Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 19??-1918, 1918-04-04

come. nrst served" and this IL lived
up 10 by all.
Two II. y. A. men (Isoyal Field mr..
tillery) from the nearby observation
post were allowed tho privilege Of
stopping In this dugout when on duty
One OF these men. Bombardser VIII
son BY name. who belonged TO Bat.
terry d 23S. seemed to take q liking
10 me. and returned this feeling.
In two Days time we were pretty
chummy. and he told me how his bat
fcry IN the early days Of the war had
put over stunt on Old Pepper. and
had gotten nwny with II.
VIII endeaver TO give the story M
far as memory will permit In his own
words:
II came out with the FIRST expedI-
tIonary force, and. like NIL the rest
thought we would hnve the enemy
licked In JIG time. and be able to eat
Christmas dinner nj home. Well. 80
fnr. ! have eaten two Christmas din.
ners In the trenches. and ON liable to
eat two more. the way NbInrs nre
pointing. Thnt II. II Fritz don't drop
'whIxx-bung' on me. and send me 70
BIIghty. Sometimes ! wish I would
get hit. because It's no great picnic
out here, and twenty-five months Of Il
makes you fed up.
TITS fairly cushy now compared 10
what II used to be. although admit
this trench Is tribe rough. Now.
We send over Ave shells 10 their one.
we nre getting our own bnck. hut 10
the early dnys n was different. Then
you Ind 70 take everything without
reply. In fact. we would get twenty
shells IN return for every one we sent
over. Fritz seemed 10 enjoy II. but
we British didn't: we were the sur.
ferers Just one casualty after uu-
other. Sometimes whole platoons
would disappear. especially when
Jack Johnson pl,fhked Into their
middle. II got so bad 'hnt n fellow.
when writing home. wouldn't ask for
any cigarettes to be sent out, because
he was afraid he wouldn't be there to
receive them.
AFTER the drive 10 Paris was turned
back. trench warfare started. Our
general grabbed map, drew u pencil
across II. dnd said. Dig here Then
he went back to his ten. and Tommy
armed himself with a pick and shovel
and started digging. He's been dig.
ging ever since.
"Of course we dug those trenches ut
night, hut II was hot work. what with
the rifle and mnchlne-run FIRE. The
stretcher bcurcrs worked harder than
the dIggers.
"Thosc trenches. bloomiu' dltchcs, |
cull their, We're Nightmares. They were
only nbvut Ave feet deep, and you used
tc' get the backache from bepding
down. II wasn't exactly safe to stand
upright. either. because as soon as
your napper showed over the top
bullet would bounce on II. or else come
~ 'i''~t " Nvuiu ttVN' sVut hhth 0tusW'
ave used to flll sandbngs and stick
them on top Of the pufapet to mike Il
higher, but no use; they would be
there about nm hour and then Fritz
would turn loose and blow them TO
bits. My neck used to he sore from
ducklng shells and bullets.
"where my battery was stationed
hnsty trench had been dug, which
the boys ncknamed Suicide ditch
and believe me, yank, this was the
original Suicide ditch All the others
are limitations.
"When o. fellow went into that
trench II wns an even gamble that he
would come out on ? stretcher AT one
time Scotch battalion held It, and
when they heard the betting was even
money that they'd come out on
strstcherA they grabbed all the bets