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6 f -,P' WOUNDED IN ACTION - ' ?' ? ? "" H ' i ftp StnjMOt Akiuuukr PfcCIUitock. D. Clr, 57th Ov??ma Bait ^^^CinadUii Oreo- Guards Copyright, IWf# fcjr U?c ii?U flawdioftt*, loo. Sergeant McClintock, an American boy of Lexington, Ky., hat teen tervice in France, tout decorated for bravery, wounded ami invalided home. He it telling hie ttory, a thrilling one, and thit it the fifth article of the teriet. In the preceding onet he dttirribed how he reached the front, fighting in Hel gium, and then the great preparaltont for the Homme battle. In thit install ment he tellt of condUiont and de tcribet fir at hand the fighting in that greatetl of all battlet. OUll high command apparently meant to make a sure thing of the general assault u|M>ri the Ko glna trench. In which we were to par ticipate. Three times the order to "go over the top" wan countermanded. The assault wan first planned for Oct. 10. Then the date wan changed to the 20th. Finally, at 12:10 noon of Oct. 21, we went. It wa? the first general assault we had taken part In, and we were In a highly nervous state. 1*11 admit that. It seemed almost certain death to start over In broad daylight, yet, a? It turned out, the crossing of No Mau't* Land was accomplished rather more easily than In our ulght raids. Our battalion was on the extreme right of the line, and that added materially to | our difficulties, first by compelling us to advance through mud so deep that Home of our men smik to their hips In j It and, second, hy giving us the hottest little spot In France to hold later. I was In charge of the second "wave," or assault line. This Is called the "mopping up" wave, because the business of the men composing It Is thoroughly^ to bomb out a position crossed by the first wave, to capture or kill all of the enemy remaining and to put the trench in a condition to be defended against a counterattack by reversing the fire steps and throwing up par pets. Our artillery had given the Germans such a battering and the curtain fire which our guns dropped Just thirty to forty yards ahead of us was so pow erful that wo lost comparatively few men going over ? only those who were [knocked down by shells which the Ger mans landed among us through our .barrage. They never caught us with their machine gun sweeping until wo neared their trenches. Then a good jmany of our men began to drop, but 'we were In their front trench before 'they could cut us up anywhere near 'completely, doing over I was struck ;by shell fragments on the hand and .leg, but the wounds were i>ot severe enough to stop me. In fact. I did not know that I bad been wounded until It Seemed Almost Certain Death to Start Over In Daylight. I felt 1>Io<mI running Into my shoe. Then I discovered Hit* cut In my le>:. but saw that it wns ?inlte shallow and thnt no nrii ry <>i' Importance bad born damaged. So I w? lit on. 1 bad Ibf f.-iiaMfrir fooIln_* ?>l nervous ness and phy^b al -brinkiit^ and namea at the bi^'hmiuj: of' this fi^ht. but by tin* time wo were halfway acros'i No Mud's Land I bar! my norvo back. Alter I had herd hit I remember feel ing r? (?'.?:! that i hadn't been b 1 1 ?? J unouirb >?? ? m ' ie from iroinj; ??n \>i!h the iiu'ii. I ; .? : ?{ trying t<> make my self ont :> 1 > I'm tr.\inir to tell yon hou' :>:i or.l'.n\ry man's mind works undrr ? r- . - . fi-liiinc and the danirer < ;' ? i!i. There are some ?,u. ? , n i. : * i , il.o psyrhol opy of b;i 1 1 1 ??. ! "r I r:>ta':> ?*, wlwn we bad trot Into tbo f.t runri tr-n-a and were holding it npln?t the most . , vigorous counterattacks the thought! which wns persistently uppermost In my mind was thr.t I bad lo*.t the ad dress of n girl Iq London nlon*,' with some papers which I had thrown nwny j Just before we started over and which ll should certainly never be nble to find again. Hold Regina T ranch at Last. Tho Bcglna trench had been taken ,an<1 lost three tlmaa by the British. We took It that day and held It. We mart into actio* with Wimb et all ranks aud came out with ?hh>. ^ I have mold that bNMN we wer# on the eatroaio right of th# lino wo bod the hottest Uftlo opot I? franca t? | hold for awhile. .*ou mi, wo bod to ! institute' a doubJo defeonlro, aa wo had tho Oermsn* on oar front snd on oar flank, tho whale langtb of 4fco trench to tbq right of us being atlll held by the Germans. Thero wo bad to form ft "block," maturing our bomb er* behind a barricade wblch waa only fifteen yards froiu tho burrlcado be hind which the Germans were fighting. Our flunk huU the German fiauk were lu contact ah fiery as that of two live wire ends. Aud meanwhile tbo Frltsos tried to rush' us on our front with nine xeparate counterattacks. Only one of them got up close to us, snd we went out and stopped that with the bayonet. Hehlnd our bloCk barricade there waa the nearest approach to an actual fight ing hell that I had seen. Aud yet a man who wan In the midst of It from beginning to end came out without