Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 May 1918 — Another Letter From Lieutenant George Reddick. [ARTICLE]

Another Letter From Lieutenant George Reddick.

Ig George Reddick of Winamac, a so® of former County Superintendent Reiidick of Pulaski county, v: another interesting letteT to the Pulaski County Democrat which w e cop y heTo w: April 21, 1918. At tie time of writing my last letter I was in a French village resting and trying to parley-voo with the natives. Like a thunder-bolt out of a | '-Dear sky came the order to “stand toThat means for all officers to innf® irithln distance, and for the men of the ranks to be in fiout of the billets with light iHfnipCEent on. Then came the order; “Be prepared to move on onefealf hoar’s notice.” Business comTwrrif then, with the work of paek;r *veryrhinz with which a thousand men were concerned* In my d* cart meat came the job of sorting what to take and what to leave behind. . Then earner “Your battalion

will move to X- , there board busses for Y then maircth to Z- , where you will take up a reserve position." This is quickly written but it took all night to do it. After hours we arrived at our destination just at daybreak. We all thought that the sunlight would find us still marching and that the boehe planes and observation balloons would see us and that we would then get h shelled out of us. The number of guns and shells that the Hun has is astonishing and there are no ‘‘dead’’ shells, either; they are all good ones. We found ourselves in a large chateau in a wood about a mile from a village. Heretofore this country I am now in has not suffered much from the war. In the village were civilians, all manner of domestic animals, 'houses all furnished, etc. My aid post was in a cellar in the chateau; quite a large cellar and a safe one it proved. About ifive hours after our arrival the boche began to shell the place, and kept it up for three or four hours. It was terrible. Very soon, my department had twelve ambulance loads of wounded. Next morning I could look out and see dead civilians, dead soldiers, dead cattle and horses, houses wrecked, furniture ruined —a peacable village demolished over night. I worked all night, and I confess I looked much like a butcher, but I believe 1 saved some lives. Next we moved up very near the front line and I had a good aid post there. Across the road was a relay post for ambulances. The road was always under observation.; this was a very active sector. In six hours sixty of my regiment went through the aid post. The ambulance post across the way was busy, so that the road was never without wounded in it. But the Hun did not shell it. Possibly because he saw us caring for his wounded men who had been taken prisoners. I attended to my first wounded Huns here. Strapping fellows they are, well fed, very well clothed, with new grey uniforms and overcoats. In this respect they have the British Tommies beaten. If any one thinks we are up against an army of cripples and half hearted, half fed individuals he is mistaken, judging from what I halve seen of them.

By that time my regiment had seen some stiff fighting, so we were moved back a short distance. 1 found myself in another village, that until very recently had been peaceable. It had hot been occupied by troops, so we had to make •an aid post. I found a cellar, and we supported the roof with a lot of beams we found lying about, trusting that the first shell which struck it would not be too big, but just the size to let the roof down gradually. Fortunately the first shell 'hit the end of the house opposite the cellar, so we were O. K. But unfortunately the cellar had about two inches of water in it, which had to be baled out twice

daily. Well, I got lumbago and sciatic rheumatism from sleeping in the cursed wet hole. The regiment has come out for a few days’ rest, and I have spent most of the time in bed. But now lam up and when the regiment goes into the line again soon I will go with it. Some days ago the Hun took a fairly large town about eight miles north of here. They took it suddenly, taking the population by surprise. The invading Germans got drunk, raped the women, killed some of the men and children, and made other men prisoners. I could write for a long time describing the devastation of this country, and the rapidity with which it is nearing total destruction. Houses are shelled to ruins, furniture demolished, and everything in Chaos. In the barn near my first aid post were six fine looking cows, all dead. They must have died from shock, as there was not a jnark on them, but a shell had Istruek the barn at a point farthest from them. Pigs, goats and chicktens were running about. Gats, bran, wheat, potatoes, etc., were in bins; in fact, all evidence of industrious people—and then the boche shelling them out of it. We are putting forth every effort, but we have a large problem, > and the sooner the U. S. is in it the better. I trust my friends will look at this as a personal letter also, for it is impossible to write to all — too busy otherwise. GEORGE H. REDDICK.