A Fortunate One
I am one of the fortunate ones. I was always told I would never be killed, and I begin to think I was born under a lucky star. I have been engaged in driving motor-wagons to and from the men lying in the trenches fighting our battle on the Aisne. Certainly I have seen very little of the fighting, but the roar of the big guns has been my companion night and day. I had not been on the job four days before I lost my first wagon, which I named the “London, Croydon, and Purley Growler.” On my second journey to the field of operations we were ambushed by a body of Germans, who pounced out of a wood, but not one of them got back to tell the tale. It was a perfect eye-opener for me and a nerve-tester, I can tell you. We were just congratulating ourselves when crash went a shell on to the bonnet. How I escaped I don’t know. My growler was no good; she was a complete wreck. After transferring the load to another lorry we abandoned her and got away, but not before several of our fellows were winged: Private W. G. Davies, A.S.C.
Joke, but No Beer
Some men prefer to prepare their own food, but the majority divide themselves into sections and get one, or sometimes two, of their number to do all the cooking, washing up, etc. And whatever “cookie” serves up is always accepted as excellent. And many are the jokes cracked and tales told round the fire during meal-times. Very often the cooks have just got a fire going and the pots on when the order comes, “Wind up,” i.e. start engines going, and then there is commotion. Semi-boiling water has to be thrown away, and half-cooked food put back in the “grub-box” till the next stop. But we have nothing to grumble at. There is food—and to spare—for all of us. One thing that is often wanted by our men is a good glass of English ale. I know a few here who would gladly give their day’s rations for a “pint.” The “land of wine and cider” will never be the “land of beer” to the English Tommy. We have many a sing-song of a night round the camp fires. I have got a melodeon, which was left on a battlefield by a German soldier, so that is our band. It is an impressive sight to see about thirty fellows around a fire singing lustily “A Little Grey Home in the West,” accompanied by a melodeon, with the roar of cannon occasionally breaking in: Driver Drake, of the Supply Column.
The Country Round
The people all round here speak Flemish; it is a curious mixture of English, French, and German, and they sometimes give us useful information. They are a fine healthy stock, and work like niggers for us. Our hostess was up all night feeding soldiers as they came in. Yesterday I met a splendid old man, who told me all about his son and showed me his photograph; he had one postcard from his son, with no date, merely saying, “All well,” and the old man told me he had buried it in the garden for fear the Germans should come and take it from him. That gave me some idea of how people at home feel about their relatives at the front: Despatch-rider Gabain, 1st Cavalry Brigade.
“Jambon!”
We sleep fourteen in a tent, which is a bit crowded, but we are not in it long enough to notice it. Fourteen of us washed in two quarts of water this morning! So we have plenty of ink, and some of us haven’t changed our clothes for five or six weeks. We have two rather queer pets here: two little pigs, who run about among the horses, and are quite friendly with them, and eat their corn as well. As one of the fellows said, pork (or, as the French call it, jambon) tastes very nice boiled, so they may be, before very long, in the casualty list as missing or prisoners of war: Lance-Corpl. Forward, Army Service Corps.