Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1915-09-10
FROM BELGIUM'S BATTLE LINES
STALEY WRITES FURTHER OF HIS ADVEN-
TURES AS A SNPER IN THE BRITISH ARMY

somewhere IN BEGUN, Aug. 10, 1919.
Friend Bell
We have been having very en-
joyable time of it here on the firing
line this time out. The only thing
to mar our pleasure is the thing
that happens to be the bane of an!
field-soldier's existence lack O
nOurishment
When in Gods country I read tina
the British army is well fed"
came over here and found that it is
we'll 'fed-up."
The technical meaning of the eX
preston 'fed-up" is disguised.
The British army is disguised, bu
that is another story as l am goins
to continue on the vicissitudes of {
SHIPPER"
And Bell, please wrap up few
hundred good dinners and send then
over to the LIST Bait. Gordon HE
landers.
There is only one type of soldier
who is enjoying this terrific strug
gle" And that type is the free
lance from Uncle Sans domain He
is a certain bloke or class Of blokes
who is able to shoot well, talk a littl
Of several different languages, gen
orally spanish, is ready to kick in
at any time because he has seer
life at it's fullest, and in short
makes the best sniper.
We have six of that iIk in our sec
ton.
None of them care a damn whether
school keeps or not. My pardner il
crime-my third one-the other two
both Americans, have kicked in-iS
from Argentine. He is really Scotch
but has seen a wee bit and is not
wanting much to live.
1t was good yesterday. We Were
sniping from 80 trench on top OF
the bluff at sundry Germans some
JoV al do dloC0LI nat 10 "hCI
the telescope rifle is the goods. The
Belgians started bombarding al
along the German line and making
things very uncomfortable for the
"Alemans" as the "Belgics" call the
Germans.
AS usual when a big shell like a
SO point-2" strikes trench
something happens. In this case
the Fates of War did not depart
from the. usual procedure.
Along with the flying sand-bags
sticks and stones, etc, we had no
difficulty III catching glimpses OF
arms and legs and other triflin2
things, thrown high into the air by
each exploding shell. Mere baga-
telle, but we noticed a wee German
blown up into tree some 80 yards
behind the firing line-he was tax
en- down during the night, l OBJ
served this morning when l went
up. But all the afternoon he hung
there, deader than a mackerel
We had a good time watching
things through the telescope until the
German artillery took a hand. They
got fed up on Belgic nick nacks and
retaliated, making the Belgian bonn
bardment look like a quiet day at
the sea shore. Between the Germans
and the Belgics-in direct line-Was
little Reddies sniping post No. 2
with two cover seas" snipers com
plete, firing at anything that proved
a good target
At the time, I believe, l was spot
ting through the telescope set into
the parapet, and my South American
bunkie was doing the honors with my
telescope rifle.
Along the trench toddles several
dignitaries of the rank of Captains,
Majors and ether superfluOus necessi-
ties.
Of course, they necessarily had to
shove their periscopes up above the
parapet, and the Germans telephoned
to their gunners, who Immediately
got busy.
They sent dozens of "Whiz-bangs'
at our parapet but they all shaved
the top bags or burst low Several
burst on the parapet maybe 10 yards
to the left, covering us with dust
and gravel.
You know those officers left in
disorder, not being Gordon men, and
we two blokes were left to our fate,
with whiz-bangs and "high-eXclusive"
(high-explosiye) shrapnel, making the
air hum.
And all because someone-or sew
eral-let their curiosity get away
with them.
We had been joking all the time
to slip it over on these English of
ficers who die so hard" and they
must have thought the Americans
were there" all right.
The shell-fire ceased shortly.