a scfgtch. Ho wan a tall chap named Hunter. For twenty-four hours, without Interruption, be threw Ueriuan "eggshell" bombs from a |>oaltloi? at tho center of our barricade. He never Stopped except to light a cigarette or yell for some one to bring him more bombs from Fritas's captured store- 1 house, lie projected a regular curtain of Are of his own. I've no doubt the Oermans reported he was a couple of platoons, Working In alternato reliefs. Ifo was awarded tho D. C. M. for his services In that tight, and, though, as I said, he was unwounded, half the ! men around him were killed, and his j nerves finished In such condition that j he had to be sent back to Bngland. The Big Blunder snd What It Coat. j One of the great tragedies of the war ! resulted from a bit of carelessness when a couple of days later the effort ! was made to extend our grip beyond the spot which we took In that, first, fight. Plans had been made for the | Forty-fourth battalion of tho Tenth | Canadian brigade to take by assault the trench section extending to the right from tho point where we had es tablished the "block" on our*flank, The hour for the attack had been fixed. Then headquarters bent out a counter manding order. Something wasn't qulto ready. The orders were sent by runners, as all confidential orders must be. Tele phones are of no avail any more, as both our people and the Germans have an apparatus which needs only to be attached to a metal spike In tho ground to 'pick up" every telephone message within a radius of three miles. When telephones are used for anything Im portant messages are sent In code. But for any vitally Important commu nication which might cost serious j losses, If misunderstood, old style run- j ners are used, just ns they were in the' days when the field telephone was tin- ; heard of. It Is the rule to dispatch two or three runners by different routes so that one at least will be certain to nr rive. In the case of the countermand ing of the order for the Forty-fourth battalion to assault the German posi tion on our flank some officer at head quarters thought that one messenger to the lieutenant colonel commanding the Forty-fourth would be sufficient. I The messenger was killed by a chance shot, and his message was undelivered, Tbo Forty- fourth, In Ignorance of the change of plan, "wont over." There was no barrage fire to protect them, and their valiant effort was simply a wholesale suicide. Six hundred of *00 men were on the ground In two and a half minutes. The battalion was simply wiped out. Several officers were court martlaled as n result of this (crrlble blunder. Wo had gone Into tho German trenches at a little after noon on-'Sat urday. On Sunday night at about 10 o'clock we were relieved. The relief force had to come in overland, and they had a good many casualties en route. They found us as comfortable as bugs In a rug except for the Infer nal and continuous bombing at our flank barricade. Tho Germans had concluded that It was useless to try to drive us out. About one-fourth of the iwm) of ns who were still on their feet were holding the sentry posts, and the remainder of the (100 wore havlntr banquets In the German dugouts, which were stocked up like delicatessen shops ' with sausages, fine canned foods, chain patfiio and beer. If we had only had a few ladles with us we could have had a rial party. T trot so happily interested In the spread In our particular dugout that 1 ! forgot about my wound until some imo reminded me that orders required me to hunt up :> dressing station and ? an antitetanus Injection. The Tom ! inics ltko to hike a ("Jernmn trench. be I caiiso If the Prifres have to move quickly, as they usually d<>. we always ? tlnd sausage, beer and ehampagne, a w?*i?*ome qhnnge from bully beef. I could never learn to like ?h<?ir bnv i hiuvincr, Afli-r thN fiirht I was- wit! o:i,i-r slightly wounded men. f? ?r >i w "s at the casualty station ::: Cnrray. T n-Joined my ba'miinn ?he i nd ef l tn? week. From Oct. .1 t Nov. is we \\?re in nnd out of the front tren< hes v ral times fi>r da!\ tours of fortyw :_'hf hours each, but were in no important action. At <>:lo the morning of Nov. IS, n?hlt ter cold day. we "went over" to take the Desire and also the Desire support trenches. These were the names given these trenched We started from the left of our oM position, and our ad i vance wns between Tbiepval and i Porien s. opposite Orondecourt. j There was the nsuat artillery prep- ; aration and careful organization for the attack. I was ngnln In charge of the 4,mo7?plng up" wave, numbering 200 men nnd consisting mostly of bombers. It may seem strange to yon sometime* lu this war private# have, been In charge of <vmpanle? number In# 280 n?eo. Mid I know of. a caae wliertj a Ignce corporal W|i temporarl ly In command oi an entire battalion. It happened oQ this day thak wbUa 1 wan tn charge of the aecoud wave, I did not go over with them. At the last moment I wdu g Iveu a special duty by Major