., Wagoner (a) 609J^ Kansas St., El Paso, Tex. 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 107 
 
 McMillan, Harvey C, Wagoner (o) 715 Lakeview Blvd., Seattle, Wash. 
 
 Murphy, Walter, Wagoner (o) 1123 Lake Ave., Elyria, O. 
 
 Watkins, John, Bugler (o) — 609 E. Market St, Mahanoy City, Pa. 
 
 Adams, Clyde, Pvt 1st CI. (o) 741 W. Center St., Marion, O. 
 
 Ahl, Leslie, Pvt. 1st CI. (a) 178 Washington St., Maiden, Mass. 
 
 Arndt, Ralph M., Pvt. 1st CI. (o) Hutchinson, Minn. 
 
 Barker, James F., Pvt. 1st CI. (o) R.F.D. No. 2, Pennsboro, W. Va. 
 
 Blair, Lester D., Pvt 1st CI. (o).. Iowa Apts. No. 4, Washington, D. C. 
 
 Brassaemle, Robert M., Pvt. 1st CI. (o) 431 Crouse St., Akron, O. 
 
 Clifford, Carl R., Pvt. 1st CI. (o).. .104 West 1st St., Middletown, O. 
 
 Conn, Asahel E., Pvt. 1st CI. (o) New Richmond, Ind. 
 
 Corbett, William L., Pvt 1st CI. (o) R.F.D. No. 1, Minamac, Ind. 
 
 Cottingham, William H., Pvt 1st CI. (o).-.R. R. No. 3, Noblesville, Ind. 
 
 Dimick, Earl A., Pvt 1st CI. (o) —Minerva, N. Y. 
 
 Dyker, Gordon S., Pvt 1st CI. (o) 205 Smith Ave., Detroit, Mich. 
 
 Edmonds, Edward M., Pvt 1st CI. (o) Terrace P. O., Homeville, Pa. 
 
 Erskine, George R., Pvt. 1st CI. (o) 267 Selden Ave., Detroit, Mich. 
 
 Fisher, Jack C, Pvt. 1st CI. (o). 114 21st St, Warwood, Wheeling, W. Va. 
 
 Flannery, Stephan P., 1st CI. (o) —368 44th St., Pittsburg, Pa. 
 
 Fuhrman, Paul C, Pvt 1st CI. (a) Columbiana, O. 
 
 Giffin, Warley, Pvt 1st CI. (a) Mineral, O. 
 
 Gries, Frank F., Pvt 1st CI. (o) 1504 Arthur Ave., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Halk, Nathan B., Pvt 1st CI. (o) — 1103 Wyoming St, Dayton, O. 
 
 Hancock, James, Pvt. 1st CI. (o) 65 Meridian St., East Boston, Mass. 
 
 Haught, Albert B., Pvt 1st CI. (o) 220 25th St, Bellaire, O. 
 
 Home, Thomas, Pvt 1st CI. (o) 316 Poplar St, Chattanooga, Tenn. 
 
 Hughes, Patrick, Pvt 1st CI. (o) U. S. A. 
 
 Hurley, John W., Pvt 1st CI. (o) 14 Lauder St, East Lynn, Mass. 
 
 Kaufman, Marshall F., Pvt 1st CI. (o) 153 Bellaire Ave., Louisville, Ky. 
 
 Kenney, Raymond F., Pvt 1st CI. (o) 434 E. 52nd St., No. Portland, Ore. 
 
 Kommer, Harry Z., Pvt. 1st CI. (o,d) 1310 Western Ave., Pittsburg, Pa. 
 
 Lindsay, Frederick, Pvt 1st CI. (o)- 1305 Millburn St, Toledo, O. 
 
 Lindsay, John O., Pvt 1st CI. (o) 2307 Westmar St, N. S., Pittsburg, Pa. 
 
 MacMullin, Robert B., Pvt 1st CI. (o) 154 W. 73rd St, New York, N. Y. 
 
 Mansur, Norman C, Pvt 1st CI. (o,d) Epping, N. H, 
 
 Markle, Robert E., Pvt 1st CI. (o) Pennsboro, W. Va. 
 
 Martin, Ira A., Pvt 1st CI. (o). R.R. No. 1, Drake, Ky. 
 
