Folder 2 (Cassette tape - Private John Slattery interviewed by Robert A. Taylor)

World War I - 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Division (Mass. National Guard). 1916 – sent to garrison El Paso during the Villa crisis. 1917 – sent to France, attended French trench warfare school. Saw action at Chateau-Thierry, Belleau Wood, Argonne. Life in the trenches – dirty, on alert from 4-6 AM for German attack. First barrage – paralyzed with fear, but fear receded with time. Combat – “comedy” to the observer, horrible to the people involved. Kill or be killed – which he did. Saw his Lieutenant shot in the back in the trenches – “no one liked him”. Praised the French as fighters, not the British (Irish). Would not go through those days again.