John Lewla, formerly manag ing editor of the Montreal Star and one of the bravest soldier* I ever j knew, a* well aa tho beat beloved iuuu i In our battalion. The Troubleee*f*e Maohlne Qun. "McCHutock," aald he, MI don't wish to aend you to any special hazard, and, ao far aa that goea, we're all going to get more or less of a dusting1, but 1 want to put that machine gun which haa been giving na ao much trouble out of action." I knew very well the machine gun he meant. It waa In a concrete em placement, walled and roofed, and the devlla In charge of It aeemed to be de scendants of William Tell And the prophet iNnltih. They always know what wuh coming and had their mud accurately trained on It before It came. "If you are willing." Mid Major Lewis, "I wish you to select twenty tlve from tho company and go after that gun the mlnuto the order comes to advance. Use your own Judgment ubout the inen and the plan for taking the gun position. Will you go?" "I sure will," I answered. "I'll go and pick out the men right away. I think we can mako thoae fellows shut up shop over there." , "Good boy !" he said. "You'll try, all right." I started away. He called me back. "Thts ts going to be a bit hot, Mc Olintock," he said, taking my hand. "I wish you luck, old fellow ? you and the ,rest of them," In the trenches they always wish yon the best of luck when they hand you a particularly tough Job. I thanked him and wished him the same. I never saw him again. He was killed In action wlthlh two hours "This Is Going to Be a Bit Hot, Mc Cllntock." after our conversation. Both he and uiy pal McFarland were shot down (lend that morning. When they called for volunteers to go with me In discharge of Major Lew is' order the entire company resuonded. I picked out twenty-five men, twelve bayonet men and thirteen bombers. They agreed to my plan, which was to get within twenty-five yards of the gun emplacement before attacking, to place no dependence on rifle fire, but to bomb them out and take the posi tlou with the bayonet. We followed that plan and took the emplacement quicker thnn we had expected to do, but there wer^ only two of us left when we got there ? Private Godsall, ' No. 177,003, and myself. A1J the rest of the twenty-five were dead or down, i The emplacement was held by eleven Germans. Two only were left stand- : Ing when we got in. When we saw the gun had been si- ' lenced and the crew disabled Godsall and I worked round to the riulit about ten yards from the shell hole where we had sheltered ourselves while throwing bombs Into the emplacement and scaled the German parapet. We rushed the gun position. Thf officer who had been In charge was standing with his back to us, firing with his re volver down the trench at out* men who were coming over at another point. I reached him before Godsall ? and bayoneted him. The other Ger man -who had survived our bombing threw up his hands and mouthed the Teutonic slogan of surrender ? "Mercy, kamerad !'* My bayonet bad broken'* *>fi" in the encounter with the German ofileer, so I pi ck CM#L?an?^1fi0f: with a bayonet tewtfrf! arttf* 1 worked on down the trench. The German who had surrendered >t<-.od with his hands held hiirh above I < bead, waiting for us to 'ell him wb?t to do. lie never took his eyes i of us even to look at hi** < :Mcer. ly !r.^' at bis feet- As we mo\ ? d down ' .:?? trench he followed us, <- * i 1 1 hold- j ! ?*- b's hands up and repeating "Mercy, : k nni-rad!" At the next trexi. h aiigle ? we took five more prisoners, and ns ; G(*d?Mtl bad been slightly wounded In ; the arm I turned the captives over to him and ordered him to take them to J the rear, Just then the men of our second wave came over the parapet like a lot of hurdlers. In five minutes we hnd taken the rest of the Germans in the trench section prisoners, had re versed the fire steps and had turned their own machine gnn against those ; of their retreating companies that we could catch sight of. As we could do nothing more here* I gave orders to Advance and re-ea* *?? *? Oat w t?* 'mmm a n?idSrow?i with *e? hoiej ,535BM; W| buratln# abeUa. Not ? nma heaitated. Wt went wiuulug. That wm ill wt kofir or cared to know. We wanted to make It a cer tainty for ear fellow who bad gone the tiermen reserve treuel! I """ j0!'1 of our men. apparently unwounded, ,\y l?g in ? shell hole. I "topped to ask them what they were doing there. An t spoke I neld my German r'"? ?"'