 Matheny, William G., Pvt 1st CI. (o) 801 Maple St, Herrin, 111. 
 
 McLaughlin, James F., Pvt 1st CT. (o) 12 Robinson St, Wilmington, Del. 
 
 Merlone, Eugene, Pvt. 1st CI. (o) 307 W. 39th St., New York, N. Y. 
 
 Meyerowitz, Leo., Pvt 1st CI. (o) 29 Salem St, Newark, N. J. 
 
 Myrtle, George D., Pvt 1st CI. (a) Algona, Wash. 
 
 Noel, Prosper L., Pvt 1st CI. (o,d) .Greenbay, Wis. 
 
 Penick, Ercil V., Pvt 1st CI. (o).. 4595 Jefferson St, Bellaire, O. 
 
 Pettefi, Oliver, Pvt 1st CI. (o) —Hurley, Iron County, Wis. 
 
 Phelipow, William, Pvt 1st CI. (o,d) 1414 No. Ruby St, Chicago, 111. 
 
 Phipps, Francis H., Pvt 1st CI. (o).. 102 So. 6th Ave., Mount Vernon, N. Y. 
 
 Powers, Elmer J., Pvt 1st CI. (o)— 1557 Sheeny St, Youngstown, O. 
 
 Pratt, Chas. H., Pvt 1st CI. (o) 505 Central St, East Bridgewater, Me. 
 
 Quammon, Leonard F., Pvt. 1st Co. (o) Lindsay, Mont. 
 
 Rothgeber, George F., Pvt 1st CI. (o) Pipestone, Minn. 
 
108 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 Sander, Jacob D., Pvt. 1st CI. (o) —3323 Fairfield Ave., Cincinnati, O. 
 
 Shell, Jacob D., Pvt. 1st CI. (o) Bannock, Minn. 
 
 Shiflet, George A., Pvt. 1st CI. (o,d) 181 Walnut St., Hamilton, O. 
 
 Sieling, Edward H., Pvt. 1st CI. (o,d) 3458 No. Whipple St., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Spayde, James L., Pvt. 1st CI. (o) Belleville, O. 
 
 Stevens, Carl J., Pvt. 1st CI. (o) Pierre, S. D. 
 
 Stewart, John E., Pvt. 1st CI. (o) Wayzata, Minn. 
 
 Stockman, Edward J., Pvt. 1st CI. (o) 3132 Durrell Ave., Cincinnati, O. 
 
 Stockton, Bernard C, Pvt. 1st CI. (o) Kernersville, N. C. 
 
 Stone, Harry G., Pvt. 1st CI. (o). Medina, Mich. 
 
 Taggart, Frank, Pvt. 1st. CI. (o) 28 Besant Lane, Uniontown, Pa. 
 
 Taylor, Russel I., Pvt. 1st CI. (o,d) 1200 Bender Ave., Cleveland, O. 
 
 Wachter, John J., Pvt. 1st CI. (o) 1420 Rush St., N. S., Pittsburg, Pa. 
 
 Wagner, William J., Pvt. 1st CI. (o) 212 Diebert St., Johnstown, Pa. 
 
 Waldo, Ralph E., Pvt. 1st CI. (a)— 1417 E. 37th Ave., Spokane, Wash. 
 
 Walter, John C, Pvt. 1st CI. (a) 3515 Norton Ave., Everett, Wash. 
 
 Alterici, Louis, Pvt. (o,d) 614 Washington Ave., Charleroi, Pa. 
 
 Archer, Arthur W., Pvt., (a) —.319 W. 23rd St., New York, N. Y. 
 
 Atkins, Clarence, Pvt. (o) 5230 So. Homan St., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Baines, Arthur S^, Pvt. (o) El Verano, Cal. 
 
 Baker, Nolan W., Pvt. (o) 858 Bennet St., Wilmington, Del. 
 
 Barbarian, Mikrand, Pvt. (a) 49 Seymour Ave., Newark, N. J. 
 
 Barchanowicz, Charles, Pvt. (o) 518 Vermont Ave., Glassport, Pa. 
 
 Bever, Charles F., Pvt. (a) 827 Race St., Logansport, Ind. 
 
