Show shaa american gw empey cy JL CP machine gunner serving m france copyright 1917 by arthur ony EMPEY AND A COMRADE HAVE EXCITING experience WHILE ON LISTENING POST DUTY synopsis fired by the of the with the loss of american lives arthur guy empey an american living in jersey city goes to england and enlists as a the british army after a short experience as a recruiting officer in london he Is sent to training quarters in france where he first hears the sound of big guns and makes the acquaintance of booties cooties co oties after a brief perio dot training company la sent into the front line trenches where he takes his first turn on the fire step while the bullets whiz overhead empey learns as comrade falls that death lurks always in the trenches chaplain distinguishes himself by rescuing wounded men under hot fire with pick and shovel empey has experience as a trench bigger in no mans land much attention Is required by wounded men from the corps of doctors and nurses on listening post detail CHAPTER XIV continued 10 if a man Is killed he Is burled and the responsibility of the government ceases excepting tor the fact that his people receive a pension but it a man Is wounded it takes three men from the firing 11 the wounded man and two men to carry him to the rear to the advanced first aid post here he la attended by a doctor perhaps assist ed by two R A M 0 men then he Is pot into a motor ambulance manned by a crew of two or three at the field hospital where he generally goes under an anesthetic either to have his wounds cleaned or to be operated on ho requires the services of about three to five persons from this point an other ambulance ride impresses more men in his service and then at the ambulance train another corps of doctors R A M 0 men bed cross nurses and the trains crew from the train he enters the base hospital or casualty clearing station where a good sized corps of doctors nurses etc are kept busy another ambulance journey Is next in order this time to the hospital ship he crosses the channel arrives in blighty more ambulances and perhaps a ride for five hours on an eng lish red cross train with its crew of red cross workers and at last he reaches the hospital generally he stays from two to six months or longer in this hospital from here he Is sent to a convalescent home for six weeks if by wounds he la unfitted for further service he Is discharged given a pension or committed to a soldiers home for the rest of his life and still the expense piles up when you realize that all the ambulances trains and ships not to mention the man power used in transporting a wounded man could be used tor supplies ammunition and re for the troops at the front it will not appear strange that from a strictly military stand point a dead man Is sometimes better than a live one it wounded not long after the first digging party our general decided after a careful tour of inspection of the communication trenches upon an ideal spot as be termed it for a machine gun cm placement took his map made a dot on it and as be was wont wrote dig here and the next night we dug there were twenty in ane party myself included armed with picks shovels nud empty sandbars sandbags sand bags we arrived at the ideal spot and started digging the moon was very bright but we did not care as we were well out of sight of the german lines we had gotten about three feet down when the benov next to me after a mighty stroke with his pick let go of the handle and pinched his nose with his thumb and forefinger at the same time letting out the explosion gott strafe me pink fin bloody well gassed not alf I 1 all i 1 quickly turned in hla direction with an inquiring look at the same reaching for my gas bag I 1 soon found out what was ailing him one whiff was enough and I 1 lost no time in also pinching my nose the stench was awful the rest of the digging party drop pod their picks and shovels and bent it for the weather side of that solitary pick the officer came over and inquire 1 why the work had suddenly ceased holding our noses we simply pointed in the direction of the smell lie went over to the pick immediately clapped his hand over his nose mado an about turn and camo back just then our captain came along and investigated but after about a minute said we had better carry on with the digging that he did not see why we should have stopped as the odor was very faint bit if necessary bo would allow us our gas helmets while digging he would stay and see the thing through but ho had to report back to brigade head quarters immediately we wished that we were and also hid a date at brigade headquarters with our gas helmets on we again attacked that hole and uncovered the decomposed body of x german the pick was his chest one of the men fainted t was that one upon ams our lieutenant halted proceedings and sent word back ro headquarters and word came back hat after we filled in the hole we could off for the night this was wel come to ng because day the general changed the dot on his map and another nent completed the following igat f the odor from the dug up decomposed human body has an effect which Is hard to describe it first produces a nauseating feeling which especially after eating causes vomiting this relieves you temporarily but soon a weakening sensation follows which leaves you limp as a dishrag your spirits are at their lowest ebb and you feel a sort 0 hopelessness and a mad desire to escape it all to get to the open fields and the perfume of the flowers in blighty there is a sharp prickling sensation in the nostrils which reminds one of breathing coal gas through a radiator in the floor and you want to sneeze but cannot this was the effect on me surmounted by a vague horror of the awfulness of the thing and an ever recurring reflection that perhaps I 1 sooner or later would be in such a state and be brought to light by the blow of a pick in the hands of some tommy on a digging party several times I 1 have experienced this odor but never could get used to it he enervating sensation was always present it made me hate war and why such things were counte danced by civilization and all the bolce and glory 0 the conflict would disappear leaving the grim beauty but after leaving the spot and filling your lungs with deep breaths ol 01 pure fresh air you forget and once again want to be up and at them CHAPTER XV listening post it was six in the morning when we arrived at our rest billets and we were allowed to sleep until noon that Is it we wanted to go without our breakfast for sixteen days we remained entrance to a dugout in rest billets digging roads drilling and other fatigues and then back into the front line trench nothing happened that night but the I 1 next afternoon I 1 found out that a bomber js general utility man in a section about five in the afternoon our lieutenant came doft n the trench and stopping in front of a bunch of us on the firo step with a broad grin on bis ace asked ho Is going to volunteer for listen ing post tonight I 1 need two men it Is needless to siy no one volun because it Js anything but a cushy job I 1 began to feel able as I 1 knew it was getting around for m turn sure enough with another grin he said ampey you and wheeler are due so come down into my dugout for in at six just as he left and was going around a traverse fritz turned loose with a machine gun and the bullets ripped the sandbars sandbags sand bags right over his head it give me groit pleasure to see him bucl against the lie was retting a taste of what ve would get later out ta front than of course it began to rain I 1 knew it wa the forerunner of a diable night for us every umito had to go out an fn front it just naturally rained old jupiter flavins must have had it in for me at six we reported for instructions they were simple and easy all we had to do was to crawl out into no mans land lie on our bellies with our ears to the ground and listen for the tap tap of the german engineers or sappers who might be tunneling under no mans land to establish a mine head beneath our trench of course in our orders we were told not to be captured by german patrols or parties lots of breath Is wasted on the western front giving silly cautions As soon as it was dark wheeler and I 1 crawled to our post which was about halfway between the lines it was raining bucketfuls bucket the ground was a sea of sticky mud and clung to us like glue we took turns in listening with out ears to the ground I 1 would listen fop twenty while wheeler would be on the aul alve for german patrel fc we each wore a wristwatch and believe me neither one of us did over twenty minutes the rain soaked 3 to the skin and our ears were full of mud every few minutes a bullet frfd crack overhead or a machine gun would traverse back and forth then all firing suddenly ceased I 1 whispered to wheeler keep your eye skinned mate most likely fritz has a patrol out why the boches have stopped firing we were each armed with a rifle anci bayonet and three mills bombs to be used for defense only I 1 had my ear to the ground all of a sudden I 1 heard faint dull thuds in a low but excited voice I 1 whispered to wheeler 1 I think they are mining uga ne put his ear to the ground and in an unsteady voice spoke into my ear yank a patrol and its head ing our way for gods sake keep still I 1 was as etall as B mouse and was scared eardly breathing and with eyes trying to pierce the inky blackness we waited I 1 would have given a thousand pounds to have been safely ID my dugout then we plainly heard footsteps and our hearts stood still A dark form suddenly loomed up in front of me it looked as big as the woolworth building I 1 could hear the blood rushing through my velna and it sounded as loud as niagara falls forms seemed to emerge from the darkness there were seven of them in all I 1 tried to wish them away I 1 never wished harder in my life they muttered a few words in german and melted into the blackness I 1 stop wishing either all of a sudden we heard a stumble a muddy splash and a muttered donner und boltzen one of the bochek had tumbled into a shell hole neither of us laughed at that time it strike us as funny about twenty minutes after the germans had disappeared something from the rear grabbed me by the foot I 1 nearly fainted with fright then a welcome whisper in a cockney accent 1 I sy byte weve come to relieve you wheeler and I 1 crawled back to our trench we looked like wet bens and felt worse after a swig of rum we were soon fast asleep on the fire step in our wet clothes the next morning I 1 was as stiff as a poker and every joint ached like a bad tooth but I 1 was etall alive so it did not matter CHAPTER XVI battery D the day after this I 1 received the glad tidings that I 1 would occupy the machine gunners dugout right near the advanced artillery observation post this dugout was a roomy affair dry as tinder and real cos in ll 11 these coff had been made by the R Es who had previously occupied the dugout I 1 was the first to enter and promptly made a signboard with roy name and number on it and suspended it from the foot of the most comfortable cot therein in the trenches it Is always first come first served and this Is lived up to by all two E F A men royal field artillery from the nearby observation post were allowed the privilege of stopping in this dugout when off duty one of thee men bombardier all son by name who belonged to battery D to take a liking to me and I 1 returned this feeling in two days time we were pretty chummy and he told me hov his battery in the early days of the war had put over a stunt on old pepper and had gotten away with it I 1 will endeavor to give the story as far as memory permit in his own words despite the excellent targets men are not allowed to chell arltz empey relates in next in atall ment afe TO BC CONTINUED |