TRANSCRIBED FROM THE HOT SPRINGS NEW ERA JULY 23, 1918 P. 2
Well, my wish has at last been granted, and that was to hear the Germans cry for mercy, and you can take it from me, they yelled until we couldn’t hear the roar of the big guns. We took company after company of Prussian prisoners and number of machine guns, trench mortars, rifles, pistols and put to flight several regiments of the Kaisers crack army. The prisoners said they thought we were drunk; some of them had been fighting for four years, and they admitted they had never faced so hard and bloodthirsty a bunch as the marines.
It was a great sight to see our marines go over, wave after wave every line perfectly cool keeping the best formation, and yet fighting like hell. Talk about being frightened they (the Germans) were as white as ghosts, and maybe you think it didn’t please the French to see us bringing the prisoners in. They are nasty fighters, don’t forget that, but the marines surely did show them some warm stuff.
I was in No Man’s Land with Judge Patterson, of Jackson, Miss—you must know him—when machine guns and heavy artillery were just shooting over our heads. Another time I spent several hours in a shell hole, which was very interesting.
We are in one of the most beautiful spots in France; the rivers, hills, flowers and poppy fields all add to the beauty of the land, yet the civilian have been driven away. The thing that interested the marines when in support was that we had all the rabbits, chickens and vegetables that we could eat. You would have laughed until you were exhausted to watch them. We have some excellent officers and they are men, men you have to admire, as everyone does who knows them, as we do, and others as well.
NOTES: Edwin Robinson Lemly was born on March 31, 1886 in Texarkana, Texas and died on September 17, 1955, at the VA Hospital in Temple, Texas. He was living in a home for veterans in Waco, Texas before he died. He is buried in the Oakwood Cemetery in Waco. His military headstone identifies him as a Texas, Cpl US Marine Corps serving in World War I. The stone also lists SS & CS and PH. PH would indicate a Purple Heart. He was the nephew of C. C. Lemly who owned a drug store in Hot Springs.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT
Well, my wish has at last been granted, and that was to hear the Germans cry for mercy, and you can take it from me, they yelled until we couldn’t hear the roar of the big guns. We took company after company of Prussian prisoners and number of machine guns, trench mortars, rifles, pistols and put to flight several regiments of the Kaisers crack army. The prisoners said they thought we were drunk; some of them had been fighting for four years, and they admitted they had never faced so hard and bloodthirsty a bunch as the marines.
It was a great sight to see our marines go over, wave after wave every line perfectly cool keeping the best formation, and yet fighting like hell. Talk about being frightened they (the Germans) were as white as ghosts, and maybe you think it didn’t please the French to see us bringing the prisoners in. They are nasty fighters, don’t forget that, but the marines surely did show them some warm stuff.
I was in No Man’s Land with Judge Patterson, of Jackson, Miss—you must know him—when machine guns and heavy artillery were just shooting over our heads. Another time I spent several hours in a shell hole, which was very interesting.
We are in one of the most beautiful spots in France; the rivers, hills, flowers and poppy fields all add to the beauty of the land, yet the civilian have been driven away. The thing that interested the marines when in support was that we had all the rabbits, chickens and vegetables that we could eat. You would have laughed until you were exhausted to watch them. We have some excellent officers and they are men, men you have to admire, as everyone does who knows them, as we do, and others as well.
NOTES: Edwin Robinson Lemly was born on March 31, 1886 in Texarkana, Texas and died on September 17, 1955, at the VA Hospital in Temple, Texas. He was living in a home for veterans in Waco, Texas before he died. He is buried in the Oakwood Cemetery in Waco. His military headstone identifies him as a Texas, Cpl US Marine Corps serving in World War I. The stone also lists SS & CS and PH. PH would indicate a Purple Heart. He was the nephew of C. C. Lemly who owned a drug store in Hot Springs.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT