The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1919-01-17
lgopyfsshs. 1917. b. me Mcclure Newspaper
hynainateJ

we were IN rest billets In the little
French village OF S., about ten
kilos from the front-lne trench. Mum.
Der Two'a gun crew were sitting on the
ground Iii a circle around their ma
chine gun. while a sergeant, newly
returned from special course Ia ma
chine gunnery az NJ. Omer, was ex.
pounding the theory Of scientific ma.
chine gunnery. He himself had never
actually beea under FIRE with ma.
chine gun. but from the theoretical
point be sure could throw out the
book stun. ! must confess that HIS
flow Of eloquence passed over my
hend like Zeppelin, and noticed
nm uneasy squirting among the rest
Of our crew.
Happy Houghton. who was sitting
next 70 ma, leaned over. and with his
eye on the sergeant whispered III my
ear:
"Bllme me, Yank isn't II nrfui the
way ne ehucks his weight aboutl"
agreed with Happy.
Across from the sat key Honey,
with our mascot, Jim, Ia his lap.
Every NOW and then Jim would take
his hind leg and furlousiy scratch az
a spot behind his ear Honey, no.
ticing this action, would reach under
bis arrnpit and also scratch.
Sailor Bill was Intently watching
Jim and Honey; he, too. started
scratching.
In a minute or so Hungry Foxcroft
started on cootle hunt, and l had
HB Irresistible desire 10 lean back
against the barrel casing OF the gun
and also scratch.
II II one OF the chief indoor sports
on the western front. especially dur
lag nonotonous lecture hy some OH.
Ger Of noncom, for one OF the fed.up
listeners 20 start scratching himself.
This generally causes the whole gang
20 do the same, the Instructor lnclud-
ed. II Is just like a minister Ia the
midst Of a very dry sermon suddenly
stopping stretching himself, and yawn-
ing, this action causing the rest Of the
congregation to do likewise.
A. the whole circle scratched, our
sergeant Instructor commenced TO
shift his weight from one foot to the
other 10 an uneasy manner We all
Eazcd at him intently and each began
10 scratch furiously. Sure enough,
The sergeant gave Ia aud started UNI
buttonlng the front Of his tunlc TO get
at some real or imaginary cootle. A
nudge went the rounds Of the circle.
We had accomplished our purpose.
The sergeant's mind took an awful
drop from the science OF machine gun
merry TO that OF catching that particu-
lar eootie.
We constantly glanced az our wrist
watches. Fifteen minutes more and
tiie lesson would be over. The SER
Eeant was becoming confused. and was
trying 70 founder through the rest OF
his talk. We had no mercy on him,
but kept up the scratching. AT last.
In desperation, the sergeant said;
''You men have actually been under
fire with machine guns several times.
Can't enc Of you relate some incident
OF how, through some ruse. you put Il
oy,r on the Boehesf
Iscy Honey, grasping this golden
npnortunlty TO break up the lecture,
'and slyly winking at as. started IN
nj told how a certain guns crew To-
Gated and put out OF action German
machine gunner by playing a tune on
their gun. which the German tried TO
initiate. thereby indicating 10 them by
sound the exact location OF the Ger.
man gun. which was later put out Of
action by concentrated maehlne-gun
FIRE from their section.
OF course we all listened very In
tently, but Il was an old story to us,
because we were the gdn's crew which
bad accomplished the feat that Hon
ney was describing but anything was
better than listening to that sing-song
ironing OF book knowledge which the
sergeant had been pumping into us
for the last hour and half.
The sergeant glanced at his watch
and dismissed us, We dlsmounted our
gun. put Il in les box ard stored Il
away In our billet; then we reassem.
bled under an apple tree in the or
ehard. aud. while the rest OF us in
duiged On a shirt hunt. Hungry Went
after our ration OF tea. Hungry was
sure on the JOB when it came to eat.
ing. Pretty soon he returned with
dixie 0ne-fourth full Of tea, two tins OF
jam. loaf OF bread, d large piece OF
cheese, and tin OF apricots which he
had bought at a nearby French es-
taminet. He dlshed out our ratlons.
not forgetting generous share for
himself. After we had finished, out
came the inevitable flags. a few puffs
from each man, and the ball Of con-
versation starred rolling.
Curly Wallace cleared his throat and
started in Wa.
Remember that village we passed
through on our march up the line