Show yaw AA WILLIAM J ROBINSON I 1 certainly pitied our eras transport men during this time KB an I 1 never aberer pitied them before they could not help bein being g tier gier rous while waiting to so go through the city which they lad had to do an aa there was no other way for them to go the ambulances too suffered heavily all night the bombardment continued with unabated fury yet our supplies went through the city to the men just the same the next morning i was ordered to report in my car to a young officer of the intelligence department the om ter told me that he be bad orders to go through cipres ipres to a little place called and to report himself to the commander there was waa absolutely no other way colget to except through ypres cypres and you way may be sure aure we w were feeling none too pleasant about the prospects ectA we had to go slowly even at the start as a the road was filled with all kinds of transports after ne ie got through the village of we found the gol going nl a little better and we got along fals foster t ll 11 he be road from V to cypres ypres Is almost straight and one can eee right into the city before one comes within two kilometers of it As we swung into this straight ii I 1 noticed several german aero planes oyer over the city and it was plain to be seen that they were dropping tombs this thin time they were dropping petrol bombs and th tb instant aby ex they would spray petrol all over the place and a flame would shoot up into the air in this way they were setting ettling fire to the city it was a might eight that I 1 boball never forget the shells were falling just the bame and what with the ground fairly trembling from the terrific explosions explosion a the smoke from the bursting shells and burning houses the samoa flames and dust that filled the air it made a scene that would need a dante to describe and do it justice juhe thought that we were to attempt atte ampt the passage through all this was terrifying an awful fear almost panic seemed to grip me and I 1 longed to jump from that car and bide my face from the flaming bell which seemed to be stretching out its tentacles of ore fire to draw us into its gaping maw M tl felt weak all over and was wet with cold perspiration I 1 looked at the officer almost praying that he would give the order to stop but even as I 1 looked I 1 knew there was waa no chance of that lie ce was as white as death but there was a look of determination on his face and the clenched teeth and set jaws gave no prom promise Is of his backing down I 1 think the bulldog grit that he be was showing helped me for I 1 resolved that while I 1 might get so weak eak as to be un able to drive that car I 1 would stick by him as long as I 1 could bold out and he be certainly showed that he be was wait white clear through for he told me to stop a moment I 1 did and he be got aut of the car robinson he be said ive just been thinking that there won t be any need for you to conje come any further it la Is a rotten olten business and as there are am i balances bu lances going up all the time I 1 clan can set get a lift in one and will stand just an aa rauch much chance of getting through as though you were to take me I 1 don t believe in adv one taking unnecessary risks and in this ase it would be risking an extra man and a car too and I 1 dont mind going on in an amb ambulate am bulac ulace the least bit I 1 thought it was just about one of the finest things I 1 had bad ever beard of a man doing and I 1 want to say right here that such things as aa this are typical of the true british officer there sie aie men holding commissions v mho bo t do such euch a thing as this to save ther necks abut they are the bikers found to in evry country temporary gentlemen us as they are called by the real men who are re obliged to associate with cheul my bly officers inkers generosity did not help nie me any but I 1 appreciated it more than I 1 can tell I 1 had bad orders to take him to and to bring him back and if I 1 stayed behind and anything happened to him I 1 would be worse off than if I 1 were ere lying beneath the ruins of oprel I 1 explained this to him and said that I 1 would rattier rather take him god knows whet liei it was true or riot but I 1 said tt U anyway while we were talking an other car passed us and as my jumped in I 1 resolved to follow the man who was as now ahead of me I 1 noticed as aa the car ar passed us that there were ere two officers in it one a major na as sitting bitting beside the driver ind and the other a colonel was in the luk iak the car was about yar yards do 1 I boyd of us and I 1 lot him keep about i ahead all the way war up to the of the city As we got nearer the noise became deafening and the began to bother us too before one enters the city proper one mut mu t cropis crop a double line of railroad trials tle te hine ahead of as bad just cros iu d alic e ban when a big fifteen X FOAM I 1 I 1 aj EW I 1 ills T I 1 I 1 E I 1 1 R gill an american boys baptism of fire by WILLIAM J ROBINSON util brown browa A C the th mot most account ot of the th great wr war that hir has yet been written comes from the pon pen of s two yr old boton boston boy who has ha luat just ra r turned from france franc ahr as drag dragoon 0 0 guardsman dispatch rider and mot motor 0 r ear r dr driver I 1 ver he h arvd served foutin months month m under th british HK flax 0 out ut of t thirty on n motorcycle dispatch riders be b wu was on a of four or survivors inch fluell screamed over ano birst jaw beside the car in front from when we were it looked as if the