believe there is a chance of any of us surviving the first rush. I am proud to be trusted with such a post of honor and have the greatest confidence in my own men to do their duty to the end.... My company is expected to protect the right flank of the position and to counter attack at sight of the first Boche. In war some units have to be sacrificed for the safety of the rest, and this post has fallen to us and will be executed gladly as one contribution to the final victory.... I want you in case I am killed to be brave and remember that one could not have wished a better way to die than for a righteous cause and one's country.
We charged at Vimy,—zero was at four;
Sore-eyed we rose and cursed the bleeding war,
And sick at heart, half paralyzed with fear,
Waited in mud and mist—it seemed a year—
Talking in whispers while we gulped the gin;
- ↑ From The Amaroc News, published by soldiers of the American Army of Occupation, Coblentz, Germany, July, 1921.
