PUVINELLE SECTOR--BOIS LE PRETRE--VIEVILLE EN HAYE
Gallant Pershing was even then maneuvering his masterly all-American
offensive in the San Michel. Our Seventh Division, with the 28th on the
left and the 92d on the right, now reached the high full tide of martial
responsibility; merging from the reserve into the attack; and taking its
place with the Immortal Combat Divisions of proud Old Glory.
The front line sector, which that night we took over, extended in a
general westerly direction from north of Pont a Musson on the Moselle
river to Vigneulles--a distance of ten kilometers.
Approximate positions found the 55th Infantry at Thiacourt, the 64th at
Vieville, the 37th at Fay-en-Haye, and the 56th at Vilcey-sur-Trey, with
Machine Gun Battalions distributed equally among them. During September,
Division Headquarters was at Villers-en-Haye; moving forward in echelon
to Noviant and Euvezin October 24th.
Although Villers-en-Haye was mostly in ruins, the Sacristy of the
village church was in good shape, and this I at once occupied. On the
preceding Sunday, good Father Harmon of Chicago had said Mass in this
church, as a note, fastened to its front door, announced.
Thoroughly tired, I spread my blanket on the floor and fell quickly to
sleep. I dreamed I was tied to a railroad track with a train rushing
towards me. With a start I awoke, just as a siren voiced shell came
screaming across the fields, bursting at the foot of the hill on which
the church stood.
The gas alarm was at once sounded and every trooper sought refuge in the
dugouts. It was then half-past eight. At four-minute intervals and with
the most deadly regularity these shells came at us for four
nerve-racking hours.
Boom! You could hear it leave the eight-inch howitzer six miles away,
then in a high tenor pitch, it rushed toward you with a crescendo of
sound, moaning, wailing, screaming, hissing, bursting with frightful
intensity apparently in the center of your brain. Falling here, there,
and everywhere in the ruins and environs of the village, mustard gas,
flying steel and mortar, levied cruel toll on six boys, whose mangled
bodies I laid away the following afternoon at Griscourt under the hill.
One of these, I now recall, was Corporal Donald Bryan of the 7th
Engineers, a most handsome and talented young man who, before the war,
had won fame in the field of movie drama.
"Where were you last night?" inquired gallant Colonel Cummings of
Missouri, our Machine Gun Regimental Commander.
"In the sacristy," I replied.
"The worst possible place for you!" he exclaimed; "you would find it far
safer in a dugout."
I preferred the sacristy, however, for its convenience to the altar,
where I could say daily Mass, and so won my point.
Chaplain and burial work had been meanwhile growing tremendously. Burial
details to be organized, equipped and dispatched far and wide along the
front; conferences with Chaplains; forwarding to them of Departmental
Orders; receiving their weekly reports, and compiling these in daily
reports to the Graves Registration Service; with monthly reports to be
prepared for Bishop Brent at Chaumont, Monsignor Connolly at Paris, and
Archbishop Hayes at New York.
At this time welfare workers joined us and we had thirty Y. M. C. A.
secretaries under Rev. Mr. Todd; eight American Red Cross secretaries
under Mr. Kolinski of Chicago; six Salvation Army lady secretaries under
Adjutant Mr. Brown, and ten Knights of Columbus secretaries under Mr.
McCarthy of Kansas City, who joined us at Bouillonville.
All these workers rendered most valuable and devoted service; especially
at a time and place when we were far afield in ruined shell-swept areas,
and completely cut off from every vestige of ordinary comforts. How good
a bar of chocolate, a stick of Black Jack, a "dash" of despised
inglorious "goldfish" tasted to Buddie, lying cold, hungry, dirty and
"cootified" in his dugout!
A distinct contribution to modern civilization, and a form of national
and international altruism making for the betterment, not only of him
who receives but as well of him who gives, was organized welfare work.
The need of such work always existed; and the organization of trained
and equipped auxiliary forces intelligently to perform it must have ever
been apparent. It remained for the World War, conceived, at least in the
American mind in unselfish motive, to create and give flesh and blood
expression to so Divine a vocation; and assign it honored rank among
National institutions eminently to be desired, and, without invidious
comparison, devotedly to be maintained.
One day, timing and dodging dropping shells, I came to ruined, bombarded
Essey. A single piece of bread had been my only fare for many trying
hours and I was hungry to the point of exhaustion.