 Billings, Hezekiah, Pvt. (o) R.F.D. No. 3, Millington, Mich. 
 
 Bingham, Carleton R., Pvt. (o) 434 Newton PI. N. W., Washington, D. C. 
 
 Blackwell, Lee R., Pvt. (o) — Tapoco, N. C. 
 
 Boccuzzi, Joseph James, Pvt. (a) 744 Greenwich St., New York, N. Y. 
 
 Brackens, Clarence Henry, Pvt. (a) Wytheville, Va. 
 
 Brant, Lloyd, Pvt. (a) 1630 Rosevelt Ave., Indianapolis, Ind. 
 
 Brown, Jesse, Pvt. (o)-.. - R.F.D. No. 2, Lebanon, O. 
 
 Brown, Lloyd L., Pvt. (o) R.F.D. No. 4, Jackson, Mich. 
 
 Brickey, Merle O., Pvt. (o,d).. Stillson, la. 
 
 Brightman, James H., Pvt. (o,d) Brewersville, Ind. 
 
 Burton, Samuel, Pvt. (o) Boswell, Ind. 
 
 Campbell, Carrington, Pvt. (o) Wellston, O. 
 
 Caroselli, Don, Pvt. (o) ..1212 Edgemont St., Indianapolis, Ind. 
 
 Castor, Samuel B., Pvt. (a)... 67 E. Clinton St., Noblesville, Ind. 
 
 Cheek, Benjamin R., Pvt (o) R.R. No. 3, Chapel Hill, N. C. 
 
 Chichilos, Triandafilos, Pvt. (a) 33 W. 7th St., Gary, Ind. 
 
 Civilett, Joseph H., Pvt. (o,d) 140 Clinton Ave., Fredonia, N. Y. 
 
 Coen, Van H., Pvt. (o) 49th St., Bellaire, O. 
 
 Corteal, Frank, Pvt. (a) .R.F.D. No. 1, Box 85, Connelsville, Fay- 
 ette Co., Pa. 
 
 Crawford, Newton W., Pvt. (a) Harrisburg, Tex. 
 
 Crotshin, F'rank, Pvt. (o) Cashmere, W. Va. 
 
 Dalrymple, Clifford B., Pvt. (a) -Jutland, N. J. 
 
 Diemer, Otto, Pvt. (o) 57 So. Torrence St., Dayton, O. 
 
 Dlouhy, John C, Pvt. (o)... 3892 E. 43rd St., Cleveland O. 
 
 Dobish, John J., Pvt. (o) 761 Hudson St., Forest City, Pa. 
 
 Domler, Clifford H., Pvt. (a) 79 Providence St., Providence, R. I. 
 
 Donley, Homer A., Pvt. (a) St. Joe, Ind. 
 
 Doughty, George F., Pvt. (a) Oakdale, Tenn. 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 109 
 
 Durea, Edwin D., Pvt. (o.d) 1936 3rd Ave., Huntington, W. Va. 
 
 Dunn, Arthur F., Pvt. (o,d).— .11 Jefferson St., East Lynn, Mass. 
 
 Eden, Paul, Pvt. (o.x) ...Ashland, Neb. 
 
 Ellis, Stanley H., Pvt. (o) — Jetto, Mich. 
 
 Elsey, Roger E. C, Pvt. (o) 4355 Hunt Ave., St. Louis, Mo. 
 
 Farr, Eddie D., Pvt. (a).. Pyland, Miss. 
 
 Finelli, Dominico, Pvt. (a,d).. U. S. A. 
 
 Fite, William A., Pvt. (a,d) U. S. A. 
 
 Fischer, John W., Pvt. (o,d) 2205 W. Burnett St., Louisville, Ky. 
 
 Fitzgerald, Leo G., Pvt. (o) 1915 H St., N. W., Washington, D. C. 
 
 Fletcher, Forrest E., Pvt. (o) Salem, Ind. 
 
 Fletcher, Harold R., Pvt. (o) 506 Pennsylvania Ave., South Bend, Ind. 
 
 Freyburger, Herman M., Pvt. (o) ..Blevins, Ark. 
 
 Frost, Elmer J., Pvt. (o) 414J4 Broadway, Seattle, Wash. 
 