! bayonet at the position of "guard, the tip of the bayonet advanced, about XuHl,v high. I didn't ] swer, for before they could reply 1 felt a sensation as If some one tu thrown a lump of hard clay ?ud struck ,ne on the hip, and forthwith I turn bled In on top of the four a mo" plunging my bayonet Into one of them, a private named Williams. McCllntock Badly Wounded. ??Well, now you know what s th ,?atter with us," said Williams. "We didn't fall In, but we crawled in. They had all been slightly wounded, I had twenty-two pieces of shrapnel and some shell fragments imbedded lu mv left leg between the hip and the knee. I followed the usual custom o the soldier who has "got It." The first thing I did was to light a "fag (clga rette), and the next thing was to In vestlgate, and determine If I was In danger of bleeding to death. There wasn't much doubt about that. Ar terial blood was spurting from two o the ...wounds, which were revealed when the other men in the hole helped me to cut off my breeches. With their aid I managed to stop the hemorrhage by improvising tourniquets with raga and bayonets. One I placed as high up as possible on the thigh and the other Just below the knee. Then we all smoked another "fag" and lay there listening to the big shells going over and the shrapnel bursting near us. It was quite a concert too. We discussed what we ought to do, 'and finally 1 said: "Here, you fellows can walk, and 1 can't. Furthermore, you're not able to rarry me because you've got about all any of you can do to navigate alone, it. doesn't look as if it's going to be any better here very soon. You all proceed to the rear, and If you can get some one to come after me 1 11 be obliged to you." j They accepted the proposition be cause it was good advice, and, besides, It was orders. I was their superior officer. / And what happened right after that confirmed me forever In my early, Kentucky-bred conviction that there Is ft great deal In luck. They couldn't have traveled more than fifty yards from the shell hole when the shriek of a high explosive seemed to come right down out of the sky into iny ears, and the detonation which in' stantly followed shook tli6 slanting aides of the shell hole until dirt In lit- j tie dusty rivulets came trickling down , upon me. Wounded as I was, I drag ged myself up to the edge of tho hole. I There was no trace anywhere of the J four men who had Just left me. They j have never been heard of since. Their > bodies were never found. The big shell must have fallen right among j them and simply blown them to bits. ( It was about a quarter to seven in the j morning whon I was hit. I lay In the ^ shell hole until two In the afternoon, j sufTerlng inoro from thirst and cold and . hunger thah from pain. I only hoped ; the Germans wouldn't drive our men back over me. At two o'clock a batch of ; sixty prisoners came along under es- j cort. They were being taken to the "MR* jfiuUr 'fire.' The artillery bora- 1 . f??r<hhe!it was still practically undl- j mlnlsh^d. I asked for four of the prisoners and made one of them get } out his rubber ground sheet, carried around his waist. Th*?y responded j willingly and seemrd most ready to; help me. I had a revolTor (<ffhpty) and some bombs in my pockets, but I had j no need to threaten them. They half dragged me toward the roar.. Carried to the Rear. ^ It was a. trip which was not without incident. Every now and then we would hear the shriek of tin approach ing '*coal box." and then my prisoner stretcher bearers and I would tumble In one Indiscriminate group Into the near est shell hole. If we did that once we did it a half dofcen times. After each dire the four would patiently reorgan ise and arrange the improvised stretch er again, and we would proceed. Fol lowing every tumble, however, I would have to tighten my tourniquets, and, P (Continued on Last Page) eti In two place* wh?a an lcjr taut Tin ! ombrmeeii lz * stttloiw reppe^ent^ *SSJJ' <*tt wow?/' S5SJP* of tm . . i h * fW * Enterprise Building & Loan Stod Will be U?ued January 1, 1918. Subscription* received now by calling^ W. E. JOHNSON* Sec. and Trea, ?Vv Conserve Your -in i m By Coming to This Store to Buy Y, Christmas Gifts At this time it is necessary that all of us use jt ment in the buying of Christmas Gifts, and you .cam* find anywhere a more complete line than we are ghoi ing this season, and at prices that will please. gifts For young and 01 You can , find practically anything you want in on showing of holidays goods. Gifts for any member .< the family ? young and old, and we invite you to and inspect them whether you intend to buy or not ZEMP & DePAi 10 -Telephones 138 Christmas Caiii A complete line of the famous Peter Kern's Che lates and Bon Bons will be found at this store. The is no better candv made, and we want to supply for Christmas. Also a large assortment of cigars, tobacco and cigar ettes. v G. W. Help the Operators Serve You Better lelephone subscribers are urged t6 c^l br number and not by name. In a community of this size the operators cannot possibly re member the names of all subscribers; when you call by name you delay yptir^ service and hamper its efficiency. All telephones are known to the operators: by numbers which are on the switchboard di rectly in front of them. The directory is your - index to the switchboard and should be conv. suited before making a call. Call by number and help the operator serve you better. SOUTHERN BELL TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY J. A. HOUGH , MANAGER.