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{
    "localId": "17343226",
    "label": "The Memoirs of Sergeant Verne Chaney",
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{
    "id": "17343226",
    "sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/17343226",
    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "The Memoirs of Sergeant Verne Chaney",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/17343226",
    "collections": [
        "Verne E. Chaney Papers",
        "Subject Files"
    ],
    "subjects": [
        "Truman, Harry S., 1884-1972",
        "Spina, Frank E., 1887-1972",
        "Klemm, Karl D., 1880-",
        "Wooldridge, Glenwood F., 1893-1977",
        "Pershing, John J. (John Joseph), 1860-1948",
        "Thacher, John H., 1872-1960",
        "Miles, John L., 1878-1961",
        "Soldiers",
        "World War, 1914-1918",
        "Artillery"
    ],
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            "logicalDate": "1919-01-01",
            "year": 1919
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    "seq": 18,
    "pageIndex": 0,
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    "ocrText": "18\nAt the end of forty five minutes the guns were silent except one\nbattery who had to put up a barrage.49 After fifteen minutes had elapsed,\nthe bore was cleaned and equipment in order for leaving. The limbers came\nup in due time but the 1st Sgt. had most everyone up in the air with his\nsquawking voice and as result the was some confusion in getting the right\nlimbers to the same guns as they pulled in. He didn't go out of the place the\nway we came in causing him to get stuck in the mud. 5°The 1st. Sgt. had no\nexecutive ability or leadership, just a nerve racking irritating way of telling\nsomeone to do something.\nThe horses having been on the go and working for thirty six hours\nwithout feed or water or rest, they were all in and were unable to pull the\ngun out even with the assistance of the men on the wheels. The second and\nfourth uns became stuck in this way. By this time the Huns were sending up\nflares and star shells illuminating every thing until it was light as day. These\ncontinued for some time.51 Time flew fast and we were not moving.\nEveryone got pretty nervous. I was asked by the Captain, who had taken\ncharge, if I could get my section out. 52 I said yes, and I went out the way I\ncame in. With the men on the wheels, we got the gun up that steep dirt hill\nto the rock road. I was ordered to send the lead horses back to help on the\nothers. By this time the first section was on the road also in front of us, we\nTRUMAN,\nboth then waited for the others.\nEs ARCHIVES& \"NATIONAL RECORDS ADMIN\n49\nThis barrage was to force the Germans to remain in their trenches and not launch a counterattack\nuntil all the guns could be removed.\n50\nIt is axiomatic that one should go out the way one came in. This is especially true at night.\n51\nStar shells come in many colors and release a shower of brilliant stars upon exploding. They are\nused for signaling and as flares.\n52\nThe Captain was Harry S. Truman. He describes the incident in several of his writings. Sergeant\nChaney was the section chief of number three gun in \"D' battery."
}