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SHORTVOL. XXI. NO. 15. SHORT]ALUMNUS SEES FRONTLINE SERVICE IN FRANCECapt. William F. Daugherty, Former Friday Editor, Relates His Experiences.“July 9, 1918—We are now in a very beautiful part of France. I should certainly have liked to tour through here before war came to work havoc. The boche himself is not particularly destructive, but the wear and tea# of war traffic, and the neglect wrought by four years of turmoil has altered things. Wc. are in a beautiful river valley with broad poplar bordered roads, wheat fields and little hamlets everywhere. The French are live in these little towns, instead of each man having a home in the center of his acres as in the States. Of course, the big chateaux are very beautifully situated in wonderful grounds, with artistic ’ gardens and shrubbery atjput. An American lives directly across the road in a big stone house. Of course, he has all conveniences American, whiejfarer usually lacking in French dwellings. When we moved in sn his place he wadtoery obliging and showed us places to water horses, etc.“Later—This last week has been the most eventful seven days I have ever spent*. We have made night marches, day marches, have been or. duty as prison guards, as road police and have done a bit of everything else.“If you want to try to imagine confusion—let me tell you what it is. Imagine a forest, with a narrow stone road through it—and trees touching overhead. It is a cloudy night —so that with all these conditions you can not see your own hand if you touch your nose. Then imagine four solid lines of army transport trucks, guns, caissons, rolling kitchens, escort wagons and everything else trying to go on that road which is wide enough for two vehicles abreast. All this at 2:00 a. m. Average speed of transport columns is two miles per hour—but if we made one kilometer we thought we were dong wonderfully well.“And then the opening barrage! One minute before all is quiet as Crown Hill at night— but at the hour “H” the whole sky is red with flashes fromContinued on page fourl
Newspaper Details
Indianapolis Shortridge High school Daily Echo
Indianapolis, Indiana, US
Fri, Sep 27, 1918
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Connie D.
WA, USA 20 Aug 2017
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