Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1918-04-10

poral sits down and writes letter
home. asking them If they cannot get
some NJ. z. (member of parliament) to
have him transferred to the Royal Fly
ing corps where he won't have TO issue
ratiOns.
At the different French estaminets
in the village and at the canteens Tom
my buys fresh eggs, milk. bread and
pastry. Occasionally when he is flush.
he invests in a tin of pears or april
cots. His pay is only shilling a day.
"A cents, or cent an hour. Just mag
inc, cent an hour for being under
/ fire-nOt much chance of getting rich
out there.
When he goes into the fire trench
! (front line). Tommy's menu takes u
tumble. He carries in his haversack
| what the government calls emergency
or iron rations. They are not supposed
| TO be opened until Tommy dies of star
! walton. They consist of one tin Of
| bully beef, four biscuits, Ii little tin
which contains tea, sugar and Qxo
cubes concentrated beef tablets).
| These are only to be used when the
enemy establishes a curtain of shell
| fire on the communication trenches.
| thus preventing the carrying in" Of
| ratiOns, or when in an attack body
of troops has been cut OFF from it's base
| of supplies.
! The rations are brought up at night
! by the company transport. This is a
! section of the company in charge of
/ the quartermaster sergeant composed
/ of men, mules and limbers (two-
wheeled wagons which supplies Tom
mys wants while in the front line.
/ They are constantly under shell fire.
! The rations are unloaded at the en-
! trance to the communication trenches
I and are carried in" by men detailed
/ for that purpose. The quartermaster
sergeant never goes into the front-line
/ trench. He doesn't have to, and have
never heard of one volunteering to
! do so.
The company sergeant major sorts
the rations and sends them in.
TommyS trench ratiOns consist of all
the bully beef he can eat. biscuits
! cheese. timed butter sometimes II
men TO a TIM, jam or marmalade. and
occasionally fresh bread (ten TO u
Loaf When ii is possible he gets tea
and stew.
When things are quiet. and Fritz Is
behaving like gentleman. which sell
dom happens, Tommy has the opportu-
nifty of making dessert. This is
trench pudding" II is made from
broken biscuits. condensed milk, jam
a little water added slightly favored
with mud-put into a canteen and
cooked over a little spirit stove known
as "Tommy's cooker"
"a firm in Blighty widely advertises
these cookers as a necessity for the
men In the trenches. Gullible people
buy them-ship them to the Tommies,
who, Immediately upon receipt of same
throw them over the parapet. Some
times a Tommy falls for the ad. and
uses the cooker in a dugOut TO the dis
gust and discomfort of the other oc-
cupants.)
lis hiNSH - SUNK up HI a III anu
allowed to simmer over the flames
from the cooker until Tommy decides
that 1t has reached sufficient (gluelike)
consistency. He takes his bayonet and
by means of the handle carries the
mess up in the front trench TO cool
After it has cooled off he tries to eat H.
Generally one or two Tommies in q
section have cast-iron stomachs and
the tin is soon emptied. Once l tasted
trench pudding but only once.
In addition to the regular ration is
sue Tommy uses another channel to
enlarge his menu.
In the English papers a Lonely
Soldier" column is run. This is for
the soldiers at the front who are sup
posed TO be without friends or rela-
tives. They write to the papers and
their names are published. Girls and
women in England answer them, and
send out parcels of foodstuffs, ciga-
rettes, candy. etc. l have known q
lonely" soldier to receive as many as
FIVE parcels and eleven letters in one
week.