Norwich bulletin., 1917-12-17


 - ~ 2. - .9,-5 e'
 much dirt dosvr,7e1 yoz- face that you lnasined>you had s~aIfowel a potato patch. f.s s'. P. :, Forty is Twenty Minstes. One of our officers had just entered this pafaEtai residence one day and stretched himself out fora short siesta empty sancbaEs laid on ttze hard earth fire step, which was abnut one and a half feet wide when Fritz. decided to throw over few bear kesss'' {hfinnen wefers>. We got forty of them in about twenty minutes. The last one landed plumb in the center Of the trench just beside the -off7 cerz' dugout It made hole aboHt twenty feet across twelve feet deep and b,ried three of our men alive. We eventually managed to dig them out, however, ur1 - wounded burt she'll shocked. It was at this moment that the officer who had gone biissfulfy to sleep emerged from l the so-called dugurt, rubbed his eyes and nauttere6: Say boys, what's going one I thought I IFneard something" He l was the soundest sleeper I ever knew. | About sunset one of our observation balloons broke loose and started. to drift over the German lines. The oc- cupats had descended in. their par achate and our r"Archies' .taEti- air craft guns1 were doing their best to destroy it before it landed in German territory. The GeHTnans, thinking; it l might still be. occupied, also sheled | it, 5- There must have. been thousands e rounds of ammunition expended on tf.is one balloon. T1se sky was white with puts Of smoke. Just as it dis appeared from view we saw, g. German l airplane go up, and finish it off.
 Visit From "chuek'' Gibson
 After supper I swas sitting in. the
 Gugout writing iion1e' by the light of l a f1iCASfTinS candle when in l formed that there was a. corporal outside who wanted to see me. He
 turned out to be Bonnbardier Chuck 1 Gibson, who was with the sixty pound ] Took Emma CTrefrh Motar} battery located on our fronta We had a long talk over the games of bowls he | and I, Ken Douglas; Howard Brown ! and Doug. Addison used to have ln Toronto All these boys were either ! ir; England or France. t'Chuck''. prom ised to- bring Howard Brown. who l happened also to he in the front line ! me the next" day. He told, me Of a. ] s'strafe' they were putting on next I morning about s.30. and I promised l to go over and ohserVe for them Un- fortunately this little party never came never saw Chuck ''ss He was killed at l his gun, which, fred urstsl it was knocked out. Howard Brown was taken prisoner.
 -.. MouFHs FiaS oMcef. We all seemed sin a. reminiscent 1 mood that evening Harvey Cock ahutt andI spent. a. pleasant hour, after. Chuck left discussing our lrpians for after the war. .Tisss is the most cheering thing. one can do when il: the. trenches, and outside of. the business, of killing Huns, %is the fav- orite talk an, ,ong the. soldiers! Poet' old :IIarvev's dreams, were never to be realized. He, too.- died doing his. duty like the brave fellow that he was. It was recognized throughout the 4th '. M.o R. that he was one of our hnest off cers. 4 ! Night Before Capture.
 At Il p. 1n.. that night when I was on duty and patrorlirs the trench noticed that a hiz-bang Ina d. set fire to the dried -sandbag, on the top of one of the sdugouts. T considered that the occupants had a personal interest in this. affair so I aroused them and we got to, work with sIlopeis. . Fritz thought we were celebrating Guy Frawkess night af little early in the season and decided : to break up the party with .nTachine-gun fire How cver,' we. managed to extinguish the flames without any casualties. At r o'clock l. awoiea the. officer who was to go on duty after me and lay down to sleep until 4 o'clock Lit tie did I know that this was to be the last time would close my eyes on Allied soil for some time to come CContfnned tomorrow)