Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-01-26

| writes about was an old tree i'm No Man
Land, about n hundred yards from on
front line trench. 1t was pretty wei
| Knocked about by bullets and shel
| fragments. II made n. pretty good guide
. post, stickin sort o. lonely like up against
the skyline at night. Accommodating
patrols and bombing parties used IT tt
show 'em the wye back To their trenches
because, y'know, out there in the black
ness its easy To lose your wye, unless yor
ave spirits aguidin you.
Lots OF times English and German
patrols would meet near the lone tree
and many a 'and-to' and fight woulc
tyke plyce around its roots.
"At that part o. the line il were pretty
'ot, what with the rifle and machine g,iu
firing, the only time there would be lul
IN the firing was when n reconuoitcrln
patrol was out in front, and then, as you
know, you couldn't fire for fear Of n
lifting your own hlokes. All around the
lone tree were scattered many bodies,
mostly English and German Some OF
'cm nd been alvin there for weeks, and
when the wind were ablowin' from the
German lines toward us IL were sort OF
unpleasant in our front line,
Every time the captain would cali
for soldiers for reconnoitering patrol
'Aunted Jerry, as YOU call i'm, alw'y vs.
put Is hloomIn' nymc on the list. II
got SO that after while e was never
asked if e wanted TO go; the captain
would just naturally put is nymc down
as agoln.
I'm our dugout. Jerry would tell me
'ow many dead were around the tree.
nw e could count 'em IN tho dark, |
don't know, but q could sec &c could
sec
Sometimes in the dav time Z would
rig up a periscopo on 'ls own, and ait on
the tirestep for hours alookin out in No
Mans Land At the lone tree, and the
bodies around IT, This sort o got on our
captain nerves, and c gave Jerry orders
not To use n periscopc After this order
Jerry used to SIT off by 'imself on the
hrestep a musin' and musin The
other blokos laughed at i'm, but knew
what he were adoin '-'e were atalkin' to
the spirit of the lone tree.
"1nen G got sort o reckless, and
because 1T were against orders for im
10 use pcrlscope, G used TO, IN the
bloomln day time, stick Is cad over
the top and gaze IN the direction of the
lone tree. Bullets from German snipcra
would Kick up the dirt and tear the sand
bags all around i'm, but none OF 'cm ever
1t i'm. No bullet ever myde could kill
'Aunted Jerry, as YOU call i'm.
The rest o the blokes IN the trench
would pull i'm down off the hrcstcp.
They thought they were aSayin' his life,
but Jerry weren't afraid from bullets.
II knew and SO did /, that they couldn't
arm I'm. Then our eaptain-e ad
brains, e ad-said that Jerry was balmy
and gave orders to the sergeant major TO
tyke i'm back to the doctors TO send i'm
TO Blighty. Jerry was told about thus
the night before e was 10 leave. II
WAS greatly upset, and did nothin' but
talk to the spirits--the air was full of
'em-l could ear their voices, too.
That night about ten o'clock Jerry
WAS missed The next morning e was
still aInisSin.' For two days nothin' was
card of Jerry. Then the Royal Irish
Rifles took over sector of trench on
our r'ght~ A lot Of our blokes told EN-
about Jerry bein' missin A few Of 'cm
got around me, and described Jerry to
EN-, but | weren't afraid for Jerry-I