Trench Ballads and Other Verses [Portrait of Erwin Clarkson Garrett] Trench Ballads and Other Verses By Erwin Clarkson Garrett Author of “Army Ballads and Other Verses” PHILADELPHIA THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY 1919 Copyright, 1919, by The John C. Winston Co. THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF MY FATHER, the late Captain George L. Garrett, of the Union Army, during the Civil War AND TO MY MOTHER, whose lifelong devotion, unselfishness, tenderness and loyalty to me, as to all her family and friends, make this dedication a pleasure and a joy only commensurate with my thought of her. PREFACE I have divided this book into three distinct parts. Part I, Trench Ballads, consists of forty American soldier poems of America’s participation in the World War, 1917-19, based entirely on actual facts and incidents, and almost exclusively on my own personal experiences and observations, when a private in Company G, 16th Infantry, First Division, of the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Part II, Pre-war Poems, consists of three sets of verses written just before the active entry of America in the war, and appertaining to, but not an integral part of, it, and therefore grouped separately. Part III, Other Poems, contains those of a general and non-military character. It is highly desirable the “Notes” at the end of this volume should be consulted, and that it be realized that with few exceptions, all these Trench Ballads were written in France, many scribbled on odd pieces of paper or on old envelopes in the trenches themselves, and consequently, when present locality is intimated, it is always France, that is to say, from the standpoint that I am speaking in and from the seat of operations. For example, when I use the term “over here,” it really means what the people at home in America would call “over there.” Hyperbole or little characteristic anecdotes that really never occurred, except in the brain of an author, I have absolutely shunned, and have endeavored to adhere strictly to “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth,” and to set forth the vicissitudes; the dangers, joys and tribulations of the army man, and especially the man in the ranks, and more especially the man in the ranks of the Infantry, as these latter formed the actual front-line or combat troops that bore the brunt in this greatest of all wars. Absolute continuity or sequence would seem superfluous, but it will be observed that I have endeavored to maintain it to a certain extent, i.e., by gradually leading from a number of military verses, without any strict inter-relation, to the day of being wounded, then on to several poems concerning the military hospital, and finally bringing the Trench Ballads to a close with those having to do with the returning home of the soldier.