Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1918-07-04
CHAPTER xxll-continued.

CHAPTER xxii-centinued.
10
This punishment Is awarded where
there Is a doubt as to the willful guilt
OF a man who has committed an Of
fence punishable by death.
Then comes the famous field pun.
ishlnent No. /. Tommy has nicknamed
1t ''cruciixion." 1t means that a man
IL spread.eagled on q Timber wheel,
two hours u day for t%wenty-one days.
During this time he only gets water.
bully beef and biscuits for his chow.
You get "crucided" for repeated minor
Offenses.
Next In order is field punishment
No. 2.
This Is confinement in the "clink,"
without blankets, getting water, bully
beef and biscuits for rations and doing
NIL the dirty work that can be found.
This may be for t%wenty-four hours or
twenty days. according to the gravity
of the offense.
Then comes "pack drill" or default
ers' parade. This consists Of drilling,
mostly at the double. for two hours
with full equipment. Tommy hates
this. because 1t Is hard work. Some
times he fills his pack with straw to
tighten It, and sometimes he gets
caught. II he gets caught. he grouses
ut everything in general for twenty.
n days, from the vantage point Of q
timber wheel.
p Next comes &C. B." meaning "con-
fined to barracks" This consists Of
staying In billets or barracks for twen-
ty-four hours to seven days. You also
get an occasional defaulters' parade
and dirty jobs around the quarters.
The sergeant major keeps what is
known as tho crime sheet. When a
man commits an o~ffense, he is
"crimed," that is, his name. number
nnd 0ffense is entered or the crime
sheet. Next day at Q a. IN. he goes to
the "orderly ROOM before the captain,
who either Furnishes him with &C. B."
or sends him before the o. G. (officer
commanding battallon). The captain
OF the company can only award &C. B."
Tommy many a time has thanked
the king for making that provision In
his regulations.
To gain the title Of a smart soldier
Tommy has to keep clear Of the crime
sheet, and you have to be darned smart
to do 1t.
have been on It a few times. most
ly for yankee im%pudence."
During our stay Of two weeks ir
rest biliets our captain put us through
a curse Of machine gun drills, trying
ont new stunts and theories.
After parades were over. our guns
crews got together and also tried on
s0Ine theories Of their own In r~eferenc,
to handling guns. These courses ha,
nothing to do with the advancement o
the war, consisted mostly Of causin,
tricky jams In the gun, and then tn,
rest Of the crew would endeavor to 10
cate as quickly a. possible the caus,
Of the stoppage. This amused then
for a few days and then things came I,
. standstill.
One Of the boys on my gun elaine,
that he could play a tune while tn,
gun was actually firing. and demon
strnted this fact M day on the large
range. We were very enthusiastic an,
decided to become musicians.
After constant practice I becam
quite expert In the tune entitled "A
Conductors Have Big Feet"
When I had mastered this tune, GU
two weeks rest came to an end, an
once again we went up the line an
took over tho sector In front Of c.
wood.
At this point the German trenche
run around the base Of q hill, on tn
top Of which was q dense wood. Thl
wood was infested with machine gun,
which used to traverse our lines a
will. and sweep the streets Of a littl
village, where we were billeted Will
In reserve.
There was one gun IN particula
which used to get our goats, II had IN
exact range Of our Elephant" dugou
entrance. and every morning. about tn
time ratlons were being brought up, n
bullets would knock up the dust on ID
road; mdrc than q Tommy wcr
West or to Blishty By running int
them.
This gun got our nerves On sdg
aad .vrits seemed 10 know Il, bscaus
b never gave ~ On hours rest. On
sspatation - machine gunnerS was
STAKE: ~ tried various fuses 70 local
Ind pat this I'm out Of aettoa. b
lsch one proved y b . failure. a