Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1918-08-02

rats and every kind of pest that has
ever been invented.
1t is funny to see some of the hSky-
Corners when they first discover y
cootie on them. Some of them cry.
II they really knew what 1t was poing
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 tin es r.
Is In this way that couple of men get
to be trench partners and come TO be
pals for life-which may not be a long
time at that.
In the front-line trenches 1t is more
comfortable to fall asleep on the para
pet fire-step than In the dugoutS, be-
cause the coolies are thicker down
below. and they simply will not give
you a 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 we
( needed them most.
We were given bottles Of a liquid
which smelled like lysol and were sup
posed to soak our clothes in IL. II 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
stuff. Also, our clothes got so sour
and horrible smelling that they hurt
our noses worse than the coolies. They
certainly were game little devils, and
came right back at us.
So most Of the poilus threw the
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 Il heavy lombard
ment, the ALPHABETICALLY a corporars
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 most
Of the time, and got second and third
helpings until we had to open our
belts. But as the Limeys say: "Gaw
blimey, the chuck was rough" They
served thick soup of meat and vege-
tables in bowls the size of wash ba-
sins, black coffee with or without
sugar-mostly without land plenty
of bread
Also, we had preserves In tins, Just
like the Limeys. If you send any par
GELS over, do not put any apple and
plum jam in them or the man who gets
1t will let Fritz shoot him. Ask any
Limey soldier and he will tell you the
same. / never thought there was 20
much jam in the world. No Mans
Land looked like city dump. Most
of us took it, after while, just to
get the bread. Early in the war they
used the tins to make bombs of, but
that was before Mills came along with
his hand grenade. Later on they fiat
tened out the tins and lined the dug
outs with them.
Each man carried an emergency ra-
ton In his bag. This consisted of bully
never used except in n real emergency,
because no one could tell when 1t
might mean the difference between
life and death to him. When daylight
catches a man in q shell hole or at
listening post out In No Mans Land
he does not dare to crawl back to his
trench before nightfall, and then is the
time that his emergency ration comes
In handy. Also, the stores failed 10
reach us sometimes, as ! have said
and we had to use the emergency
ratlons.
Sometimes we received raw meat
and fried 1t in our dugouts. We built
regular clay ovens in the dugouts. with
Iron tops for broilng. This, of course,
was in the front-Iine trenches only.
We worked two hours on the fire.
step and knocked off for four hours,
in which time we cooked and ate and
slept. This routine was kept up night
and day, seven days week. Some
times the program was changed for
Instance, when there was to be an at
tack or when Fritz tried to come over
'i'itt bul NlSt llolllllE hlS-
turbed our routine unless il was gas
attack.
The ambition of most privates is TO
become sniper, as the official sharp
shooters are called. After n private
has been in the trenches for six
months or year and has shown his
craftsmanship, he becomes the great
man he has dreamed about. We had
two snipers to each company and be-
cause they took more chances with
their lives than the ordinary privates
they were allowed more prt, xges.
When 1t was at all possible our 81 ers
were allowed dry quarters, the best Of
food. and they did not have to follow
the usual routine, but came and went
as they pleased.
Our snipers, as a rule, went over
the parapet about dusk, just before
Fritz got his star shells golna : They
would crawl out to shell Graders or
tree stumps or holes that they had
spotted during the dawn other