The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1919-04-18

curly Wuiluce was cai1eu CHrty
because he had the cutest little Della
Fox, or spit curl, as the gum-chewers
call 1t, you ever saw. Wallace was
proud of that curl, and gave 1t the
best Of attention and care. He was
Scotch.
"Happy" Houghton earned his nick
name by his constant smile and happy
disposition. He was English, Lon
doner.
Hungry" Foxcroft really earned his
title. He took special pains that our
rations would not become mildewed by
lying around too long in the dampness
of our dugout. He was English; also
from London.
"Ikey" Honey, dubbed "IlScy" be-
cause in one of our theatrical at
tempts he took the part of "Ikey Co
henstein," and made quite hit. Eng
lish. via London.
"Dick" Turpin, called "Dick" In
memory of the notorious highwayman.
He used to help the quartermaster SER
geant so the name was very appropri-
ate. He was irish, from Dublin.
i
prefix "Yank" to my name, because I
was american and hailed from the
"Big Town" behind the statue of lib
erty
The six of us composed the crew Of
gun No. of the ---th brigade ma
chine company. We were machine
gunners and our gun was the Vickers,
light, 303, water-cooled
1t was rainy AFTERNOON in June,
and we were sitting in our dugout in
the front-line trench, about 300 yards
from the German lines.
If you should ask Tommy Atkins
"What Is dugout?" he would look at
you in establishment, and, plying you
for your apparent lack OF education,
would answer, "Whats a dugout
Why dugout Is a-well a dugout's q
dugout.", Only being a Tommy pre-
tem--pro TEN in my case meaning "for
duration of war'-I will try to de-
scribe to the best of my ability this
particular dugout.
A dugout is hole In the ground
Gets its name because 1t is dug out
we call them. 1t is used to shelter the
men In the trenches from shell FIRE
They also sleep in IL. or try to. From
our point of view, its main use Is to
drain the trenches of muddy water
and give us rheumatism. 1t also
makes good hotel for rats. These
guests look upon us as intruders and
complain that we overcrowd the place
Occasionally we give in to them and
take a turn in the tlench to rest our
selves.
Our dugout WAS about twenty feet
deep, or, at least. there were twenty
wooden steps leading down to 1t. The
ceiling and walls were braced by
heavy, square-cut timbers. Over the
timbers in the ceiling sheets of cor
rugated iron were spread to keep the
wet earth from falling in on us. The
entrance was heavily sandbagged and
very narrow; there was only room for
one person to leave or enter Mt a time
The ceiling was six feet high and the
floor space was ten feet by six feet
Through the ceiling a six-inch square
airshaft was cut. We used to take
turns sleeping under this in We
weather.
The timbers bracing the walls were
driven full of nails TO hang our equip
ment on. After our ammunition, belt
filling machine, equipment rifles, etc.
had been stored away, there was no
much space for six men to live, no
forgetting the rats.
1t was very dark in the dugout, ant
as we were only issued candle and ;
half every twenty-four hours we hat
to economize on light. Woe hetide tn,
last man who left the candle burning
In this hotel of ours we would ST
around the lonely candle and through
thick haze Of tobacco smoke would
recount our different experiences a
various points of the line where w,
had been, or spin yarns about home
Sometimes we would write a letter
when we were fortunate enough to b.
near the candle. At other times wet
sit for an hour without saying a word
listening to German over in the en-
enys front trench playing a cornet
My. how that Boche could playl Jus
to make us hate the war he'd play "Su
vance River" ''Home, Sweet Home,
or "Over the Waves The latter wa
my fayorite. During his recital on
trenches were strangely quiet. Neve
a shot from either side.
Sometimes, when he had finished
likely Honey would go into the trenc
and play on his harmonica. AS 500
as we'd see that harmonica come on
It was a case of "duck down low" 70
the Germans would be sure, when tn
first strains reached them, to send owe
five rounds rapid" We hated tina
harmonica. More than once W
.nucked one over the top, but he'd 81
No1n. write letter. and 10 about to