“A Mad Crew”
When I read in books or stories of the coolness of men under fire I thought somebody was blathering. But after eight weeks of it, I can say that no book has ever done justice to the coolness of British soldiers under conditions that would try anybody. The night I was hit we were just leaving the trenches for an interview with some Germans who were trying some of their fancy tricks about our left. As we stood up there was a ghastly shower of bullets and shells bursting all round. Into it we had to go, and as we looked ahead one of our chaps said, “I think we’ll have to get our greatcoats, boys; it’s raining bullets tonight, and we’ll get wet to the skin if we’re not careful.” The men of “C” Company started laughing, and then they took to singing, “Put up your umbrella when it comes on wet.” The song was taken up all along as we went into the thick of it, and some of us were humming it as we dashed into the German trenches. The Germans must have thought us a mad crew: A Private of the Irish Fusiliers.