"The show is on! Liaison now becomes more intense and much more active. Things progressed very well for us. The soldiers and officers are doing fine. The night hours creep to dawn. All hell has broken loose around us. Our artillery and Heinie are batting them out with a multitude vengeance. My troops have been subjected to a murderous pounding from mortars and machine gun fire. The "Screaming Mimi", six shot rapid German mortar, is giving us hell. All my Liaison reports are excellent, and we are right on schedule. The officers are wretched sights. They have crawled through mud and dirt on their business and have been subjected to terrific shell fire. They are not fooling, too tired after eight hours of battle and they are determined men. Stories come to me from them of sudden death, of dying and wounded, for we alone are not the only ones in this engagement. I am proud of my men and my officers, for they are really doing the job marvelously. These American soldiers of our[s] are marvelous. I do not witness any signs of fear or hesitancy on the part of the men. I know we all are afraid and that's true, but the men say nothing nor show any signs of being afraid. These officers accept their orders and, like a "Western Union Lad", hop off for the front line with their orders. Dawn is breaking and things are going well for us. Tough luck - damn it! Heinie dropped one in our gun pit. Two are dead and seven wounded and three missing - our first casualties. The fighting is intense and shelling terrific. We expected casualties and yet they are tough when they come. To offset this sadness I hear of extraordinary valor on the part of my officers and men. Lt. Floyd plunged into certain death and hauled out the wounded before the ammunition in the pit blew up. He and Capt. M. and 1st Lt. B. have been treating the wounded and evacuating them. Capt. M. and 1st. Sgt. L. have treated wounded and have them[sic] evacuated them in jeeps. Lt. ? on another sector has organized a First Aid and litter bearer detail and has treated many wounded. Lt. Floyd has organized a traffic route under terrific fire and saved many lives. I hear nothing but heroism of my officers and men and I may well be proud. We're doing our job well and adding more to it by these unquestionable heroic acts. Our phase has ended and our job has been done with marvelous success under murderous conditions. Thank God, for the amount of men committed, our final losses are meager. Damn that one mortar shot - it caused the most of our losses. They are small. One incident somehow haunts me. Before leaving my rear area there was a court martial charge against a soldier. I refused to sign it, saying he might redeem himself in action. He did, he died a soldier's death. Somehow, even now, I can see his face and peculiar enough, I think he is at peace for having done his job. No court martial can now mar his record. His slate is cleansed in battle. Where is the enemy aircraft - we never see a one."
"The battle continues now terrifically through two days and two nights. My Liaison officers are weary, mud-caked, drawn and bleary-eyed. They can just about drag themselves along, but, by God, their spirit is marvelous. They are men with the will to do; their morale is marvelous. Sleep has been non-existent."