car and its occupants p a ants must havi have been wiped off 1 the face of the earth I 1 stopped our car to wait until the smoke blared aviah an ay before gold going on OIL it seemed emed like hours before we uw saw the spot again but when the smoke was finally gone you can imagine out our surprise at seeing the car turned corn com plemely around and coming toward us the chauffeur was wag gathering speed all ail the time and when be pas passed us big car was golub at a fairly decent pace e bad time enough though jo to see e one of the most horrible sights bights that I 1 A cd during the whole lime I 1 was wai at the front ahe I 1 he car itself was in awful condition the two rear reaf doors were torn I 1 away the body was full of jagged holes boles the front and rear mud guardi guarda and the running beard bard ou on one side were torn off and the wind ind screen had bad been swept away the major who was sitting bitting with the driver had bad bis head bead find and the whole side 14 t 4 I 1 rol 11 1 1 1 s 4 I 1 resolved to follow fellow the th man who was wa now ahead of me M of hl alq body torn away and the rest of him was waa leaning on the driver who v as being covered with the blood which was gushing from this awful thing beside him the ile colonel who had been bf en sitting in the back of the car was wari curled over on the seat and his bi head and part of his bis shoulder were lying in a pool of blood in the bottom of 0 the car to me the most terrible part of it was the driver ile he was as an white whit as aa a ghost and his hi eyes seemed to be b sticking an inch out of their nock sockets ets ula uia teeth were bared and his whole face was waa twisted into the most bell laia expression one could imagine good god bes ba gone madl cried my ameer and I 1 was waa mire of it the 0 officer ordered me to turn around and follow him and to catch him if possible the car was away down the road by the time I 1 got turned around but I 1 set at out after him for all I 1 was worth I 1 gained on him too but as I 1 went through he was just stopping in front of the tb meld field dressing there the orderly rushed out when he b beard the car and I 1 heard beard that say for gods make bake take this thing thine away from mer mel it was horrible beyond description I 1 saw that poor fellow a couple of weeks later and he be was bad enough to look at even then he H was walking around alone all right except that his face was waa twisting ind and twitching horribly ills nerve was completely gone and be was discharged almost at once for all the shock he had bad his bis was waa a ml mi ra culous escape when we saw that the driver was being taken care of we started back to make our attempt to pus pass through the burning city As we re got nearer the city I 1 seemed to ha hae e lost all feeling of fear and in fact I 1 dian didn t bai hae e any feeling at all ail I 1 tried to think about what was waa go ing ang to happen to us for it worried me that I 1 mem em to have a cerve in my body I 1 kept telling myself that I 1 was going to my death and that in a few rai minutes I 1 would be lying somewhere in those smoking ruins but it was aa no BO use I 1 dida t care one way or the tha other before one comes to the aba ral railway ivray track just outside ypres cypres there Is s a road which branches off to the left and leads to the village of Elver dingis before we e came to where this road branches off the 0 officer spoke 1 I think it would be worth while try tig lit to get to the canal bank through elvic jl nghe he said bald I 1 and from there w would perhaps be able to leve leave the lar r swim the canal and get to potijze on toot foot it will take longer of course but the main thing for us to do it Is to et ael there safely artelj no matter it if II 11 it takes a teat great deal longer lot let us u try ry that wily way ay byway I 1 was waa liling allun to try anything iny thine and so BO we turned off the road and headed beaded for it wu was only a tow few ado metres metr and we take long gett getting lill there but when we arrived we found that we had bad jumped out of the trying frying pan into the fire are for was wai gettins it hot and heavy from the german field cold batteries we rushed into the town and as we kunf swung into the village tillage proper we tame ame very tery near idear ha carlny one crand smashup A hold ambulance was moving out of ithe the place and the road was blocked by ambulances ambulance a which were loa aang UP op with wounded I 1 jammed on the tbt brakes and pulled over almost into the ditch but the brakes brake stopped the car before we got clear in A sentry informed us oc that the road through the village tillage was waa closed and that we would have hare to turn tum around nud goback I 1 tried to back sp cp but in my y two front bhela were stuck away down in the ditch and she be wouldn t pull out under kinder her own power I 1 appealed to the th driver or of an empty em ambulance bulc to help me and be aale lv rot got life towrope around my hack back axle and we came out with the first heave heare I 1 skale we were kakiva the towrope off that the cur car was waa a uj alx aft cylinder Amerl american amerlean can make I 1 asked the driver how bow be h liked a yankee car and from the way be b replied I 1 know knew that he was ra an american himself I 1 asked him where be came en me from and you can imagine my surprise when he be sald ald boston I 1 never say him again and when I 1 left eft him be was in ono one hot little cornei corner of the map I 1 hop be gets through an all right to bo be continued |