Show OVI TD TH VA T OP by ijan bya A american americal Amer icam arthur gw uy empey vai ut w S old machine gunner serving in france by arthur guy EMPEY GETS INTO THE FRONT LINE TRENCH AND WISHES HE WERE BACK IN JERSEY CITY synopsis fired by the sinking of the lusitania with the loss ot of american lives arthur guy empey en an american living in jersey city goes to england and enlists as a private ip the british army after ft a chort experience as a recruiting officer in london he Is sent dent to training quarters in france where lie he first hears the sound of big guns and makes the acquaintance of booties cooties co oties ottes 11 CHAPTER I 1 I 1 continued the greatest shock a recruit gets when he arrives at hla his battalion in france Is to see the men engaging in a cootie hunt with an air of contempt and disgust he avoids the company of the older men until a couple of days later in a torment of itching he also has haa to resort to a shirt hunt or spend many a sleepless slee pleAs night of misery during these hunts the thera rare are lots of pertinent remarks bandied bock back and forth among the explorers such as say bill ill swap you two little ones for a big one or ive got g at it a black one here that looks like kaiser bill one sunny day in the front line trench I 1 saw three officers sitting outside of their dugout cloties cooties co oties otles are no re specters of rank I 1 have even noticed a suspicious uneasiness about a certain well known general one of them was wag a major two of them were exploring their shirts paying no attention to the occasional shells which passed overhead the major was writing a letter e every V cry now and then he would lay aside his writing pad search his shirt for a few minutes get an inspiration and then resume writing at last ile he fl finished hla his letter and gave it to his runner I 1 was curious to see whether he was writing to tin nn insect firm so when the runner passed me I 1 engaged him in conversation and got a glimpse at the address on the onvel envelope ope it was ad dressed addressed to miss alice somebody in london the runner informed me that miss somebody was the majors sweetheart and that he wrote to her every day just imagine it writing a love letter during a cootie hunt but such Is the creed of the trenches CHAPTER III I 1 do go j to 6 church ur c h upon enlist enlistment in ent we e had identity disks issued to us these were small disks of red fiber worn around the neck by means of a string most of the tom mies also used a little metal disk which they wore around the left wrist wilst by menns of a chain they had bad previously figured it out that if their heads were blown off the disk on the left wrist would identify them if they lost their left arm the disk around the neck would serve the purpose but if their head and left arm were blown off no one would care who they were so it did not matter on ono one side of the disk was inscribed your rank name number and battalion while on the other was stamped your religion 0 of E meaning church of england R 0 roman catholic W wesleyan P presbyterian but it if you happened to be an atheist they left it blank and just handed you n pick and shovel on my disk was stamped 0 of E this is how I 1 got it the lieuten ant who enlisted me asked my religion I 1 was not sure of the religion of tafe british army so I 1 answered oh any old thing and he be promptly put down 0 of E now just imagine my hard luck out of live five religions I 1 was unlucky enough to pick the only one where church parade was compulsory I 1 the next morning was sunday I 1 was sitting in the billet writing home to my sister telling her of my wonderful exploits while under fere all recruits do this the sergeant major put his head bead in the door of the billet und and shouted C of B H outside for church pa parade I 1 I 1 kept on writing turning to me in a loud voice he i e asked empey arent you 0 of E I 1 answered yep 11 in an angry tone he commanded dont you yep me say yes sergeant major 1 I did so somewhat mollified he ordered outside for church parade I 1 looked up and answered 1 I am not going to church this morning ile he said oh yes you are I 1 I 1 answered oh no im nott not 1 but I 1 went ye we lined up outside with rifles and bayonets 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 semicircle around him overhead there was a black speck circling round and ro 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 airplane we commies tommies were lucky we had no books so BO had both ey eyes es on the airplane after church parade we were marched back to our billets and played football all afternoon CHAPTER IV into the trench the next morning the lie 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 1 was assigned to B company with another american named stewart por the next ten days we rested repairing roads for the F frenchies Fren ren chles drilling and digging bombing trenches one inan gw we e iloffe were inform we were going up the line and our march began it took us three days to reach reserve billets each lays days march bringing the sound of the guns nearer and nearer at night way off in the distance we could see their hashes flushes which lighted up the sky with a red glare against the horizon we could see numerous observation balloons or sausages as they are called on the afternoon of the third days march I 1 witnessed my first airplane being shelled A thrill thrift ran through me and I 1 gazed in awe the airplane was making wide circles in the air while little puffs of white smoke were bursting all around it these puffs pun s appeared like tiny balls of cotton while after each burst could be heard beard a dull plop the sergeant of my platoon informed us that it was a german airplane and I 1 wondered how he could tell from such a distance because