The necessity of every man's
looking out for his own life gave him but little time to think of much
else, unless, indeed, killing the Huns. Next to saving our own lives
that is the heartfelt desire of each man--get Fritz. And yet, although
the first thought of everyone is, naturally, for his own life, there is
no history in this war that can be written that can recount the number
of occasions when the seeming first thought of men was to do for their
pals, utterly regardless of their own safety. For sheer toying with
death and taking chances in situations that did not seem to offer the
slightest hope or chance of getting through, the Great War discloses
feats of valor with which nothing can compare that comes out of the mist
of "Days of old when knights were bold."
After goose-stepping for over an hour, and almost completely winded, we
flopped on the ground for a few minutes to catch our breath. We were
within about half-a-mile of the ridge over which we had to go in order
to get down into our dugouts, and Fritz' calling cards were commencing
to come in our direction; star shells were shooting up at short
intervals, the gleam of a flare every now and then plainly revealing
ourselves to each other.
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