Show P O A I ill In 10 55 lu AN l N t mj SI 1 Who 11 1 T ItI IY MACHINE OTE m fRANCE 1917 BY OH EMPEY EMrEY EY JOINS PICK AND SHOVEL SQUAD AND DIGS e TRENCHES IN NO MANS MAN'S LAND Synopsis FIred Fired by the sinking of the Lusitania with the loss of ot American lives Arthur Guy Empey an nn American living In Jersey City goes to England and enlists as-a as private In the British British army After a short experience as ns a n recruiting officer In London he is sent to training trainIng trainIng train- train Ing quarters In France where he first hears henrs the sound of big guns and makes the acquaintance of cooties After a n brief period of training Empey's company Is sent into the line 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 has experience experience as a trench digger in No Mans Man's Land w on CHAPTER XIII XIII Continued 9 9 We lined up In front of the baths soaked with perspiration and piled plied our rifles Into stacks A sergeant of the R. R A A. M. M C. C with a yellow band around his left arm on which was wasS wasS wasS S P. P sanitary police In black letters letters letters let let- took charge ordering us to take takeoff takeoff off otT our equipment unroll our puttees and unlace boots Then starting from the right of the line he divided us into squads of fifteen I happened to tobe tobe be he in the first squad We Ve entered a small room where we were given five minutes to undress then filed Into the bathroom In here there ere were fifteen tubs barrels sawed in two half full of water Each tub contained a piece of laundry soap The sergeant Informed us that we had just twelve minutes In which to take our baths Soaping ourselves all al over we took turns In rubbing each oth others other's rs r's backs then by means of a garden hose washed the soap off The water was Ice cold but felt fine Pretty soon a bell rang and the water water water wa wa- ter was turned off Some of the slower ones were covered with soap but this made no difference to the sergeant who chased us Into another room where we lined up in front of a little window resembling the box office In a theater and received clean clem underwear and towels From here we we went t Into the room room where we had first undressed Ten minutes were allowed In which to get Into our clabber My pair pall of drawers came up to my chin and the shirt barely reached my diaphragm but they were clean clean no no strangers on them so I was sat satisfied At the expiration of the time allotted allotted allotted allot allot- ted we were turned out and finished our dressing on the grass When all of the company had bathed I it was a case of march back to billets That march was the most uncongenial I t 4 1 ek 4 A Bathroom at the Front Frontone one imagined just cussing and blind lInd- Ingall the way We were covered with white dust and felt greasy from sweat The woolen underwear Issued was Itching like the mischief After eating our dinner of stew which bad had been kept for us us-It us It was now four o'clock we o'clock-we we went Into the creek and had another bath If Holy Joe could have heard our remarks about the divisional baths and army red tape he be would would have fainted at our wickedness But Tommy Tommy Tommy Tom Tom- my my Is raly ealy human after all I just mentioned Holy Joe or ot the chaplain In an nn Irr Irreverent verent sort of way but no offense was wu meant as there were some very brave men men among among I I titan them There Ther are so many Instances of heroic heroic heroic he he- deeds performed under fire In rescuing rescuing rescuing res res- res- res cuing the wounded that It would take several books to chronicle them but I have to mention one instance performed performed performed per per- formed by a chaplain Captain Hall by byname byname byname name in the brigade on our left because because because be be- cause It particularly appealed to me A chaplain is not a fighting man he heIs heis heis is recognized as a noncombatant and carries no arms In a charge or trench raid the soldier gets a feeling of confidence confidence confidence con con- from contact with his rifle revolver revolver revolver re re- re- re volver or bomb he Is carrying He has something to protect himself with something with which he can inflict harm on the enemy enemy In In other words he is able to get his own back But the chaplain Is handed empty-handed and is at the mercy of the enemy Ithe If It he encounters them so It Is doubly brave for him to go over the top under fire fire and bring in wounded Also a chaplain Is not required by the kings king's regulations to go over h In a charge but this one did made three trips under the hottest kind of fire each time returning returning returning re re- re- re turning with a wounded man on his back On the third trip he received received a bullet through his left arm but never reported the matter to the doctor until late that night night just just spent his time admInistering administering administering ad ad- ministering to the wants of the wounded wound wound- ed d lying on stretchers The chaplains of the British army are a fine manly set of men and arp greatly respected by Tommy CHAPTER XIV Picks and Shovels I had not not- slept long before the sw sweet voice of the sergeant Informed that No 1 section had clicked for another blinking digging party I smiled to myself with deep satisfaction I had been promoted from a n mere digger to toa toa toa a member of the Suicide club and was exempt from all ull fatigues Then came camean an awful shock The sergeant looked over oyer In my direction and said Dont you bomb throwers think you youa a are ae e wearing top hats out here CordIn Cord Oord In to orders youve you've been taken up on the strength of this section and will have to do your bit with the pick and shovel same as the rest of us I put up a howl on my way to get my shovel but the only thing that resulted resulted re- re re resulted was a loss loss' of good humor on my iny part We fell feU In at eight o'clock outside of our billets a q