immediate future
held in store for me so weighed upon my mind that I could scarcely
close my eyes. I really do not understand how any of the boys slept.
We could hear the screech of the shells as they whizzed by, but,
fortunately, none of them hit near us. Only a few days before several
hundred American boys were gassed in this same woods, and our gas
guard kept a close watch for gas shells.

The next day we proceeded on toward the Verdun front. We marched all
day long, with only occasional stops. We were not in the open,
however, going from one woods to another; when we marched in the open,
only small bodies of men would move at a time. At 11 p.m. we stopped
marching and made our camp for the night. Most of the boys were so
weary from their long "hike" that they wrapped up in their overcoats,
lay down on the ground and went right to sleep. We remained three days
here waiting for orders. We were near the front, could hear the guns
all the time and the occasional rattle of a machine gun. When our
orders did finally come, we were told to march back over part of the
same route we had come and we finally stopped close to Novient. It was
here that we saw our first action and it was here that we finished our
education in the work that we were to do under the supervision of the
French, who held this front before it was taken over by the
Americans.

CHAPTER V.

Preparation for Battle

We were billeted at Novient for three days in wrecks of buildings that
had been ruined by Hun shells. At first we did not do much work
because it was not definitely known whether or not we were to remain
there.

Although we were in the war zone and under shell fire at all times, we
were amazed when we learned that there were still a few French
peasants in the vicinity. These were mostly old men and old women, and
a few, but very few, children. These peasants would not leave their
old homes, though requested to do so by the French Government. They
preferred to remain there and be killed by a Hun Shell, if that was to
be their fate, than to leave the spot that they so dearly loved. The
young men of these towns were all fighting at the front and the young
women had gone to the larger cities, farther from the front, where
they found employment at good wages.

Most of these old peasants kept a cow or two and a few chickens and
they sold milk and eggs to the American soldiers, thus realizing a
small profit for their great hazard. We pai