The Chesterfield advertiser. [volume] (Chesterfield C.H., S.C.) 1884-1978, 1918-11-07

not even to remove socks, unless for
inspection. Nor would they let you
as much as unbutton your shirt, unless
there was an inspection of identified
ton disks. We wore q disk ut the
wrist and another around the neck.
You know the gag about the disks, of
/ course: If your arm Is blown off they
can tell who you are by the neck disk
II your head is blown off, they do not
care who you are.
In the reserve trenches you can
make yourself more comfortable, but
you cannot go to such extreme lengths
Of luxury as 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; It
Is 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 a course
! In the natural history of bugs, lice
rats and every kind Of pest that has
ever been invented.
; 1t Is funny to see some Of the new
corners when they first discover a
cootie on them. Some of them cry.
, If 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 Tor this purpose. and many times 1t
Is In this way that q couple of men yet
to be trench partners and come TO be
pals for life-which may not he long
time at that.
In the front-iine trenches 1t Is more
comfortable to fall asleep on the para
pet Hre-step than in the dugouts, be-
! cause the cOOticS are thicker down
below, and they Simply will not give
You n minutes rest. They cprtuinly
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
peeded them most.
We were given bottles of a LIQUID
which smGlcd like lysol and were sup
posed TO soak our clothes in IT. 1t was
thought that the coOtics would object
to the smell and quit work. Wen,
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 so sour
and horrible smelling that they hurt
our noses worse than the coOties. They
certainly were game little devils, and
came right back ut us.
So most of the poilus threw the
dope ut 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 a heavy lombard
ment. the fatigue-uSua q corporaI'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 thcy were bringing
Sometimes you COULD not find either
the fatigue or the gr ub when you got
to the point where they had been hit.
But, as / say, we were we'll fed most
OF the time, and got second and third
helpings until we had to open our
belts. But as the LiIneys say: "Gaw
blimey the chuck wa 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 witho ut !-and plenty
of bread.
! Also. we had presei YES in tins, just
like the Limeys. II you send any par.
cells over, do not put any apple and
plum Jam In them or IL ,e man who gets
1t Will let Fritz shoot him. Ask any
Limey soldier and he will tell you the
same. l never though there was sc
much jam in the VOL Id. No Mans
Land looked like a cit y dump. Most
or us took 1t, after while, just to
get the bread. Early I'll the war they
used the tins to make bombs Of, but
that was before Mills ca me along with
his hand grenade. Late on they fiat
tened out the tins and lined the dug
outs with them.
Each man carried an mergency ia
tion In his bag. This CONS listed Of bully
! Deer, biscuits, etc. This ration was
never used except in n rea | emergency
because no one could Il I'll when Il
might mean the diffcren &c between
life and death to him. WI cn daylight
catches man in Il shell n rc or at ;
listening post out in No h ans Lane
he does not dare to crawl ark To hi.
'i''' u ''l'lt HlSulIall, ana liI'll - lIIi
time that his emergency rat ion come
in handy. Also, the stores; failed t.
reach US sometimes, as ] / ave said
ana we had to use the mergcncI
ratiOn>.
Sometimes we received rs W mCa
anu iricd Ii In our dugOutS. "" bull
regular clay ovens In tn" d ugOn Is. will
iron tops for broiling. Thi s., of course
was in the frOnt-linc trcn ChcS pnly.
We worked two hours on tn fire
step and Knocked of for four | 'ours
IN which time W" cooked and ate ant
slept. This routine was kept up q Ugh
atd day, seven days Il week. SO me
times tHr program was changed; fo
instance when there was TO be an at
Ia: X or when Fritz tried tD come on 2
! and visit, but otherwise nothing dts
turbcd our routine unless it was a gas
n al.