The Mena weekly star., 1918-04-25

glad tidings tn would occunv the machine gunners' dugout right near me advanced artillery observation post. This dugout was a roomy affair. ury as finder, and real cots fin if These cots had been made by the n' E.'s who had previously occupied the dugout l was the first to enter ana promptly made a signboard with my name and number on it and sus- pended 1t from the foot of the most comfortable cot therein.
 In the trenches 1t is always first come, first served" and thls is lived up to by all.
 TWO K, F. A. men (Royal Field ar- uilery) from the nearby observation post were allowed the privilege of stopping in this dugout when of duty.
 One Of these men, Bombardier VII son by name, who belonged to Bat tery 2 23S, seemed to take a' liking to me, and I returned this feeling.
 In two days time we were pretty ehummy, and he told me how his bat tery in the early days of the war had put over a stunt on Old Pepper, and had gotten away with it.
 l will endeaver to give the story as far as memory will permit in his own words:
 "l came out with the first expedi- tionary force, and, like all the rest, fhOnUhf xx-a
 licked in jig time, and be able to eat Christmas dinner at home. Well. so far, l have eaten two Christmas din. ners In the trenches, and am liable fo eat two more, the way things arc pointing. That is, If Fritz don't dron a 'whizz-bang' on me, and send me to Blighty. Sometimes I wish I wou'd get hit, because it's no great plcn's out here, and twenty-two months of 1t makes you fed up.
 Its fairly cushy now compared to what 1t used to be, although I admit this trench is a trihe rough. Now. We send over five shells to their one. We are getting our own back, but in the early days it was different. Then you had to take everything without reply. In fact. we would get twenty fhells in return for every one we sent over. Fritz seemed to enjoy it. but we British didn't; were the suf- ferers. Just one casualty after an other. Sometimes who'e platoons would disappear, especially when q Jack Johnson plunked into their middle. It got so bad that a fellow when writing home. wouldn't ask for my cigarettes to be sent out. because he was afraid he wouldn't be there to receive them.
 After the drive to Paris was turned back. trench warfare started. Our general grabbed a map, drew pencil across 1t, and said. Dig here Then be went back to his tea. 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 al night, but 1t was hot work, what with luc IAiC uuu III Il hN stretcher bearers worked harder thar the dlggers.
 Those trenches, bloomin' ditches, call them were nightmares. They wer' only about five feet deep, and you use' to get the backache from bendinl down. It wasn't exactly safe to stant upright. either, because as soon al your napper showed over the top { bullet would bounce off it, or else com, so close 1t would make your hair stand
 "We used to fill sandbags and sticE them on top of the parapet to make il higher, but no use; they would be there about an hour and then Fritz would turn loose and blow them tc bits. My neck used to be sore from ducking shells and bullets.