Above the door of a dugout I saw the welcome sign "Salvation Army," and,
making my way to the door, I knocked. It was at once opened by two lady
secretaries.
The savory odor of fresh, crisp fried cakes greeted me, and in the
center of the room beyond, I saw a table heaped high with the precious
viands themselves! Truly it was Angel Food! Not the lily-white sort
served and known as such at home, but the golden ambrosial kind angels
dream of--and surely were the Salvation Army ladies who saved me that
day from starving, angels. Not only did they kindly point to the table
of delight and generously say, "Help yourself, Chaplain," but Adjutant
Brown, husband of one of them, entering at that moment, cheerily
remarked:
"Chaplain, won't you join us? we are just sitting down to dinner."
Having no other dinner engagement just then, I accepted! The table was
placed under a stairway, just room for the four of us. Outside, the air
was filled with the spume and shriek of bursting shells. The windows
were tightly barricaded, and a candle, placed in the mouth of a bottle,
gave the only light.
"Chaplain, will you offer Grace?"
Reverently all four bowed our heads in prayer; and may the good God who
brought us there together, join us some future day in his heavenly home
above!
The problem of transportation was most insistent and difficult. The
Division being far below its quota of automobiles and motorcycles,
Chaplains and burying details were compelled frequently to journey on
foot, with possible aid from some passing truck.
Under these conditions I found "Jip" truly "bonne chance." "Jip" was the
horse assigned me by my good friend, Lieutenant Davis, of Headquarters
Troop, and whom I named after my faithful dog "Jip" of Harvey. He was a
noble animal, utterly without fear; broken by chasseurs-a-cheval to gun
fire. My only comrade on many a long, lone ride, we grew fond of each
other to a degree only he can appreciate who has spent days and weeks of
solitude and danger with a devoted horse. All the pet names and phrases
"Jip" of Harvey knew, I lavished on him, leaning forward to whisper in
his ear. Although it was not the familiar French he heard, it seemed to
please him, and obediently he bore me on, little heeding the danger of
the trail, so that he shared my sorrows and pleasures.
One beautiful day in mid-October, he carried me many miles through Bois
de Puvinelle, deep in whose solitudes, at Jung Fontaine the 20th Machine
Gun Battalion was camped; passing on our way ruined Martincourt, then
heavily shelled, to the borders of grim Bois-le-Pretre.
Before starting on this mission, which had for its object inspecting of
front line conditions and burial work, I had talked over the situation
thoroughly with Colonel P. Lenoncle, French Army, who, during two years,
had fought over every foot of Bois-le-Pretre, and won there his Croix de
Guerre.
"Monsieur le Chaplain," he said, "this forest is a household word for
danger and death throughout all Germany. I know, in your goodness, you
will not fail to bury any of my brave poilu whose bodies you there may
find."
Glorious was our canter down the dim leafy aisles of the Bois oak,
maple, ash, and pine flamed with the glorious coloring of autumn.
Crimson ivy festooned each swaying limb, weaving canopies against a
mottled sky of blue and white; morning-glories nodded greeting from the
hedges, while forest floors were carpeted with the red of geranium,
yellow of marigold and purple of aster.
[Illustration: THIACOURT UNDER SHELL-FIRE.]
Through the winding tunnel of foliage "Jip" was keenly alert. He seemed,
with his good horse sense, to feel that he was carrying a very
well-meaning but inexperienced Chaplain, more interested perhaps in
things botanical and floral than military. When I, for example, showed
inclination to dismount and inspect a beautiful saddle lying by the
roadside, it was evidently a German officer's, "Jip," with ears back,
snorted and galloped furiously past. A veteran sergeant afterwards
quietly remarked:
"'Jip' likely saved you that time, Chaplain, from a 'planted' bomb, for
which that saddle was the bait."
Evening found us at the near approaches of Saint Marie farm. As the area
from this point forward was drenched with gas, and therefore no place
for "Jip," who stubbornly refused to wear his mask, I decided to leave
him and continue forward on foot. Making my way to a dugout, then
Company Headquarters of the gallant 19th Machine Gunners, I happened
upon a young gunner named Costigan.
"Will you look after 'Jip' for me, Buddie?"
"I will be glad to, Father," he replied. "Your sister used to be my
teacher in the Ogden school, Chicago!"