 Gill, Allen G., Pvt. (o) 338 Walnut St., Statesville, N. C. 
 
 Gilbertson, Charles E., Pvt. (o) Piano, 111. 
 
 Gooch, William G., Pvt. (o) Barlow, Ky. 
 
 Gourdin, Theodore T., Pvt. (o) 4527 Carthage Pike, St. Bernard, O. 
 
 Gray, Leslie, Pvt. (o) McFall, Mo. 
 
 Gregg, Orlando R., Pvt. (o) 200 Main St., Irwin, Pa. 
 
 Griggsby, Jarret, Pvt. (o,x Ned, Ky. 
 
 Hall, Albert L., Pvt. (a) 91 No. Swan St., Albany, N. Y. 
 
 Hall, Frank C, Pvt. (o,d) 217 Railroad Ave., Cardington, O. 
 
 Hancock, Joseph R., Pvt. (a)... Atwater, 111. 
 
 Harberson, Wm. H., Pvt. (o) Lumberton, N. Mex. 
 
 Henry, Murray, G., Pvt. (a) 528 Walnut St., Hollidaysburg, Blair Co., 
 
 Pa. 
 
 Heller, Richard D., Pvt. (a) R.F.D. No. 1, Boise, Idaho 
 
 Holder, Glenn U., Pvt. (o,d) Pennsboro, W. Va. 
 
 Hoover, Charles, Pvt. (o,d) Box 412, Uniontown, Pa. 
 
 Howard, Benjamin E., Pvt. (o,d) 2831 Winchester St., Baltimore, Md. 
 
 Hurdle, Harry, Pvt. (o,d). .1211 Public St., Cincinnati, O. 
 
 Hyett, Roland, Pvt. (o) . .Gibsonia, Pa. 
 
 Jacobs, Claude E., Pvt. (o,d). 655 W. 62nd St., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Jenkinson, Roy A., Pvt. (o,d) 9th St., Hoquiam, Wash. 
 
 Johnson, Charles G., Pvt. (o,d) 24 Pierpont Ave., Potsdam, N. Y. 
 
 Joyce, John R., Pvt. (o,d) 250 N. 56th St., Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 Keith, Herbert A., Pvt. (o) .606 S. Buckeye St., lola, Kans. 
 
 Kepler, Edward L., Pvt. (o) Fairmount, Ind. 
 
 Kerns, Edward J., Pvt. (o) ..Clio, Mich. 
 
 Ketzler, Cecil L., Pvt. (o) 1746 N. Lawrence St., Wichita, Kans. 
 
 Kirshner, Erhart, Pvt. (o) 108 Luella Ave., Charleroi, Pa. 
 
 Kozloski, Stanley, Pvt. (o) .2071 Oakley Ave., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Kroog, Aaron, Pvt. (a,d) U. S. A. 
 
 Lalone, Ralph, Pvt. (a,d) U. S. A. 
 
 Lanehart, Walter M., Pvt. (o).. 137 E. Adams Ave., Detroit, Mich. 
 
 LeClair, Leo, Pvt. (o) 625 E. 1st St., Des Moines, la. 
 
 Legge, Henry W., Pvt. (o) R.F.D. No. 2, Dagmar, Mont. 
 
 Levison, Aaron, Pvt. (o) Tottenville, Staten Island, N. Y. 
 
 Llewellyn, Richard, Jr., Pvt. (a) Vandling, Pa. 
 
 Logan, Frank F., Pvt. (a) 137 Essex St., Jersey City, N. J. 
 
 Logan, Roy J., Pvt. (o) Eldred, 111. 
 
 Lorigan, John F., Pvt. (o) 411 Linnaeus St., Cincinnati, O. 
 
 Luke, Cecil L., Pvt. (o) Bethel, O. 
 
110 WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS 
 
 Lynch, Edward J., Pvt. (o) Waucoma, la. 
 
 Lytton, Amos H., PvL (a) c/o Mrs. J. H. Bernardin, Hotel Donora, 
 
 Donora, Pa. 
 
 MacNamara, Leo W., Pvt (o)... 5816 Cedarhurst St., West Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 Maeding, Jack, Pvt. (o,d) R.F.D. No. 1, Box 55, Needville, Tex. 
 
