Letter from Col. George Patton to his father from WWI:
Dear Papa
We have all been in one fine fight and it was not half so exciting as I had hoped, not as exciting as affairs in Mexico, because there was so much company. When the shelling first started I had some doubts about the advisability of sticking my head over the parapet, but it is just like taking a cold bath, once you get in, it is all right. And I soon got out and sat on the parapet. At seven o clock I moved forward and passed some dead and wounded. I saw one fellow in a shell hole holding his rifle and sitting down. I though he was hiding and went to cuss him out, he had a bullet over his right eye and was dead.
As my telephone wire ran out at this point I left the adjutant there and went forward with a lieutenant and four runners to find the tanks, the whole country was alive with them crawling over trenches and into the woods. It was fine but I could not see my right battalion so went to look for it, in doing so we passed through several towns under shell fire but none did more than throw dust on us. I admit that I wanted to duck and probably did at first but soon saw the futility of dodging fate, besides I was the only officer around who had left on his shoulder straps and I had to live up to them. It was much easier than you would think and the feeling, foolish probably, of being admired by the men lying down is a great stimulus.
I walked right along the firing line of one brigade. They were all in shell holes except the general (Douglas Mcarthur) who was standing on a little hill. I joined him and the creeping barrage came along toward us, but it was very thin and not dangerous. I think each one wanted to leave but each hated to say so, so we let it come over us. The infantry were held up in a town so I happened to find some tanks and sent them through it. I walked behind and some boshe surrendered to me. At the next town all but one tank was out of sight and as the infantry would not go in I got on top of the tank to hearten the driver and we went in, that was most exciting as there were plenty of boshe. We took thirty.
From War Letters published by Washington Square Press
Thanks, that is interesting and also informative.