Show lone tree sentinel or ghosts on the firing line I 1 sergeant arthur guy author of over the top first call etc 0 0 0 mr empens expert seven line trenches of the british army in france by the mcclore newspaper Newa paper 10 one anny afternoon our guns crew wag sitting on the fire step of a front line trench just in front of gomme court wood houghton was busily engaged in rigging up a flash screen to hide the flare of our gun which we were to mount on the parapet that night sailor bill was sewing a piece 0 khaki cloth over his tin hat because the night previous while on sentry go standing in the moonlight with his head over the top the rays from the moon had reflected froin his steel helmet and a couple of german bullets had knocked up the dirt within a few feet of his head As w as usual with him hungry foxcraft was wrestling with a tin of bully beef while curly wallace was hunting for booties cooties co oties iley honney with our mascot jim was sitting on the fire step his back leaning against the traverse of the fire bay picking mud out of his harmonica with a silver of wood jim seemed happy and contented not knowing the fate in store tor him att days later poor jim was killed by a german bullet and we burled him behind the lines placing a little wooden cross at the head of his grave after working a few minutes at the harmonica ikey would pause put it to his lips and blow into it a squeaky noise resulting then with a deep sigh he would resume the picking process I 1 had just finished a letter home and was sighing for the time to come when once again I 1 would be able to say hello to the old girl with the lamp in her right band guarding new york harbor although it was warm and sunny the floor of the trench was about three inches deep in soft sticky mud on my right I 1 beard a low muttering and a splashing in the mud and around the traverse into our fi carrying a box of ammunition on bis shoulder came the most weird looking soldier I 1 had eer seen As ho passed in front of me he turned his gaze in my direction and a cold silver seemed to run up and down my spine as I 1 looked into his eyes they were uncanny a sort of vacant stare as if the owner of them was looking into the great beyond As this soldier staggered through the fire bay almost bending double under the weight of the ammunition and passed from view around the traverse it seemed to me as it the grim reaper had stalked through shuddering a little I 1 instinctively turned my eyes in the direction of the rest of the crew they were also staring at the traverse around which the gloomy looking soldier had disappeared my heart sank to zero and I 1 had a sinking sensation in the region of my stomach and on the in front of me like a moving picture on a screen flashed a cemetery dotted all over with little wooden crosses I 1 felt queer and uneasy curly wallace in a low half frightened voice exclaimed bume me that was auntee jerrys brother the one who clicked it by the old lone tree if yon blokes want to get the creeps you ought to ear lm talk some 0 the fellows claim that its unlucky to get am started they sye that one 0 Is 1 sure to click in within few days time but it you fellows want to tyke the chance 11 go over to la section which Is occupying the second en our left and see it I 1 can get am to tell us about Is brother but now mind this fellow Is a little balmy in Is napper so dont myke fun of am I 1 confess that I 1 was glad to be rid of him but my curiosity overcame my fears so I 1 asked curly to go ahead the rest of the crew weakly assented and curly went after jerrys brother in about twenty minutes he returned with him jerrys brother came over and sat on the fl next to me sat silent for a few minutes and then in a thick piping high pitched voice spoke so you want to ear about jerry do you chev called him auntee jerry but he aunt cd he could just see e could see into the future could sort 0 tell what wis agoan to appen G could talk to the dead and they told am E always ad around am ghosts you call cm but there aint no such thing as ghosts aeouls awan derin around about us now I 1 slowly eased down the fl away from him jerry used to to the dead e would sit in a cemetery at night while in rest billets and receive messages from them what cant no more sometimes clyto at night I 1 can car far bwy voices callan to me but as yet cahnt understand can but I 1 will I 1 will my blood began to curdle curly wallace placing hanu on tho speakers knee softly said mate we know you can see far beyond us but tell us of aunt ed jerry and the pome e wrote the day before e clicked it at the lone tree jerrys brother nodded in a comprehending way and reaching into the pocket of his tunic drew out a creased and muddy piece of paper which he opened out upon his knee and then in an unnatural singsong voice which sent shivers through us recited the following poem between the lines in no maar land with foliage gone and tru a torn A lonely sentry takes his eland watching from morn to mom on starlit nights when moon Is bright and spreads its rays ot ghostlike beams against the sky that tree of blight A ghastly hangman s gibbet seems when night Is black and winds taint sigh through its brancheau bran chea moans A call to to tile to die I 1 they answer it with groans and groans but obey the call for more and more and death flits by and grins and grins and watches the fast growing score the harvest of his sent rys whims there they lie huddled friend and toe ghastly heaps english hun and french and still those piles forever grow they are fed by the men of the trench no wooden cross to mark their tall no tombstone theirs no carven rocks just the lone treo with its grin call which forever mocks and mocks when jerrys brother had finished a dead silence ensued I 1 nervously lighted a fag and out of the comer of mv eye noticed that sailor bill was uneasily squirming on the fi letting out a sigh which seemed to whistle between his teeth our gast carried on jerry much at cheerful writing because e ad a calling even hick ome in blighty e much for lights nor fun E took after our mother the neighbors called er auntee aun ted too