 Maksimowicz, John, Pvt. (a) 7 Bay St., Jersey City, N. J. 
 
 Malecki, Frank J., Pvt. (o) 3873 E. S7th St., Cleveland, O. 
 
 Manette, John M., Pvt. (a,d) U. S. A. 
 
 Manchester, William G., Pvt. (a) 121 Wadsworth Ave., Providence, R. I. 
 
 Marks, Albert, Pvt., (o) 423 Saratoga Ave., Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 Marx, Nicholas, Jr., Pvt (o,d) 1706 Logan St., Cincinnati, O. 
 
 May, Edward C, Pvt (o,d) 134 Oakland Ave., Mathuen, Mass. 
 
 Mayne, Robert M., Pvt (o,d) R.F.D. No. 3, Huntington, Ind. 
 
 McAmdiless, Frank C, Pvt. (o) 5400 Compton St, Los Angeles, Cal. 
 
 McCartney, Lewis E., Pvt. (a) Glenwillard, Pa. 
 
 McKay, John, Pvt. (o) 915 Polk St., San Francisco, Cal. 
 
 McLaughlin, Edward F., Pvt (a) 1606 Scott St., San Francisco, Cal. 
 
 McManus, George P., Pvt (o) 2435 Westmar St, Pittsburgh, Pa. 
 
 McManus, James F., Pvt. (o) 15 Cowan St., Pittsburgh, Pa. 
 
 McNamara, John D., Pvt. (o) 1632 Island Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa. 
 
 Miller, Earl, Pvt (o) Red Key, Ind. 
 
 Miller, John G., Pvt (o) 29th and Lexington Ave., Ashland, Ky. 
 
 Miller, Paul W., Pvt. (o) 810 McCandless Ave., Pittsburg, Pa. 
 
 Morse, Floyd I., Pvt (o) Coopersville, Mich. 
 
 Moschgat, Emil C, Pvt (o) 325 Cliff St, Johnstown, Pa. 
 
 Mowery, Lawrence A., Pvt (o) R.F.D. No. 1, Jeffersonville, O. 
 
 Moynier, Louis, Pvt (o) .R.F.D. No. 4, Box 10, Bakersfield, Cal. 
 
 Murphy, James A., Pvt (o) 709 Latrobe St., Parkersburg, W. Va. 
 
 Mohn, Newton C, Pvt (a,d) U. S. A. 
 
 Montgomery, Pearl E., Pvt (a,d) U. S. A. 
 
 Nardiello, Manuel V., Pvt (o,x) 36 Burton St., Waterbury, Conn. 
 
 O'Brien, Howard C, Pvt. (o) Deer Creek, 111. 
 
 O'Neill, John F., Pvt. (o) Morrisdale, Pa. 
 
 O'Neil, Roland, Pvt (o) R.F.D. No. 2, Star City, Ind. 
 
 Orrison, Arthur N., Pvt. (o)... 1519 A St. N. E., Washington, D. C. 
 
 Owen, Arthur G., Pvt (a) R.F.D. No. 2, Floydada, Tex. 
 
 Palen, Howard J., Pvt. (o,d) Niobrora, Neb. 
 
 Patterson, James T., Pvt (o) 2717 Cedar St, Louisville, Ky. 
 
 Parry, William V., Pvt (a) 1348 W. 8th St, Topeka, Kan. 
 
 Paine, Claud L., Pvt (o) Bona, Col. 
 
 Pennington, Yates, Pvt. (o,d) 20 W. Madison Ave., Baltimore, Md. 
 
 Pruette, Otto P., Pvt (o,x) Mount Hope, W. Va. 
 
 Plunkett, Thomas B., Pvt (a,d)— — U. S. A. 
 
 Rainey, Maurice, Pvt (o,d) 725 4th St N. E., Washington, D. C. 
 
 Reed, Wilmer L., Pvt (o) .238 Cranbury Ave., Harrisburg, Pa. 
 
 Reichard, Albert H., Pvt (o).. .2332 John St, Fort Wayne, Ind. 
 
 Reim, Frederick R., Pvt (o) 126 Kehr St, Buffalo, N. Y. 
 
 Reyman, Charles W., Pvt. (o) Salem, Ind. 
 
