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One Bullet
by Dana Botz
All it took was one bullet. Machine-gun fire rang out across the battlefield in Sivry-sur-Meuse, a significant location within the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, a major American-led campaign, exactly one month and one day before the end of World War I, and Private First Class Earl James Howe lay dying from a bullet passing through his heart. As he lay dying, he noticed he felt no pain. As blood leaked from his heart onto the French soil, his mind traveled back to the previous day and his conversation with soldier, and fellow Minnesotan, Private First Class Robert Kost.
~~~
19:00 hours, October 9, 1918
“Kost, I’m scared about going over the top on this one. It’s too quiet out there. I can’t even hear the birds singing or the wind rustling the leaves on the trees. It’s that feeling you get before a tornado hits.”
“You said we wouldn’t make it back last time when we were at Somme, and we both made it back in one piece.”
“I know, but this time is different. It just feels different. I think it’s my time.” Howe examined the buttons on his uniform. “You know that my birthday is in six days, right? I’m going to be twenty-four. A year ago, I never thought this would be my life. I was courting a girl from church. We were talking about going steady…A year ago, I was working at Tressman and LeBlanc’s.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s a clothing store. I started out at as a delivery boy when I was fourteen and eventually became their best salesman. I had the gift of sales. Guys would come in to buy a hat, and I’d sell them a shirt, tie and suit.” He was quiet for a moment, staring straight ahead at the walls of the trench. “I miss my family. My ma and pa were so good to us kids. They made us go to church and school, and they always made sure we had enough to eat, but we also had fun. They liked to take us all on picnics at Mayhew Lake. My ma makes the best fried chicken you’ve ever had, and her potato salad would make you cry.”
“Yeah, my parents are like that, too. They got all of us kids involved with town ball. They never missed one of our games, and that’s a lot of games when you have ten kids,” Kost paused, “It does no good thinking about them now. You need to focus on staying alive. Thinking about them will distract you. You need to stay alert.”
09:00 hours, October 10, 1918
Their company went over the top the next morning, October 10, 1918. The first group went over at daybreak. Earl could hear machine-gun fire and bombs exploding outside of the trench. Captain Morris walked by and said, “Alright men, you’re next. Get ready and may God be with you.” Kost turned to Howe, cleared his throat, and asked, “What time is it, Howe? This is going to be a big one. I want to mark the time in my head.”
Howe could hardly remove his pocket watch from his right breast pocket because his hands were shaking so hard. He stared at the back of the watch at the engraving placed there by his parents and given to him the day before he left for bootcamp, ”God is always with you, son. Love, Mother and Father.” Earl had tears in his eyes as he finally opened the cover of the watch and stated, “10:45. I can’t do it, Kost. I’m not going over the top. No one can make me. I’m going home. Help me, Kost.”
Kost grabbed Howe, shook him hard, and said, “We have no choice but to go. The Huns will overtake us in this trench if we just stay here. We’ll be sitting ducks. Just stay low and stay behind me. Here, have a cigarette. It’ll steady your nerves.”
10:46 hours
Howe was trembling to the point Kost didn’t think he could hold his bayoneted Enfield rifle let alone light a cigarette, so Kost put it in Howe’s mouth and lit it. Captain Morris walked by again, and said, “Now! Go! Good luck men, I’m right behind you.”
“Aren’t we lucky, Howe, he’s going to be behind us. I’d like him in front of us, along with all the other officers,” Kost replied dryly.
10:48 hours
Howe couldn’t help himself. He started laughing and couldn’t stop, not even when tears began flowing down his cheeks. The next thing Kost knew, Howe sprang up and jumped over the top of the trench and started firing in all directions, his cigarette hanging from his lower lip. The lit end glowing like a beacon in the smoke from the gun fire.
10:49 hours
Howe couldn’t hear anything but the blood pounding in his ears.
He couldn’t hear the other men falling and screaming.
He couldn’t hear them crying for their mothers.
Howe stepped over two poor men who were missing their legs, dragging themselves with their forearms along the scorched earth.
He couldn’t hear the machine-gun fire or smell the gunpowder.
He felt only a burning in his chest as he fell to the ground. Kost was suddenly beside him.
10:50 hours
“Howe, you dumb bastard, why did you leave without me?” The machine-gun fire was close again. “Shit. I have to move. I’ll come back for you.”
