"THE OMAHA' SUNDAY BEE? MAY 18, '1919.
Grim Thoughts Coming to Wounded Soldiers
Told By Omaha Boy W ho Was Hit While in Bi
- . ; - - : ; : ' ' "
Facing
gonne
Death :y
Drive
'
Thrilling Moments When
Allies Launch Final Drive
former Omaha Newspaper Man, Who Was With 75th
Company of Marines, Describes Sensations ' of
, ' "Being Wounded," and Escapes That Border on
, Miraculous. i
Pvt. Karl L. Lee, former Omaha newspaper man, who enlisted with
Uncle' Sam's marines in July, 1917, has returned from overseas, having
' served with the Seventy-fifth company, Sixth regiment Second division.
Lee spent exactly 13 days with a line outfit, during which time he
crossed the Hindenburg line twice, hiked through the Argonne forest,
. seeing at first hnd the various battlelines therein established, and finally
being wounded in the Argonnefeuse offensive, November 1. -
Two interesting experiences, the first occuring in the week that
preceded the Argonne drive- when Major General Summeral of the Fifth
" army corps addressed the men of the Second division, on a "Meuse Hill
top" near Exermont, France, and the second an account of "how it feels
to be wounded," are related here
Lee sailed from France, February 1. '
By KARL LEE.
Over in France a lot of as; game
; (?) ones did a lot of things we
f"weren't supposed to do. For exam
. ple it was against orders tb carry a
camera. I carried one. It was
against orders to. keep a diary. . I
' kept one. It was against orders to
stick one's nose where it wasn't of
ficially wanted. I stuck jny nose
. frequently, after a fashion.
; There were bits of unusual hap
I penings. For instance, it may be
; strange that a perfectly healthy,
bloodthirsty marine, for such we
I like to style ourselves, could "be"
;,on four battlefronts in as few as 13
days! that this same bloodthirsty
' marine can be wpunded, slightly
gassed and considerably nerve-tried,
' without so much as firing a rifle at
, the enemy?
Such things happen many times.
How does it feel to be wounded?
,What are the actual thoughts and
Acta of a soldier on the field of bat
' tie, helpless and without resource?
i lWnat do men -who are in the so
Called zne of advance say and do
kvhen jthere? What, is the actual
gnenner of attack, since we know it
Btffered greatly from that of the
PyII and Revolutionary wars?
(These questions I will attempt to
Pwwar.
..Coir does It feel to be wounded?
wA man who li not a Christian is
1 - ' '
uhe
FRANKLIN
CAR
20 mlHex h tit gtOm
JDJOOO milmt.tht
wounded, lying on the battlefield,
exposed to terrible danger, shells
falling all about him. God had
stricken me once He might strike
me again. Would it not be quite nat
ural according to the Christian doc
trine to turn to Him?
"But honestly, that was the last
thing I thought of. Sometimes as
the shells fell quicker, I shivered like
a true coward; other times I merely
lay back on the field looking up and
laughing like a fiend. The whole
experience was vague. In me there
was an uncontrollable desire to cry
out for all I was worth: "Are you
satisfied?" ' t - ..: '
Thinks Unexpected Thoughts.
This extract from a letter to a near
friend, written in a hospital at Paris,
describes as well, perhaps, as can
be, the psychological changes that
got with one's experiences under fire.
In that single hour, the most per
ilous of my entire life, I faced and
met more temptations than at any
other time. I fought them and won.
Today I am a Christian. And I
know no fear except of Almighty
God.
The Barrage opened at 3 a. m.
On Octobef 31,' the night before
at 6 o'clock, our battalion had moved
up into the field from advance posts
centering at Sommerance, where our
regimental commander (P. C) was
located. The streets of the village,
shell-torn and abandoned, were filled
with water and mud. We dug in for
of gasoSn
srt tf tim
Picture No. 1 Shows Lee
and "buddy" with a couple of
French girls at Chatillon-sur-Cher
in September, 1918.
Picture No. 2 shows the
Omaha boy arid another
"buddy'' in front of their
the night along a road outside the
town limits. 1
At S a. m., -an hour after being
called, during which time we stripped
our packS to the minimum, we
started over, walking in line of
"combat group," parallel to the bat
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2019 Farnam St. 2025
"pup" tent at Brest, France,
in August, 1918.
Lee is shown in full marine
dress in front of the U. S.
naval hospital at Brooklyn, N.
Y., February 13, 1919, in pic
ture No. 3.
tle line. It was just getting day
light. The sky was constantly alight
with the brilliance of flares con
tinually thrown up by the enemy.
"No Man's land" resembled a
black abyss.
We proceeded a 'h'alf mile and
Franklin Car
turned at right angles-to a wood In
which - an American machine gun
battalion was spitting white flame
into the night, sending over a bar
rage. Frequently we fassed while
our commanders straightened out
the line. With the coming daylight,
we could see mile on mile of rolling
plain and there in plain view our
battle . line - stretched for miles to
either side.; ' : .
Is Hit First . Time.
Hardly a hundred yards past this
wood, while kneeling for a short
rest, I was first hit. A large shell
burst near, and a fragment that I
could swear was as big as my fist
crashed in tny direction. The squad
ducked as a man. I opened ray
eyes to find a huge rent in my over
coat tinder the right arm and the
smoke of burning powder in the air.
