“There were four of us on guard and we reported the coming of the Germans to the officers, and the men were routed out of the dugouts. One little fellow named Roach—we called him the boy scout—was so excited that he put his trousers on backward and got his shoes on the wrong feet. “He started with a box of ammunition for a gun and ran into another fellow with another box. The collision knocked him down and he rolled clear down a hill to the very place the gun crew was waiting for the ammunition. “Some of us had been joking and I remember a fellow named Clark who said he wondered which of us would live to take the story back home. A buddy of mine named Hanky said, ‘You fellows write your notes to your mothers and sweethearts and I’ll take ’em back to them.’ Poor Hanky was killed in that fight. “The fight lasted two hours. The point where I was had thirteen men to defend it. We had two Stokes guns. “There were five hundred men in the party that attacked this point, or, to be exact, 498, according to the officers. We cleaned up the whole business. Seven of our thirteen men were killed.” THAT LITTLE FELLOW ROACH Gardener’s next serious engagement was in the Belleau Wood battle. [Illustration: _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ Color Sergeant Hardy C. Dougherty _1st Division, 18th Infantry, Headquarters Company_ He was cited July 18-23, 1918, as a non-commissioned officer of splendid courage, energy and ability. When in command of reinforcements for the first line, he carried out his mission with complete success. Upon being relieved he returned to bring to safety on his back one of the seriously wounded of his detachment.] “We moved up to the woods gradually. We met Algerian troops belonging to the French Army. These Algerians claimed that they had been kept at the front too long. They were never taken to rest-camps or had any relief. Many of them committed suicide. They said they were tired of fighting. We met some that were running wild, shooting in all directions, and had to take shelter to keep from being hit by stray shots. “We met many French moving back, too. They said that the Germans were very numerous in the woods. “That little fellow, Roach, crawled out in a field, dug into a haystack and climbed to the top. From there he could see that Germans were hiding behind bushes farther on. “He came back and said he was going to raid ’em. The officers said he didn’t have any right to do this without orders. ‘Well,’ said Roach, ‘this ain’t a regular battle, you know. This is just a little private party of my own.’ He said he wanted a dozen men to volunteer to go with him, and the dozen volunteered at once. I never saw a time when volunteers were called for among the marines that any one wanted to stay back. Everybody wanted to go. “Well, Roach got his men as quick as he could count ’em. ‘Come on, fellows,’ he said: ‘I’m going to have them Germans for supper.’ “We cleaned up fifty of ’em.