C. of E., meaning Church of England; R. C., Roman Catholic; W., Wesleyan; P., Presbyterian; but if you happened to be an atheist they left it blank, and just handed you a pick and shovel. {Photo: The Author's Identification Disk.} On my disk was stamped C. of E. This is how I got it: The Lieutenant who enlisted me asked my religion. I was not sure of the religion of the British Army, so I answered, "Oh, any old thing," and he promptly put down C. of E. Now, just imagine my hard luck. Out of five religions I was unlucky enough to pick the only one where church parade was compulsory! The next morning was Sunday. I was sitting in the billet writing home to my sister telling her of my wonderful exploits while under fire-all recruits do this. The Sergeant-Major put his head in the door of the billet and shouted: "C. of E. outside for church parade!" I kept on writing. Turning to me, in a loud voice, he asked, "Empey, aren't you C. of E.?" I answered, "Yep." In an angry tone, he commanded, "Don't you 'yep' me. Say, 'Yes, Sergeant-Major!'" I did so. Somewhat mollified, he ordered, "Outside for church parade." I looked up and answered, "I am not going to church this morning." He said, "Oh, yes, you are!" I answered. "Oh, no, I'm not!"--But I went. We lined up outside with rifles and bayonets, 120 rounds of ammunition, wearing our tin hats, and the march to church began. After marching about five kilos, we turned off the road into an open field. At one end of this field the Chaplain was standing in a limber. We formed a semi-circle around him. Over head there was a black speck circling round and round in the sky. This was a German Fokker. The Chaplain had a book in his left hand-left eye on the book-right eye on the aeroplane. We Tommies were lucky, we had no books, so had both eyes on the aeroplane. After church parade we were marched back to our billets, and played football all afternoon. CHAPTER IV "INTO THE TRENCH" The next morning the draft was inspected by our General, and we were assigned to different companies. The boys in the Brigade had nicknamed this general Old Pepper, and he certainly earned the sobriquet. I was assigned to B Company with another American named Stewart. For the next ten days we "rested," repairing roads for the Frenchies, drilling, and digging bombing trenches. One morning we were informed that we were going up the line, and our march began. It took us three days to reach reserve billets--each day's march bringing the sound of the guns nearer and nearer. At night, way off in the distance we could see their flashes, which lighted up the sky with a red glare. Against the horizon we could see numerous observation balloons or "sausages" as they are called.