"That night the Germans shelled us and got three killed and seventeen
wounded. We move a bit farther back to the cross road and after burying
a few Germans, some of whom showed signs of having been wounded before,
we settled down to a short stay.
"It looked like rain, and so Wilmer and I went to an old dressing
station to salvage some cover. We were about to go when we stopped to
look at a new grave. A rude cross made of two slats from a box had
written on it:
"Lester S. Wass, Captain U. S. Marines. July 18, 1918."
"The old crowd at St. Nazaire and Bordeaux--Wass and Sumner killed,
Baston and Capt. LeRoy T. Hunt wounded. We then moved further to the
rear and camped for the night. Dunlap came to look us over. A carrier
pigeon perched on a tree with a message. We decided to shoot him. It was
then quite dark, so the shot missed. I then heard the following remarks
as I tried to sleep: 'Hell! he only turned around!' 'Send up a flare!'
'Call for a barrage!' etc.
"The next day we were back in a town for some rest and to lick our
wounds."
IMPRESSION OF A FRENCH LIEUTENANT
A French lieutenant thus describes the American fighting quality:
"The finest thing in the combat was the dash of the Americans. It was
splendid to see those grand fellows, with their tunics thrown off and
their shirt sleeves rolled up above their elbows, wading the rivers with
the water to their shoulders and throwing themselves on the Boche like
bulldogs.
"Any one who has seen such a sight knows what the American army is good
for henceforth and to the end of the war. At the sight of these men,
magnificent in their youth, physical force, good temper and dash, the
Germans fled 'with every leg' or surrendered without awaiting the order
to throw away their arms and take off their suspenders, which is the
first thing a prisoner is told to do, in order that he may be compelled
to keep his hands employed and out of mischief.
"The Germans hurried toward our lines gripping their trousers, haggard
and mad with terror.
"Would that every mother in France who has lost a son in the war could
have seen that epic sight. They would have seen themselves revenged, and
it would have been some consolation to them in their sorrow."
KEEPING THE GERMANS ON THE RUN
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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