THEIR FIRST SHOT

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 117, 4 February 1918, Page 6

THEIR FIRST SHOT

'AMERICAN GUNNERS-IN THE • ' - .WEST. " That historic moment when the first 'American shot was fired in the Great War is thus described by the "Times" correspondent with the American Army in France:— "The gun was ;so well concealed that six :feet" away, no one could tell it was there,' i It was a French 75, pointed towards invaded country, as are and have been many thousands of its fellows these past few years. The interest in it lay in the fact that its crew were khaki-clad 'Sammees,' and that at exactly 6.27 o'clock upon a recent October morning its lanyard was pulled by an American gunner, launching the first hostile shot ih the war defending American honour against barbarism and tho Kaiser's rule. A young lieutenant commanding the gun.team told us the etory: i'lt was raining like this, only harder. We were told we cnuld fire as Boon as tho gun was in position. But the mud was so thick it was impossible to pull it to this place with our horses. So in their, eagerness the crew unanimously, agreed to drag it by hand if I gave permission. It was the hardest job perhaps that we ever tackled together, The morass was as deep as the hubs, and over the knees. But in the dark and the Tain we succeeded. We jammed a shrapnel shell home, and let it fly beyond No Man's Land over there. We wanted to beat any other battery, and we did! We used all our shells with a given range after the first-one. Every man is glad to bo here. The weather is nothing. It rains everywhere, here or at home. We wish we could stay instead of going back after a ,while to give placn to others."