Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1918-03-20

headquarters calling for draft of
250 re-enforcements for France vol
unteered.
Then we went before the NJ. o.
(medical officer) 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 little
steamer lying alongside the dock.
At the head of the gangplank 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. have crossed the ocean
several times and knew was not sea-
sick. but when I buckled on that life
belt I had sensation of sickness.
After we got out into the stream all
/ could think of was that there were
million German submarines with a tor
pedo on each. across the warhead of
which was inscribed my name and adj
dress.
After five hours we came alongside
n 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 could see on the sid
ing were cattle cars. We climbed into
these. On the side of each car was
sign reading "Hommes 40, Cheveaux
8" When we got inside of the cars,
we thought that perhaps the sign
painter had reversed the order of
things. After 4S 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-
tering Of trench cooking, sanitation,
bomb throwing, accommodating, listen
ing posts. constructing and repairing
barbed wire, carrying in" parties,
methods used in attack and defense,
wiring parties, mass formation. and
the procedure for pc;son-gas attacks.
On the tenth day we again met our
friends "Hommes 40, Cheveaux s."
Thirty-six hours more of misery, and
we arrived at the town of F..
After unloading our rations and
equipment, we lined up ON the road in
to march.
A dull rumbling could be heard. The
sun was shining. / turned to the man
on my left and asked, whats the
noise. Bill?" He did not know. but his
face was of a pea-green color. Jim,
on my right, also did not know, but
suggested that "awsk" the sergeant.
Coming towards us was an oil griz-
zled sergeant, properly fed up With
the war. so / "awsked" him.
think It's going to rain, sergeant?"
He looked at me In contempt. and
grunted, COWS 1t a-goin' ter rain with
the bloomin' sun a-shinin'T / looked
guilty.
"Them's the guns up the line, me
lad, and you'll get enough of 'em be-
fore you gets back to Blighty."
My knees seemed 20 wilt, and /
squeaked out a weak ''Oh ~
Then we started cur march up to the
line in ten-kilo tricks. After the first
days march we arrived at our rest
billets. In France they call them rest
billets, because while in them Tommy
works S ven days a week and on the
eighth day of the week he is given
twenty-four hours ION his own
Our billet was a spacious affair. a
large barn on the left side of the road.
which had one hundred entrances.
ninety-nine for shells, rats, wind and
rain, and the hundredth one for Tom
my. / was tired out. and using Ia
shrapnel-proOf helmet (shrapnel proof
until a piece of shrapnel hits iD. or
tin hat, for pillow, lay down In the
straw. and was soon fast asleep.
must have slept about two hours, when
| awoke with a prickling sensation all
over me. As 1 thought, the straw had
worked through my uniform. woke
up the fellow lying on my left, who had
been up the line before, and asked
him:
Does the straw bother you. mate?
It's worked through my uniform and
can't sleep"
In a sleepy voice he answered,
'gThat amt straw. them's coolies"
From that time on my friends the
"cooties" were constantly with me.
"Cooties." or body lice, are the bane
of Tommy's existence.
The aristocracy of the trenches very
seldom call them ''cooties," they speak
of them as feas.
To an American flea means a small
insect armed with a bayonet. who is
wont to jab it into you and then hop
skip and jump TO the next place 10 be
attacked. There is an advantage in
having fleas on you instead Of coolies"
In that in one Of his extended jumps
said flea IS liable 10 land on the fell