[Page]way. No sooner had we passed the tree and shrine when a shell whizzed over us and exploded about 75 yards beyond us. Where the next one buzzed more viciously than the first and exploded much closer, we flopped down on the ground knowing that they were speaking to us. A third one came, also very close. I could hear the gun that fired it. It came from the woods southwest of us, a mile or so away. This seemed strange since our lines were several miles ahead of this point to the north. Our general direction of advance was northward. I found out afterwards that the 77th Divison on our left had not be⟨en⟩ able to keep up with us in the advance. Of course, they had hard going through the midst of Argonne Forest⟨,⟩ and we had more open country along the Aire River. The 35th Div. on our right was also slightly in back of us. We were now holding a salient, a big dent, forward in the American line. For several days it was impossible to advance until the others came up. We lay still for about ten minutes. until the firing had ceased and got up and left the road and travelled through a grassy field unmolested. We saw numberous corpses of both sides attesting to the fighting here a day or two ago. At Montblainville I met a boyhood friend[Page]of mine⟨,⟩ Cyrus Peters. He was going up to join the 109th Hospital Corps. I [h]ad a short chat with him and later after the armistice he wrote to me telling that he came through safely. Casualties were exceedingly heavy on this drive. The Germans evidently tried to take their own dead to the rear on their retreat. Near Charpentry I saw a wagon loaded with dead bodies. In their haste they had to leave them behind. The Supply Co. stayed in their position in the ravine above Varennes all during this campaign. Lts. Braddock and Dubs (replacing[?] officers of the CO.) had their [h]eadquarters in a German dugout deep in the side of the hill. They seldom ventured away from here except to eat. This dugout life kept them safe from enemy shells but not from an other more subtle enemy, the influenza from which both died shortly after⟨ward⟩. There was a world wide epidemic of the flu preval[e]nt at this time. Those of us out in the open found out very little about it. The Germans shelled us occasionally in our position. One afternoon a shell came over⟨,⟩ killing one of the men. Several of us were standing on the narrow[Page]gauge railroad talking as the second one came toward us and struck the higher ground directly in front of us. It threw ground all over us but none of us were hurt. When the smoke had cleared away we saw [a ho]rse and a mule lying in their dying gasps⟨,⟩ fully as far away from the point of explosion as we were. This was another miraculous escape from death or injury. Lt. Montgomery Dilworth of Connellsville now took turns with me nightly to deliver rations to the front line. Dilworth and I here because fast friends and had much in common until long after the armistice. He was very kind, reliable and resourceful as well as quiet, unassumming and clean cut. We took one of our rolling kitchens (cook stove with wagon wheels) to Montblainville so as to be closest to the front with hot food. We located it in a shed near the point where several days before I had received such an unmerciful shelling. On the second day the Germans again let loose on the spot. Some cooks were killed while peeling potatoes and walls of the shed were knocked down, the debris completely covering the rolling kitchen.