Norwich bulletin., 1918-02-07
CHAPTER XIII. My First Official Bath.

There are so many instances of heroic deeds performed under fire in rescuing the wounded that it would take several books to chronicle them, but I have to mention one instance performed by a chaplain Captain Hall by, name, in the bridge on our left, because it particularly appealed to me.
 A chaplain is not a fighting man; he is recognized as non combatant and carries no arms. In a charge or trench raid the soldier gets a feeling of con- fidence from contact with his rifle, re- volver, or bomb he is carrying. He has something to protect himself with, something with which he cam inf1ict harm on the enemy--in other words, he is able to get his own back.
 But the chaplain is empty handed, and is at the mercy of the enemy if he encounters them, 50 1t is doubly brave for hi into go over the top, ur- der fire, and bring in wounded. Also a chaplain is not required by the King regulations to go over in 8 charge. but this one did, made three trips under the hottest kind of fire, each time re- turning with wounded man on his back. On the third trip he received bullet through his lift arm, but he
 
 tor until late that night-just spent his time administering to the wants of the wounded lying on stretchers wait ing to be carried to the rear by annbu- lances.
 The chaplains in the British Army are a fine, manly set of men, and are greatly respected by Tommy.
 si5f CHAPTER XIV.
 Picks and ShoveIs.
 Ihad not slept long before the sweet voice of the sergeant informed us that NO. 1 Section had clicked for another blinking digging party" 1 smiled to myself with deep satisfac- tion. I had been promoted from, a mere digger to a member of the Sui eide Club, and was exempt from all fatigues. Then came an awful shock. The sergeant looked over in my di- rection and said: Don't you bomb throwers think that you are wearing top hats out here. 'Cprdin' to orders you've been taken up. on the strength of this sec tion, and will have to do your bit with the pick and shovel, same as the rest of us." l., I. put up a howl on my way to get my shovel, but the only thing that re- suited was a loss of good humor on my part.
 We fell in at eight o'clock outside of our billets. 8 sort of masquerade party. I was disguised as a common | laborer had a pick and shovel and about one hundred empty sandbags l The rest. about two hundred in all | were equipped likewise; pick, shovels sandbags, rifles and ammunition. The party moved out in column ot | fours. taking the road leading to the 1 trenches. Several times we had ,tc | string out in the ditch to let long col | umns of limbers, artillery and supplies | get past. .. IA.
 The marching, under these condi. tions, was necessarily slow. Upon ar. | rival at the entrance to the communi- cation trench, looked at my illum. mated wrist watch-it was clever | o'clock. Before entering this trench, wort Twas passed down the line, mo talking or smoking lead off in single file, GOV. ering party first"
 1 This covering party consisted oi thirty men, armed with rifles, bayo- nets bombs and two Lewis machine guns. They were to protect us ant 1 guard against a surprise attack while digging in No Mans Land
 The communication trench was about half mile long a zigzaggins ditch, eight feet deep and three fee wide.
 Now and again, German shrapne would whistle overhead and burst ir
 our vicinity. We would croucl
 against the earthen walls while tn, l shell fragments slapped" the grounC above us.
 ! Once Fritz turned loose with a ma
 chine gum the bullets from whicl
 cracked through the air and kicket
 up the dirt on the top, scattering sant