“Oh Lordy, They’ve got us bracketed….”

Col John W. Thomason, USMC, is effective in his use of shading and dark tones, with which he conveys danger. The figures carry on with their mission, only slightly flinching as the bomb bursts behind them. On page 167 of the 1926 edition of Fix Bayonets!, Thomason writes: “before the smoke had lifted from the monstrous crater the devastating rumble came again, and the second shell roared down 50 yards to the rear. ‘Oh Lordy, they’ve got us bracketed!’ . . . a dark, tremendous streak, shooting straight down to the quivering earth. A yawning hole opened with thunder fairly between two platoon columns, and the earth vomited. . . . It was wonderful shooting. All the shells that followed dropped between the columns of prone men – but not a man was hit!”