“That’s okay. You don’t need to come back. I’m going home. I can see my mother in the distance. She’s waving her hanky at me.”
“Mama, is that you? I’ve missed you and Pa so much. How’s Ray? Is he safe? Ma, do you remember that picture I took with the other guys before I left? The one with us holding cigars and wearing ties? We all promised each other we’d meet back up after the war. I don’t think I’ll make it. Tell the guys I’m sorry I can’t come back.”
~~~
Eight days later, Private First Class Earl James Howe’s pocket watch continued ticking as his body was found and laid to rest on the battlefield where he was killed.
Historical Notes
Earl James Howe took his last breath at eleven hundred hours on October 10, 1918, five days before his twenty-fourth birthday, and exactly one month and one day before the Armistice was signed at the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day, of the eleventh month in 1918.
Earl’s parents were initially informed that their son was missing in action but were informed months later that he actually died the same day the battle occurred. Earl’s body was found and buried on October 18, 1918, near the place where he fell. This location later became known as the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial, where the largest number of American military lay dead in Europe as over 26,000 soldiers were killed in action and there were approximately 120,000 total casualties. Over one million American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines, as well as 135,000 French soldiers, participated in the offensive.
Left to mourn Earl James Howe was his family. Earl was born October 15, 1894 in Robins, Iowa to William and Floretta (Cronk) Howe. The Howe family came to Foley, Minnesota in a covered wagon in 1905 when Earl was nine years old. He lived with his parents; brothers Ray (who also served in France in World War I, but he returned home safely at the end of the war), and John and William at home, and sisters Edith and Mae at home. Earl attended Foley Public Schools, leaving after eighth grade to join the business world where he worked at the Tressman and LeBlanc store in Foley. He began as a delivery boy at the store and advanced until he was head salesman. His employer found him to be “honest and conscientious in his work”. He worked at the store until the age of twenty-three, when he was drafted into the United States Army.
He entered the Army on February 25, 1918. He attended training at Camp Dodge, Iowa, and Camp Logan, Texas. He served in Company D, 131st Infantry. Earl arrived in France on May 28, 1918. The first time he went over the top was July 4, 1918, followed by August 8, where he, and the other men, showed their fighting skills during the “Battle of the Somme”, when after hours of hard fighting they broke the Hindenberg line on the Western Front. They eventually received relief and were able to rest before heading to the Verdun Front where he participated in one of the largest battles of World War I, the Meuse Argonne, which began on September 26, 1918, and ended on November 11, 1918, though it ended for Private First Class Earl James Howe on October 10, 1918.
This story is historical fiction inspired by archival records; dialogue and many details are imagined by the author.
Resources
This Day in History, November 11, 1918: World War I Ends
https://www.abmc.gov/video/this-day-in-history-november-11-1918-world-war-i-ends/#:~:text=On%20November%2011%2C%201918%20an,Allies%2C%20ending%20World%20War%20I
Weapons of the Western Front
https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/weapons-western-front
HEROIC DEEDS, HEROIC MEN The U.S. Marine Corps and the Final Phase of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive 1-11 November 1918
https://www.usmcu.edu/Portals/218/HeroicDeeds_web.pdf
Allied forces break through the Hindenburg Line
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/september-29/allied-forces-break-through-the-hindenburg-line
WWI Gold Star Roll Record
https://www.mnhs.org/search/people/record?uuid=ed0ee711-33f6-4579-ae69-0296f96157ab&record_type=gold-star&recordType=gold-star
Gold Star Soldiers Minnesota Historical Society Collection
https://genealogytrails.com/minn/benton/military_mnhs.html
The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War I https://history.army.mil/portals/143/Images/Publications/catalog/77-8.pdf
Find a Grave
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/55956402/earl_james-howe
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/172214004/robert_nicholas-kost
Author's Bio
Dana Botz is new to the world of Creative Writing. She began her adulthood as a nurse who quickly moved to the academic setting teaching thousands of people to become excellent nurses. She graduated to retirement six years ago and returned to school as a student in January 2025. She is currently in the Creative Writing program at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, Minnesota. She spends her spare time making wishes come true with Make A Wish--Minnesota, learning watercolor painting, spending time with her husband, and pandering to two pampered Pomeranians.