I was struck on the
shoulder by a piece of shrapnel. The fragment, however, had about
spent its force, and while I was knocked down by the force of the blow
and suffered from a bruised shoulder for several days, the skin was
not broken and my injury did not reach the dignity of a wound.

We proceeded on and got our water, and on our way back we were shelled
again when we were in approximately the same place. This time one of
the men received a small scratch from a piece of flying shell. It just
broke the skin between the knee and the thigh, but was so small that
it did not cause any inconvenience. Shortly after this, another bit of
shrapnel hit my helmet and knocked it off my head. I gave the boys
cause for a hearty laugh as I scrambled on all fours after my "tin
derby," and no doubt I cut an amusing figure. Fritz seemed to be
picking on me all day, but I was glad that I got off so lightly after
being exposed to so much danger.

There is no room for sentiment in the army. Birthdays usually don't
mean much. It just happened, however, that I had a day off of post on
October 6th, and, that being my birthday, the occasion was made doubly
pleasant. But the thing that made the day a perfect one for me was the
fact that when I reached headquarters I found fourteen letters from
home. I have already told how happy I felt when I received eight
letters--well, fourteen made me feel just twice that happy. They were
from relatives and friends and no gift could have made my birthday
more pleasant.

October 16th was another red letter day for me. On that date I had a
detail to pack in supplies, and I had the great fortune to find a new
pair of shoes, just my size. What a relief to get rid of those
uncomfortable ill-fitting, detestable German boots. If there was one
thing that made me hate Germans worse than anything else, it was those
horrid German boots. The boys said they were a hoodoo and that if I
continued to wear them Fritz would get me sure. However that may be, I
did not cease to have close calls. The very next day I got a small
sniff of chlorination gas. It happened while I was fixing
communication lines. I did not get enough to hurt me, but it made me
deathly sick. I was unable to do much for a couple of days, and was
taken to headquarters, where I was assigned to the duty of fixing
communication lines, which were constantly in danger of being broken.
On October 24th two of us were sent to repair a break, which we
located