but she she could see things like jerry this ere lone tree sentinel jerry writes about was an old tree in no mans land about a undred yards from oui frontline front line trench it was pretty veil knocked about by bullets and eliell fragments it made a pretty good guide post kin sort 0 lonely like up the skyline at night be patrols and bombing parties used it to show cm the wye back to their trenches because y know out there in the blackness its easy to lose your wye unless you ave spirits a guldin you lots of times english and german patrols would meet near the lone tree and many a and to and fight would tyke place around its roots at that part 0 the line it were pretty ot what with the rifle and ma chine gun firing the only time there would be a lull in the firing was when a patrol was out in front and then as you know you fire for fear of a bitting your own blokes all around the lone tree were scattered many bodies mostly english and german some of em aa been a alyin there for weeks and when the wind were a blowen from the german lines towards us it were sort of unpleasant in our front line every time the captain would all for soldiers for a pi arol auntee jerry as you call am always put Is bloomin nyme on the list it got so that after a while e never asked if e wanted to go the captain would just naturally put Is ayme down as agoan in our dugout jerry would tell me ow many dead were around tho tree ow e could count cm in the dark I 1 aint enow but could see e could see sometimes in the daytime e would rig up a periscope on Is own and sit on the fi for hours out s bending double under the weight ef the ammunition in no mans land at the lone tree and the bodies it this sort 0 got on our captains nerves and e gave jerry orders not to use a periscope after this order jerry used to sit off by immelt on the fi a musin and a the other blokes at am but I 1 knew what he were e were to the spirit of the lone tree then e got sort 0 reckless and because it were against orders for am to use a periscope e ased to in the bloomin daytime stick la cad over the top and gaze in the direction of the lono tree bullets from german snipers would kick up the dirt and tear the sandbars sandbags sand bags nil around ira but none of cm ever it am no bullet ever myde could bill auntee jerry as you call am the rest 0 the blokes in the trench would pull am down off the fl they thought they were a savin his life but jerry afraid from bullets E knew and so did I 1 that they coulden couldn t arm am then our captain e ad brains e ad said that jerry was balmy and gave orders to the sergeant major to tyke im back to the doctors to send am to blighty jerry was told about this the night before e was to leave E was greatly upset and did bothin but talk to the spirits the air was full of em I 1 could ear their voices too that night about ten jerry was missed the next morning e was still a for two days bothin was eard of jerry then the royal irish rifles took over a sector of trench on our right A lot of our blokes told cm about jerry bein A few of em got around me and I 1 described jerry to em but I 1 afraid for jerry I 1 knew where c was e were with Is spirits that night an irish patrol went out and when they returned they brought a body with them said found it at the toot 0 the lone tree it were jerry all right but e it nowhere two bloomin doctors examined am lookin for wounds 13 was dead all right and that bloomin cap brought in the bleeding body of jim tain e ad brains e ad was responsible for Is death E ad tried to tyke jerry aay from Is spirits so jerry crawled out to the lone tree to answer its call E answered it and now es with the spirits e loved and some time be able to talk to am Es with em all right I 1 know I 1 know just then jim started to whimper I 1 guess it the truth were known we all felt alle whimpering without another word jerrys brother got up and muttering to himself passed out of sight around the traverse As he disappeared from view sailor bill exclaimed my headlights deadlights dead lights but if a bloke like that ever slipped in the navy in a fortnights fort nights time e would bloomin well be an admiral because e would be the only one left in the blankin navy gives me the proper creeps ow in ell Is company stand for am I 1 dont know ow about it curly why aint e been sent tc blighty as balmy 11 toll you bill answered curly this bloke only gets these fits occasionally sio nally Es a d d good soldier always on the job and next to corporal french and his brother auntee jerry the best scout for work in no mans land ever put n foot in these blinkin ditches its only lately that es been abing these spells so often and yesterday the berg cont major told TOO that e IMIS under ob senn tinn ia that it would orly bo n short timo before e was sapped baal Is it a fact curly asked happy that this auntee jerry crawled out there the way bis brother says and that he was found dead without a wound on him if its so he must have bad a bloody poor heart and died that way curly answered at sure Is so because I 1 gc lt from a leftenant in auntee jerrys section jim was still whimpering this got on ikels nerves he gave him a sharp cuff on the side of the ead this was the first time a hand had been raised against jim since he had joined us months back he gave ikey a piteous look and sticking his stump of a tall beaw een his legs disappeared from the fire bay two days later ikey made up for that slap because at the alik of his life during an attack he raced into iso mans land under heavy fire and brought in the bleeding body of jim all afternoon we tried to be a cheerful as possible but our merri mant was ey artificial lvery laugh seemed forced and strained haunt ed jerry had sure put the kibosh on us that night curly happy and I 1 were on watch from ten to twelve and believe me vie never spent a worse two hours in our lives there was not a word among us I 1 was thinking 0 haunted jerry and no doubt tho other two were doing likewise A few days later jerrys brother was bent back to and n doubt right now Is in some insane asylum in blighty communicating wibb haunted jerry and his spirits |