Williston graphic., 1918-10-03

vUS SOsS ~ Nv ~ U0D ~ INV SvoeDl
CONTINUED from last week)
he that it is probably Just history BY
now. If they are still using trenches
there they probably look entirely dif-
1erent.
But when I was at Dixmude they
were something like this:
Behind the series of frOnt-line
trenches are the reserve trenches; In
this case five to seven miles away, and
still farther back are the billets. These
may be houses or barns or ruined
churches-any place that can possibly
be used for quartering troops when
off duty.
Troops were usually In the 'front.'
1ine trenches six to eight days, and
fourteen to sixteen days In the reserve
trenches. Then back to the billets for
six or eight days.
We were not allowed to change our
clothing In the front-line trenches
not even TO remove socks, unless for
inspection. Nor would they let you
rs much as unbutton your shirt, unless
there was an inspection of identified.
tfi0n disks. We wore a disk at the
wrist and another around the neck.
You know the gag about the disks. of
course: II your arm is blown OF they
can tell who you are by the neck disk:
~ your head is blown of, they do not
care who you are.
In the reserve trenches you can
make yourself more comfortable, but
you cannot 60 to such extreme lengths
08 luxury a. changing your clothes en-
tirely. That is for billets, where you
spend most Of your time bathing,
changing clothes, sleeping and eating.
Believe me, q billet is great stuff; 1t
10 like sort Of temporary heaven.
OF course you know what the word
."cooties" means. Let us hope You
will never know what the coolies
themselves mean. When you get in
or near the trenches, you take course
In the natural history of bugs. lice,
rats and every kind Of pest that has
ever been invented.
It IL funny to see some Of the new.
acomers when they first discover
cootie on them. Some of them cry.
II they really knew what 1t was going
to be like they would do worse than
that, maybe.
Then they start hunting all over each
other. Just like monkeys. They team
up for this purpose, and many times 1t
10 In this way that couple of men get
to be trench partners and come to be
pals for ife-which may not be long
time at that.
In the frOnt-line trenches it Is more
comfortable to fall asleep on the para
pet dre-step than In the dugouts, be-
cause the cOoties are thicker down
below, and they simply will not give
you Q minutes rest. They certainly
are active little pests. We used to
make back scratchers out of certain
weapons that had flexible handles, but
never had time to use them when w
needed them most.
We were given bottles of a liquid
which smelled like lysol and were sup
posed to soak our clothes In 1t. It was
thought that the coolies would object
to the smell and quit work. Well,
q cootie that could stand our clothes
without the dope on them would not
be bothered by little thing like this
stun. Also, our clothes got 50 sour
and horrible smelling that they hurt
our noses worse than the cooties. They
certainly were game little devils, and
came right back at u.s.
So most of the poilus threw tho
dope at Fritz and fought the coolies
hand to hand.
There was plenty of food in the
trenches most of the time, though once
in while, during heavy lombard
ment, the fatigue-usually corporal's
guard-would get killed in the com.
munication trenches and we would not
have time to get out to the fatigue and
rescue the grub they were bringing
Sometimes you could not find either
the fatigue or the grub when you got
to the point where they had been hit
But, as say, we were well fed mos1
Of the time, and got second and thirG
helpings until we had to open ou1
belts. But as the Limeys say: Cav
.blimey, the chuck was rough" The!
served q thick soup Of meat and vege
tables in bowls the size Of wash ba