 Reynolds, Thomas J., Pvt (o) 863 Cornelia Ave., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Romyer, John M., Pvt (a) Box 31, Yorkville, O. 
 
 Rolands, Emrys, Pvt (o) 8 Abbot St, Plains, Pa. 
 
 Rude, Velde R., Pvt. (a) 2612 Champagne Ave., Mattoon, 111. 
 
 Rudy, Aaron H., Pvt (o) Henderson, Ky. 
 
 Ruikka, Julius A., Pvt. (o) .Aurora, Minn. 
 
WITH "E" OF THE FIRST GAS HI 
 
 Rusiski, William F., Pvt. (o) 2040 Gladstone St., Pittsburgh, Pa. 
 
 Rust, Marvin C, Pvt. (o,x) R.F.D. No. 1, Barlow, Ky. 
 
 Salerno, Guiseppe, Pvt. (a) 429 Monmouth St., Jersey City, N. J. 
 
 Smith, Daniel, Pvt. (o) - Blevins, Ark. 
 
 Smith, Merwyn H., Pvt. (a) 142 S. Cherry St., Easton, Pa. 
 
 Souci, Wayne E., Pvt (o) .295 W. Main St., Battle Creek, Mich. 
 
 Spasiano, Augustine, Pvt. (a) 34 Marion St., Ravenswood, L. I. City, 
 
 N. Y. 
 
 Sprick, Henry C, Pvt. (a) Titonka, la. 
 
 Sterner, Floyd W., Pvt. (o) - 11 No. 4th St., Pastime Arcade, Easton, Pa. 
 
 Stith, Albert R., Pvt. (o) -Sunman, Ind. 
 
 Stonehouse, George G., Pvt. (a) Kingsford, Saskatchewan, Canada. 
 
 Straub, Albert J., Pvt. (o) 223 E. Junction St., Paragould, Ark. 
 
 Suttle, Walter A., Pvt. (o,d) - 1407 26th St., Meridian, Miss. 
 
 Sweet, Edward R., Pvt. (o) 6624 Apple Ave., Pittsburg, Pa. 
 
 Tetman, Walter L., Pvt. (o) R.F.D. No. 10, Dayton, O. 
 
 Tennant, Walter J., Pvt. (a,d) U. S. A. 
 
 Thompson, Albert, Pvt. (a) 700 Haskett, Dayton, O., c/o Miss Ida 
 
 Bennett. 
 
 Thorp, Joseph V., Pvt. (o) Box 143, Van Alstyne, Tex. 
 
 Tieman, Harold, Pvt. (a) Route No. 3, Decatur, Ind. 
 
 Timberlake, Robert L., Pvt. (o) 4169 Noble St., Bellaire, O. 
 
 Tisdale, George W., Pvt. (o) Fullerton, Ky. 
 
 Tucker, Floyd S., Pvt. (o) Creston, la. 
 
 Walters, Frank J., Pvt. (o) Granville, 111. 
 
 Ward, Louis A., Pvt. (o) .333 Melrose Ave., Toledo, O. 
 
 Wegis, Anthony, Pvt. (o,d) 21 Chestnut St., Ridgefield Park, N. J. 
 
 Wehausen, Henry, Pvt. (o) 1247 I St., N. E., Washington, D. C. 
 
 Welch, Lee H., Pvt. (o) 512 Stickney Ave., Toledo, O. 
 
 Wells, Archie, Pvt. (o) 802 York St., Louisville, Ky. 
 
 White, Peter E., Pvt. (a) Missoula, Mont. 
 
 Williams, John, Pvt. (o,d) -R.R. No. 1, Scottsburg, Ind. 
 
 Williams, Vernon E., Pvt. (a) Glen Rock, Pa. 
 
 Wilson, Frederick J., Pvt. (o) Mingo Junction, O. 
 
 Wilson, William E., Pvt. (o) 815 Walnut St., Connersville, Ind. 
 
 Wimer, John H., Pvt. (o) McKeen St., Zelienople, Butler Co., Pa. 
 
 Wognakowski, Anthony A., Pvt. (a) 1531 Western Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa. 
 
 Wood, Al., Pvt. (o)— 618 E. D St., Iron Mountain, Mich, 
 
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