sort of masquerade party I was disguised as a common laborer had a pick and shovel and about one hundred empty sandbags The rest about two hundred in all were equipped lIk likewise picks shovels sandbags rifles and ammunition The party moved out In column of fours taking the road leading to the trenches Several times we had to string out in the ditch to let long columns columns col col- of limbers artillery and supplies g set et past The marching under these conditions conditions conditions condi condi- was necessarily slow Upon arrival arrival arrival ar ar- ar- ar rival at the entrance to the communication communication communication cation trench I looked at rat my Illuminated illuminated wrist watch watch watch-it It was eleven Before entering this trench word was passed down the line no talk talking ng ngor or smoking lead off In single file covering covering cov cov- ov- ov ering party first first n This covering party consisted of SO 80 me men armed with rifles bayonets bombs and two Lewis machine guns They were to protect us and guard against a surprise attack while digging digging digging dig dig- ging in No Mans Man's Land The communication trench was about half a mile long a zigzagging ditch eight feet deep and three feet wide Now and again German shrapnel would whistle overhead and burst In our r vicinity We would crouch against the earthen walls while the shed fragments fragments frag frag- ments meats slapped the ground above us Once Fritz turned loose with a machine machine machine ma ma- chine gun the bullets from which cracked through the air all and kicked up the dirt on the top scattering sand and pebbles which hitting our steel helmets sounded like hailstones Upon arrival In the fire trench an officer r of the Royal noyal Engineers gave u us lour our Instructions and acted as guide We were to d dig s an advanced trench f I two hundred yards yards' yar 8 from the Germans I the trenches at this point w were rf eix Six hundred yards apart Two winding lanes five feet wide had been cut through our barbed wire for the passage of the diggers From these lines white tape had been laid on the ground to the point where we were to commence work This In order order order or or- der that we wo w would uld not get lost In the darkness The proposed trench was also laid out with tape The covering party went out first After a short wait walt two scouts came back with information that the workbag workIng workIng work- work Ing bag party to follow and was carry on with their work In extended order two yards apart W we noiselessly crept across No Mans Man's Land It was nervous work every minute we expected a n machine gun to open fire on us Stray bullets cracked around us or a ricochet sang over over- head Arriving at the taped diagram ot of the trench rifles slung around our oar shoulders we we lost no time in getting to work We dug as quietly as us possible possible possible pos pos- sible but every now and then the noise of a pick or shovel striking a stone would send the cold shivers down our backs Under our breaths we heartily cursed the offending Tommy At Intervals a star shell would go up from the Ge German man lines and we would remain motionless until the glare of Its white light died out When the trench had bad reached a depth of two feet we felt safer because because because be be- cause It would afford us cover In case we were discovered and fired on The digging had been in progress about two hours when suddenly hell seemed to break loose In the form of machine-gun machine and rifle fire We dropped down on our bellies In Inthe Inthe inthe the shallow trench bullets knocking t l 5 ff ib t 4 iy ss r N 5 k f Trench Digging up the ground and snapping In the air Then shrapnel butted in The music was hot and Tommy danced The covering party was having a rough time of it they had no cover just had to take their medicine Word was passed down the line to beat it for our trenches We Ve needed no urging grabbing our tools and stoopIng stoopIng stooping stoop- stoop Ing low we legged it across No Mans Man's Land The covering party got away to a poor start but beat us In They must have had wings because we lowered lowered low low- ered the record Panting and out of breath ot breath we tumbled tumbled tumbled tum tum- bled into our bur line front-line trench I tore my hands getting through our wire but at the time didn't notice It my journey was too urgent When the roll was called we found that we had gotten It In the nose for 03 casualties Our artillery put a barrage on Fritz line front and communication trenches and their machine-gun machine and rifle fire suddenly ceased 4 Upon the cessation of this fire stretch stretcher r bearers went out to look for killed and wounded Next day we learned that 21 of our men had been killed and 37 87 wounded Five men were missing lost In the darkness they must have wandered over Into the German Germ Ger Ger- German Ger- Ger m man n lines where they were either killed or r captured Speaking of stretcher bearers and wounded it Is very hard for the average average average aver aver- age civilian to comprehend the enormous enormous enormous enor enor- cost of taking care of wounded and rind the war in general He or she gets so accustomed to seeing billions of dollars dollars dollars dol dol- lars in print that the significance of the amount is s passed over without thought s i From an official statement published In one of the London papers it ft Is stated that It costa costs between six and seven thousand pounds to 35 to kill kUl or wound a soldier This result was attained by taking the cost of the war to date and dividing it ft by bythe bythe bythe the killed and wounded It may sound heartless and Inhuman but It Is a fact tact nevertheless that from froma a military standpoint It Is better for a aman aman n a man to be killed than wounded Empey tells of many ways the I n soldiers have of amusing arousing themselves themselves them them- selves in the next installment II l I TO BE DE CONTINUED lI I |