News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1919-01-01
There were six of us.

| 6ynQlcdIeJ
There were six of us.
"CurIy" Wallace was called "Curly''
because he had the cutest little Della
Fox. or spit curl, as the gum-chewers
call If. YOU ever saw. Wallace was
nro,Hl of that curl, and gave it the
hest 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 widowed by
lying around too long in the dampness
of our dugout. He was English; also
from London.
"Ikey" Honey, dubbed 'Tkey" 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.
1 was the sixth. The boys put the
prefix "Yank" to my name, because l
was american and hailed from the
"Big Town" behind the statue Of lib
erty.
The six of us composed the crew of
| gun No. 2 Of the til brigade ma
| chine company. We were machine
gunners and our gun was the Vickers,
light, 3O3, water-cooled.
1t was a 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 a Tommy Atkins
, "What is a dugout?" he would look at
you in establishment, and, plying you
for your apparent lack of education,
would answer "What's a dugout?
Why a dugOut is a-well, dugOut's
dugout.' Only being Tommy pro
tem-pro tenn In my case meaning "foF
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 it's name because it is dug out
by the Royal Engineers, or r. Els as
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
thn fF.AK ,aIp &c 30.
and give us rheumatism. 1t also
makes a 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 turn in the trench to rest our
selves.
Our dugout was about twenty feet
deep, or, at least, there were twenty
wooden steps leading down to IT. The T,
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 at time. |
The ceiling was six feet high and the
floor space was ten feet by six feet. |
Through the ceiling siX-lnch square
airshaft was cut. We used to take
turns sleeping under this in wet
weather.
Tho timbers bracing the walls were
driven full Of nails 20 hang our equip
ment on. After our ammunition, belt
filling machine, equipment, rifles, etc.,
had been stored away, there was not
much space for six men to live, not
forgetting the rats.
1t was very dark in the dugout, and
as we we're only issued candle and a
half every twenty-four hours we had
to economic on light. Woe betide the
last man who left the candle burning!
In this hotel of ours we would sit
around the lonely candle and through
a thick haze of tobacco smoke would
recount our different experiences at
various points of the line where we
had been. or spin yarns about home.
Sometimes we would write a letter,
when we were fortunate enough to be
near the candle. At other times we'd
sit for an hour without saying a word,
listening to a German over In the en-
emy's front trench playing a cornet.
My, how that BOche could play Just
to make us hate the war he'd play "Su-
vance River" "Home, Sweet Home"
or cover the Waves The latter was
my favorite. During his recital our
trenches were strangely quiet. Never
a shot from either side.
Sometimes. when he had finished.
key Honey would go into the trench
and play on his harmonica. As soon
rs we'd see that harmonica come out
it was a case of duck down low" for
the Germans would be sure, when the
first strains reached them. to send over
''five rounds rapid" We hated that
harmonica. More than once we
one over the top. but he'd sit
down. write n letter, and in about ten
DAYS time would receive. through the !
mail a little oblong package, and we'd $