How small the world was! To find that Bois-le-Pretre was just around the
corner from Chestnut and North State Street!
Grim and terrible, however, was the work just ahead. Entering that
forest was like going into some vast fatal Iroquois Theatre saturated
with death-dealing gas. It was even then being swept by a tornado of
screaming, bursting shells, scattering far and wide fumes of mustard and
chlorine, a single inhalation of which meant unspeakable agony and
death. But our brave boys were there with souls to be prepared, and poor
mangled bodies were there, reverently to be buried!
It was supreme test for the gas mask! That frail piece of rubber alone
stood between us and death. The slightest rent or leakage would be
fatal, as injury to the suit of the deep sea diver. These masks had been
issued in sizes 3, 4 and 5. Some fitted better than others; others bound
painfully about the temples. We had been trained to adjust them quickly
from "alert" to the face in seven seconds, and woe to him who breathed
before the clasp was on his nose, the tube in his mouth, or the chin
piece properly in place. Under ordinary conditions, they were supposed
to filter the poisonous air for thirty-six hours. It was extraordinary
conditions, however, rising either from faulty adjustment, rubber
strain, or mechanical injury that usually proved their undoing.
On that October day I had remained in the gas waves but four hours and
felt I had escaped without injury. Such, however, proved not my good
fortune. My mask had evidently not functioned properly and that night of
torture to body, head and eyes was accounted for in the simple words of
the kind Doctor Lugar:
"Chaplain, you are gassed."
A few days' nursing and care at the Field Hospital restored strength and
vigor needed for a new and even more interesting encounter.
On the afternoon of Sunday, October 25th, I had held services at three
o'clock in a dugout at Vieville-en-Haye. Carefully hidden in a forest
immediately south of this village were then located three of our large
guns. The boys had proudly named them, "President's Answer," "Theda
Bara" and "Miss McCarthy." They were throwing high explosive shells
along the Metz highway. The enemy was frantically replying with
eight-inch Howitzers from points some six kilometers north, dropping
shells at two-minute intervals into Vieville-en-Haye and its environs.
As there was much gas along this front, I had left "Jip" at home and was
using a Harley-Davidson cycle side-car Lieutenant Trainor of
Headquarters had kindly loaned me--further giving me daring Corporal
Plummer of Aurora, one of the most skillful of his chauffeurs.
Following the services our next work was a trip to Vilcey-sur-Trey, some
four kilometers away, at the eastern approach of Death Valley. Emerging
from the dugout our plans were quickly outlined. Taking advantage of the
regular two-minute intervals between falling shells, we planned to first
let one come over, then make a quick dash up the front street and get
out into the shelter of Death Valley before the next one fell.
Rev. Mr. Muggins, Y. M. C. A. secretary, a very estimable and highly
respected man, shook his head.
"Chaplain, you can hardly make it."
"How about it, Corporal?" I said to Plummer.
"Sure, we can make it," he replied.
"Let's go," I said, and quickly slid into the side-car.
We let a shell come over, saw where it burst, then dashed up the street.
Skillfully avoiding heaps of brick and mortar scattered along the way,
quicker than it takes to tell, we traversed two blocks and reached a
point just opposite the ruined church. Here we rushed full into an ugly
crater, our machine fouled and our way was blocked!
We knew a German gun across those fields was even then trained on this
spot and would pay its respects in about one minute. Plummer tried to
kick and shake life into the machine; I did the praying. Just before lay
ruins of the old church. I thought of the countless times Holy Mass had
been offered there, and humbly I asked God to spare me and my boy, to
turn aside from us the stroke of death--but,
"Not my will but Thine be done."
"Boom!" Across the fields came the sickening report! Ordering Plummer to
throw himself to the ground, I was in the act of alighting, and was
partly free of the machine, when the shell burst, about one hundred feet
away. My right arm seemed to burn; but I was alive, and flat on the
ground. Breathlessly we waited, like a boxer in his corner, until the
next shell came over. This struck about a block away. At once we sprang
to our feet and rushed into the shelter of Death Valley. Plummer was
unhurt; but I was slightly bleeding from right arm and left leg. They
were but scratches; and most humbly I thanked God for sparing us.
"Well, Chaplain, they winged you this time," said good Captain Cash,
Abilene, Texas, Medical Corps, when I reported. My right forearm was
broken, but nothing serious enough to make me an ambulance case.