ted our march. It was hot as hades and we had had
nothing to eat since the day before. We at last entered a forest; troops
seemed to converge on it from all points. We marched some six miles in
the forest. A finer one I have never seen--deer would scamper ahead and
we could have eaten one raw.

"At 10 that night, without food, we lay down in a pouring rain to sleep.
Troops of all kinds passed us in the night--a shadowy stream, more than
a half-million men. Some French officers told us that they had never
seen such concentration since Verdun, if then.

THE BIG DAY DAWNS

"The next day, July 18, we marched ahead through a jam of troops,
trucks, etc., and came at last to a ration dump, where we fell to and
ate our heads off for the first time in nearly two days. When we left
there the men had bread stuck on their bayonets. I lugged a ham. All
were loaded down.

"We finally stopped at the far end of the forest, nearing a dressing
station. This station had been a big, fine stone farmhouse, but was now
a complete ruin--wounded and dead lay all about. Joe Murray came by with
his head all done up--his helmet had saved him. The lines had gone on
ahead, so we were quite safe.

"Late in the afternoon we advanced again. Our route lay over an open
field covered with dead.

"We lay down on a hillside for the night near some captured German guns,
and until dark I watched the cavalry, some 4,000, come up and take
positions.

"At 3:30 the next morning the regiment was soon under way to attack. We
picked our way under cover of a gas infected valley to a town where we
got our final instructions and left our packs.

GAS AND SHELL SHOCK

"We formed up in a sunken road on two sides of a valley that was
perpendicular to the enemy's front. We now began to get a few wounded;
one man with ashen face came charging to the rear with shell shock. He
shook all over, foamed at the mouth, could not speak. I put him under a
tent and he acted as if he had a fit.

MARINES ADVANCE UNDER FIRE

"At 8:30 we jumped off with a line of tanks in the lead. For two 'kilos'
the four lines of Marines were as straight as a die, and their advance
over the open plain in the bright sunlight was a picture I shall never
forget. The fire got hotter and hotter, men fell, bullets sung, shells
whizzed-banged and the dust of battle got thick.

"Lieut. Overton was hit by a big piece of shell and fell. Afterwards
I heard he was hit in the heart. He was buried that