decapitating him. Nicholas Young, of Pottsville,
Penna., acting as Number 2 man on the gun-crew, sustained a compound
fracture of the leg. Gunner-Corporal John Chardell, of Hazleton,
Penna., sustained injuries about the body which confined him to the
camp hospital for several weeks.

Private Reynolds was buried in the American cemetery at Camp La
Courtine on Saturday, October 12th, at 2 p. m., with military honors.
This first casualty overseas awakened a new cord of sympathy among the
battery members and it was with thoughtful determination they turned
from the grave of their departed comrade and went back to their tasks
of preparing for active war.

Training was continued amid rumors of early departure for active
battle sectors. As early as October 10th orders were received for the
outfit to prepare to move. Supply wagons, etc., were immediately
packed. Days passed, but no transportation was in sight. Each day
the boys looked for an order to entrain, but the R. T. O.'s were not
heard from.

Thrilling news of the final stages of the drives reached the boys
through the Paris editions of the New York Herald and Chicago Tribune,
that were sold in the camp each day. The news enthused the soldiers
and thrilled them with the desire to move forward and get in on the
grand finale. They had toiled early and late, in all kinds of weather,
to learn how, and it is natural to presume that a red-blooded soldier
yearned the opportunity to make use of that knowledge acquired with
such sacrifice and toil.

While waiting orders to move the battery took up a new position on the
range. A brigade firing problem including a night barrage was fired on
October 21st, with the signal details at work with signal rockets.

The brigade problem, which was the last firing the battery did in
France, ended on October 30th with the laying down of a defensive
barrage. The problem required twenty-four consecutive hours.

On October 28th, First Lieutenant C. D. Bailey joined the battery at
La Courtine. Lieut. Bailey was formerly of the ambulance service of
the French army and the S. S. U., No. 5. and at that time, he was the
only man in the regiment entitled to wear a French decoration.

Meanwhile the outfit was packed up in the main, and was ready to move
at short notice. With the approach of November the boys thought their
movement was assured and plans were laid for a "feed," consisting of a
pig-roast, to be held on November 2nd.

Late in the