World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, English
I have only time to write and assure you that I am safe. We're living in
trenches at present--I have my sleeping bag placed on a stretcher to
keep it fairly dry. By the time you get this we expect to be having a
rest, as we've been hard at it now for an unusually long time. How I
wish that I could tell you so many things that are big and vivid in my
mind-but the censor--!
Yesterday I had an exciting day. I was up forward when word came through
that an officer still further forward was wounded and he'd been caught
in a heavy enemy fire. I had only a kid telephonist with me, but we
found a stretcher, went forward and got him out. The earth was hopping
up and down like pop-corn in a frying pan. The unfortunate thing was
that the poor chap died on the way out. It was only the evening before
that we had dined together and he had told me what he was going to do
with his next leave.
God bless you all,
CON.
XIX
October 14th, 1916.
DEAREST MOTHER:
I'm still all right and well. To-day I had the funniest experience of my
life--got caught in a Hun curtain of fire and had to lie on my tummy
for two hours in a trench with the shells bursting five yards from
me--and never a scratch. You know how I used to wonder what I'd do under
such circumstances. Well, I laughed. All I could think of was the sleek
people walking down Fifth Avenue, and the equally sleek crowds taking
tea at the Waldorf. It struck me as ludicrous that I, who had been one
of them, should be lying there lunchless. For a little while I was
slightly deaf with the concussions.
That poem keeps on going through my head,
Oh, to come home once more, when the dusk is falling,
To see the nursery lighted and the children's table spread;
"Mother, mother, mother!" the eager voices calling,
"The baby was so sleepy that he had to go to bed!"
Wouldn't it be good, instead of sitting in a Hun dug-out?
Yours lovingly,
CON.
XX
October 15th, 1916.
Dear Ones:
We're still in action, but are in hopes that soon we may be moved to
winter quarters. We've had our taste of mud, and are anxious to move
into better quarters before we get our next. I think I told you that
our O.C. had got wounded in the feet, and our right section commander
got it in the shoulder a little earlier--so we're a bit short-handed and
find ourselves with plenty of work.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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