It barely smoked the skin ;but to
mis 4ay i can smen ine smoKe ot
that steel. r
We were passing the worst of the
barrage., ... -I '
Jfust as we reached the first barbed
wire entanglement,' a few minutes
after the "word had been passed to
"unload" and "prepare for action,'
I was hit. , The line was coming
down a level plain, the slope facing
the : enemy. -"Machine gun fire was
particularly 'intense. A tank, dis
abled, stuck in a hole with the pilot
outside airing his feelings, lent a bit
of the graphic to the place.
I felt a terrific whang, very like an
electric shock, near my side. I did
not realize it at once and -remarkeTl
to the man in front that "that must
have been a close one." Then T
felt a sudden, hotness in the region
of my side and the blood began to
rush to my head. Instantly l knew
I had been hit. I began to stumble
pand weaken perceptibly.
for the moment 1 didnt know
what to do. I.thoughMhe wound was
mortal. I raised my rifle in the air
and cried out; "I'm hitl I'm hitt I'm
hit!" Word was passed to the pla
toon commander, and he turned, mo
tioning me to fall out I fell to the
ground.
A few yards' further on the platoon
halted. A medical sergeant and an
apprentice came back. The former
demanded gruffly my trouble.
"Guess I'm hit," I said. "All right,
let's see it," he demanded. The very
gruffness of his tone awakened me
and I proceeded to invstigate my
wound. It was there, all right. The
clothes were pretty well soaked with
blood.
The apprentice dressed the wound.
Couldn't Fire at Huns.
For a few minutes I cried like a
baby. I don't think it t6o much to
say that I cried because I couldn't
go on any further. Here, eleven
days before the war's end, I was in
the one place of all places. The big
fun was ahead. And I was slated to
go back without so much, as firing
my rifle at a German. Such is fate.
Anyway, when I discovered that
my wound was not serious, I de
liberately refused a sttietcher. I
didn't care much whether I got back
or not. Later I changed my mind.
The next few minutes were spent in
cutting my pack away and gather
ing such personals as I had coveted,
in a small bundle. Then I crawled
to a shell hole to think things over.
The machine gun fire had been
and was then sweeping. It seemed
suicidal to venture forth yet that was
my only chance. So I got up and
started back. I was weak, my head
ached and the blood shot to it at
times in peculiar fashion, almost
drowning my senses. After 10 min
utes of floundering, I met the reg
imental doctor, a marine offiser,
coming towards the line.
' "What's the trouble, boy?" he'
asked.
"Guess I'm hit," I answered.
Lies in Shell Hole.
"Better get to a shell hole, then,"
he advised, seeing that the wound
had been dressed. I did.'
For nearly an hour I lay at the
bottom of that communicating hole.
It was big, deep and comfortable,
lending a ray of hope. In all my
life I have never experienced a more
nerve-trying hour. Though . I fell
into a doe, my conscious ' mind
blasted onat full speed. Every
thought, act or deed of mine rose
up before me in its true light. I
was guilty of many things not Chris
tian. I tried to pray and couldn't.
Then in the end I won. No longer
would I fear or disbelieve. And I
have not changed since.
Dirt began, finally, to sift in on
me. I stood up hurriedly and it was
as I expected. The barrage was
moing up. Already shells were
falling in increased numbers about
me, splashing -dirt and powder. A
machine gun, evidently aiming at a
dummy in a communicating hole 10
yards to the left, probably thinking
myself or it, a field commander, pep
pered a welcome in our direction.
Something had to be done. So I
got up.
Escape Almost Miraculous.
How I got away I don't know. For
minutes at a time I could walk al
most without effort, with an almost
superhuman strength; other times I
stumbled and fell, crawling weakly,
choking back sobs, from shell hole,
to shell hole. But I got there. A
long column of German prisoners
was coming over the horizon in
charge of marines. The sight bright
ened me and I grew lighthearted.
The next morning I was in Paris.
T"he other "greatest experience of
ray iife occurred while our division,
the Second regulars, were encamped
on a "Meuse hilltop,", noted as such
in my diary, during the week that
preceded the great Argorine-Meuse
offensive. We had been -on the road
for eight days, coming from the
Champagne front, and had. passed
through a half-dozen recent battle
fronts, experiencing the hardest of
hiking. '
To Rout Enemy. "
"The time has come," General
Summeral began. I stood within an
arm's length of him. "Marshal Foch
and the allied commanders have
come to a decision. Tomorrow
morning' on a 200-mile front, the
armies of the allies move forward to
roll back the enemy and win that
victory for which we ihave so long
fought the complete rout of the
crown prince s armies.
"On the very ground on which
you sow stand, eight days ago the
5th Prussian guard, the kaiser's own,
blessed -of his hand, made last
stand. The 1st division met and de
stroyed them. .We are here to finish
the job. You,- the picked shock
troops of the American forces, have
been picked by General Pershing to
lead the assault." -
There was a cheer.
"Some of you will not come back,
but you will have' fought gloriously
in the greatest battle of all history.
It is your lot to do this thing which
humanity has demanded shall be
done. Our object is the railroad
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It was to be a battle to death '
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