Clerk of the Court C.B. Skipper received on the 4th
an interesting letter from his son, First Lieut. C.B. (Basil) Skipper Jr., Co.
F., 371st infantry, “Somewhere in France,” the letter dated Oct. 12.
The following extracts from the letter tell of a big attack in which Lieut.
Skipper took part:
I have just come out of a big attack, and it is only by the
grace of God that I am alive today; for as I sit and look back on it now, I
don’t see how it was possible for any human being to come through the terrible
artillery barrage and withering machine gun fire that we did and come out alive
and unwounded; and yet I and many others did that very thing, came through
without a scratch. And after it was all over the Boche was many miles closer to
Germany than he was when we started.
Of course we lost a good many officers and men in killed and
wounded, most of them were only wounded, I am glad to say, but we gave the
Boche a good licking and we will do him even worse the next time we go after
him.
We captured a lot of Boches and material of all kinds, and
drove them back a long way. All the Boches that we too seemed to be very happy
to be prisoners and we did not have to put a very heavy guard on them to send
them back to the rear. They all said that the morale of the German army is very
low, and that they are all tired of the war, and are ready to quit. The Germans
are wonderful soldiers though, and their equipment is very good, but we have
them on the run now, and we all hope and believe that it will be only a matter
of a few months before it will all be over, and we can hit the trail back to
the good old U.S.A.
Let me say one thing right here, papa, and I think that any
one who has ever been through a big battle will agree with me: when a man is in
battle with the shells bursting all around him, and the bullets flying by, and
his friends falling on all sides, he prays, and prays as he has never prayed
before; and he prays whether he has ever prayed before or not. In his hour of
greatest peril he turns to his Heavenly Father just as a frightened child turns
to his earthly father for shelter and protection; and I have noticed that a lot
of officers and men have been trying to live better lives since we came back
from the battle.
I feel that it is a direct answer to prayer that I am alive
tonight, for no one who has never been in a great battle can realize the
extreme danger and horror of it. It looks utterly impossible for any one to
come through alive, and yet a great many do.
Our men did fine, and the officials higher up were very much
pleased with our work. I actually saw men joking with each other in the
thickest of the fight. Sometimes a shell would fall in a line of men and kill
three or four and sometimes more, and the remaining ones would simply close up
the gaps and continue to move forward without ever pausing for one moment; and
when the Boche saw what determined men he had in front of him, he did the only
thing he could do, and that was to retreat and retreat fast.
I have seen so much blood and death that I am all nerves
just at present, but in a few days I will be all right again, and then we may
get another chance at the Hun, or we may not; one can never tell what is going
to happen over here from day to day, and a rule we have, which I have found
works very well is, never plan anything for tomorrow, but let tomorrow take
care of itself.
I guess I will have to close now and go to bed. I haven’t
had much sleep for the last three or four nights, and I made a long hike today,
so I am pretty tired and sleepy.
I have been expecting to get a leave for some time, but so
far haven’t been able to get one, but I am expecting to get one real soon now,
and I sure do need one. I have been in the trenches for about four months now,
and in one big attack, and I sure feel that I deserve one, for in all that time
I haven’t had a real day’s rest.
Don’t worry about me any, for I am well and trusting God to
bring me safely through, and I feel sure that He is going to do so.
--Basil
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