August 29, 1918 – Full diary entry:

“French + American artillery started gas bombardment at 8 p.m. Fritz came back.

On patrol. Got lost in woods. Ran into a gas shell. Got 8 breaths of gas before I could get my mask on.”

On behalf of Robert’s six children, 15 grandchildren (including me), dozens of great-grandchildren and all future generations, let me just say this:

Grandpa, we’re so happy you survived this. But for the record, you were trained to get that mask on in six seconds or less. Please be more careful for the rest of the war.

Where was Robert today? See the timeline.