the plane piano seemed like a little hack black speck in the sky I 1 expressed my doubt as to whether it was english french or german with a look of cou contempt tempt lie he further informed us that the allied antiaircraft shells when exploding emitted white smoke while the german shells gave forth black smoke and as he expressed it it must lie le nn an bemand ANe A mand because our pom are shelling and I 1 know our batteries are riot not off their batty bally and are certainly not eing ng our own planes and another piece of advice dont chuck your weight about until youve been up the line and learnt something I 1 immediately quit chucking my weight about from that time on just before reaching reserve billets communication 3 TO I 1 NW N W I 1 dt i I 1 tl 7 h ak 71 11 diagram showing typical front fron una and communication trenches 4 we vc were mulching marching along laughl laughing ng and singing one of tommys tommas trench ditties 1 I want to go home I 1 want to go home borne I 1 dont want to go to the trenches no more where sausages and chizz bino banga are galore take me over the sea where the allemand cant get at me m oh in my Y I 1 dont ont wan want t to die I 1 want ant to ro iro home hoine when overhead came a swish through the air rapidly followed by three others then about two hundred yards to our left in a large field four our columns column of L black earth and smoke rose into the air and tho the ground trembled from the report the explosion of four german five nines nancg or coal boses boxes A sharp sharl whistle thistle blast immediately followed by two short ones rang out from the head of our column this was to take up artillery formation we divided into small squads anti and went into the fields on the right and left or of the road and crouched on the ground no other shells followed this salvo it was our first baptism by shell ore from the wal waist up I 1 was all enthusiasm but from there down everything was missing I 1 thought I 1 should die with fright after awhile we reformed into columns of fours and proceeded on our way about five that night we reached the ruined village of H and I 1 got my first sight of the awful destruction caused by german kultar marching down the main street we came to the heart of the village and cellars took up quarters in shellproof shell cellars shellproof phell proof until hit by a shell shells were constantly whistling over the village and bursting in our rear searching for our artillery these cellars were cold damp and smell smelly and overrun with large rata big black fellows most of the tom mies slept with their overcoats over their faces I 1 did not in the middle of the night I 1 woke up in terror the cold clammy feet of a passed over my face I 1 immediately red ered myself in my overcoat but could not sleep for the rest of that night next nest evening we took over our sedi sed sec i tor of the line in single file we wend ed our way through a zigzag communication muni cation trench six sir inches deep with vi ath mud this trench was called whisky street on our way up to the front line an occasional flare of ailt bursting shrapnel would light up the sky and we could hear the fragments snipping the ground afro re wa ua sa right and left then a fritz would traverse back and for forth th with ill hla a typewriter or machine gun the bullets made p s sf 0 irp cracking noise overhead the b biu I 1 fu front of me named prentice areni crumpter crumpled crump fed d up t a word A piece of shell had gone through his shrapnel proof helmet I 1 felt ack and weak rn in about thirty minutes we reached the front line it was as dark as an pitch every now and then a german star shell would pierce the blackness out in front with its silvery light I 1 was waa 8 trembling all over and felt very lonely f and af afraid rall all orders were given in whispers the company we relieved filed past us and disappeared into the blackness of the communication trench leading to the rear As they passed us they whispered the best 0 luck ya mates wi fire step of the trench with the rest of the men la in each traverse two of the older men had been put or on guard with their bends sticking alv r over the top end and with their eyes try ing to pierce the blackness in no 1 mans land in this trench there were only two dugouts dug outs and these were used by lewis and machine machino runners gunners so it was the fire stew step for foe I 1 i ours pretty soon it star started ed to rain f we put on our macks but they were f not much protection the rain trickled down our backs and it kasnot was not long before we were wet and cold now how I 1 t passed that night I 1 will never known know INN t but without any unusual occurrence is dawn d wn arrived the word stand down was waa passed sed along the line and the sentries got down off tile the fire step pretty soon the run issue came along and it was 6 a w godsend it warmed our chilled bodies and put new life into vs ns then from the communication trenches came diries or iron pots filled with sit steaming earn tea w which had two wooden through their handles and cap aled by two men I 1 filled my et i c and drank the hot tea without taking Z tt it from my lips it was not noi long he ak fore I 1 was asleep inthe in the mud on t the a fire step inay riy ambition had been attained I 1 I 1 was in a front line trench on the ern front and oh liow how I 1 wished I 1 were acre 11 back in jersey city 4 empty empey takes his firsta turn on the firing step of the trencer while the machine nun gun atleta bt leta whiz whir ove over his head he soon learns why tommy has adopted the motto if youre going to get it get it so never neer worry dont miss the next installment ato CON ku y n no wie one can kill time in theme st trena ous oas days dats without atso also claying FIng hi hla is 1 ar h A |