American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1918-05-14

jecting from each end. On a lanyard
around my waist hung a huge jack
knife with a can-opener attachment.
The pack contained my o~vercoat. an
extra pair Of socks, change of under
wear, hold all Containing knife, fork,
spoon, comb, toothbrush, lather Brush.
shaving soap, and a razor made Of tin,
with MADE in England" stamped on
the blade; when trying to shave with
this II made you wish that you were
at war with Patagonia, so that you
could have a "hollow ground" stamped
Made in Germany +; then your house
wife, button-cleaning outfit, consisting
Of a brass button stick, two stiff
brushes, and a box Of Soldiers
Friend" paste; then a shoe brush and
a box Of dublin, a writing pad, indel-
ibie pencil, envelopes, and pay book,
and personal belongings. such as a
small mirror, a decent razor and a
sheaf Of unanswered letters, and Tags.
In your haversack you carry your iron
rations, meaning a tin of bully beef.
four biscuits and a can containing tea.
sugar and OxO cubes; a couple of
pipes and a pack Of shag, a tin Of rife
oil, and a pull-through. Tommy gen
orally carries the oil with his rations A.:
it gives the cheese a sort Of sardine
taste.
Add to this a frst-aid pouch and a
long, ungainly rife patterned after the
Daniel Boone period, and you have an
idea Of a British soldier in Blighty.
Before leaving for France, this rife
is taken from him and he is issued
with a Lee-Enield short trench rife
and a ration bag.
In France he receives two gas he'll
NETS, a sheepskin coat, rubber mack
Intosh, steel helmet, two blankets, tear
shell goggles, a balaclava helmet,
gloves and a tin Of antifrostbite grease
which is excellent for greasing the
boots. Add to this the weight of hts
r%ations, and can you blame Tommy for
growing at a twenty-kilo route march =?
Having served as sergeant major in
the United States cavalry, l tried TO
tell the English drill s%ergeants their
business, but it did not work. They
Immediately put me as batman in their
mess. Many a greasy dish of stew was
accidentally spilled over them.
l would sooner fight than be a waiter,
so when the order came through from
headquarters calling for a draft of
300 re-enfOrcements for France, / vol
unteered.
Then we went before the NJ. o.
(medical o%ficer) for another physical
examination. This was very brief. He
asked our names and numbers and
said Fit" and we went out to fight.
We were put into troop trains and
sent to Southampton, where we de-
trained, and had our trench rifles Is
sued to us. Then in columns Of twos
we went up the gangplank Of a little
steamer lying alongside the dock.
At the head of the ~gangp1ank there
was an old sergeant, who directed that
we line ourselves along both rails of
the ship. Then he ordered us to take
life belts from the racks overhead and
put them on. l have crossed the ocean
several times and knew l was not sea-
sick. but when l buckled on that life
belt l had a sensation of sickness.
After we got out into the stream all
1 could think of was that there were a
million German submarines with a tor
pedO IN each, across the warhead of
which was inscribed my name and ad-
dress.
After five hours we came alongside
a pier and disembarked. I had at
tanned another one of my ambitions.
l was somewhere in France" We
slept in the open that night on the side
of the road. About six the next morn
ing we were ordered to entrain. /
looked around for the passenger
coaches, but all l could see on the sid
ing were cattle cars. We climbed into
these. On the side of each car was
a sign reading "HommeS 40, Cheveaux
g." When we got inside of the cars,
we thought that perhaps the sign
painter had reversed the order Of
things. After As hours in these trucks
we detrained at ROuen. At this place
we went through an intensive training
for ten days.
The training consisted Of the rudi-
ments of trench warfare. Trenches
had been dug, with barbed wire en-
tanglements, bombing saps, dugouts,
observation posts and machine gun EN-
placements. We were given a smat-
tering of trench cooking, sanitation,
bomb throwing. remembering, listen
ing posts. constructing and repairing
barbed wire. carrying in" parties,