The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1918-02-14
HORRORS Of TRENCH FIGHTlNG
ENTHUSIASTICALLY IYBYvETERAN
Sergt Fred Strickland Military Medalist of First Cana
dian Mounted Rifles Gives Thrilling Talk on Actual
Experiences Before University Club Wednesday
Night

"cooue~ hunt. After few hours Of
little result the soldier usually gets
disgusted. turns his shirt inside out.
and pats In on hoping that the little
tdeviis" viii exhaust their energies and
die in their attempt TO get back In
SIDE.
One Tommy" came out Of his dug
out one day 70 go on sentry duty.
He stiii had a few minutee 80 he
sat down against the side OF the
trench and enjoyed a -cootie" hunt.
He found a particularly large one and
put It out In tho palm Of his hand
to inspect Il more closely. II acci-
dentalIy rolled on on to the floor
Of the trench and Tommy leaned over
torpack u Rp. As be did 80. q shei1
burst overhead and . portion Of II
struck the trench aide at she very
spot where his head was located q
few seconds before. After the sur
prise had passed on the Tommy
looked Al the shattered trench. then at
the "Cootie" which be had recovered
Finally he said: We'll. old boy. you
certainly are pest but you saved
my life 80 you can live on me the
rest OF yours." and he put the louise
back inside his shirt.
Strickland Possesses sense Of hu-
NOR of decidedly Yankee flavor. He
.,.s .1,c.o-.esrx sho tt.vo. - . al,
dier's pack and while emphasizing the
Importance OF the spade. he said:
When you see q chap dig himself
out of sight in ten minutes. you know
he's not working for the city
The tricks the trench warriors play
on each other proved keeniy inter
esting. A mine crater which. after
heavy rains. had become a lake. was
Canadian Joker who pitched a bomb
into H. The resulting blaze all but
destroyed the morale of the Germnns-
II scared them almost to death. ac-
cordins TO Strickland.
Another time patent barbed wire
! which came In rolls and could be
erected In one piecc without much
danger to the soldiers was placed be-
fore the Canadian trenches and was
later taken by the Germans 10 4 raid
and placed before the German trcn-
ches In Q day or two a Canadian
crawied out to this barbed wire. tied
crawied back into his own trench.
Then the ropes were pulled and the
patent wire came rolling home In
broad day light before the astonished
understand bow Il was done
The German -rumjar" and the eau
sage" trench mortars and the Stokes
gun used by British were explained
IN fascinating detail. The Stokes
sun is portable. like all trench NOR
iars and can be carried by the op-
eratop The weapon always drew
the fire OF the enemy after n dozen
rounds OF shots and the gunner u.s.
| uaiiy found Il wise to change his io-
cation because the German heavy ar
tiliery was usually directed to that
spot Immediately. Tho infantrymen
in that particular sector OF the trench
usually bad to stay and suffer the
shell attack. -The Stokes man was
the most unpopular chap who entered
the trenches" the speaker aaid. And
usually he had TO lick the sentrics on
duty before he could obey his orders
and install HIS weapon
The story OF the Messines pines. 10
OF which werc blown up a year ago
in the destuctiop OF tho German
trenches In Flanders. was related by
Strickland. II took three years to
dig those mines and every soldier
stationed on that sector during that
time worked on those mines. 20 Of
them were built but the oermans de
stroyed one OF them. The 10 how
ever. which were fired blew the Mas
sines hill into nothingness and threw
horses. men and equipment almost a
milo into the air
Tho famous h'l soi and hill 60 are
40 called because they were origin
ally 800 metres and 60 metres high re-
spectively. They are not that high
now because the tops have been blown
to pieces. In fact the famous hi,l so
In now only 10 metres high. according
to Strickland.