Fatigue parties were working every night to keep the duck-board paths in repair, as shells were continuously hitting them, and every hit meant a few duck-boards smashed to splinters. The dump where new supplies of duck-boards were kept was five miles from the front line, and if new ones were required it meant a five-mile hike with a duck-board on our shoulders, and a five-mile hike back. We lost thirty men out of a fatigue party one night by shell-fire, and the casualties were so heavy that there was a continuous stream of motor ambulances along the roads in the rear.
This was my fourth winter in the trenches, and the constant strain was beginning to tell on me, and I fell sick with pneumonia and developed trench feet. This time I was sent to England, and when I came out of the hospital I obtained convalescent leave to see my people, who were living in Winnipeg, Canada.
My health not improving, I was discharged from the army in May, 1918, after having served fifteen years as a regular soldier and was three years and two months in France.
Transcriber's Note
All original spellings, including names of people and places, have been retained. Hyphenation has been made consistent except that the use of both water-proof and waterproof has been retained.
The illustration on page [147] was oriented vertically in the original but is oriented horizontally here.
Minor punctuation errors corrected on pages [5], [110], and [119]. The following typographical errors were corrected:
Page [3], "Dardenelles" changed to "Dardanelles." (The "Dardanelles" Campaign)
Page [8], "Shell-shock" changed to "Shell-shocked." (Shell-shocked and gassed at Chateau-Thierry.)
Page [11], "EXERIENCE" changed to "EXPERIENCE." (MY EXPERIENCE AS A DISPATCHER)