Item 11: Oliver L. S. Holt diary, 13 August-28 October 1918 - Page 112
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[Page 112]
noisy front, while they work in reliefs, but our bearers are not in the whole time, & there lies the point. The bearers, while not fighting, run almost as many risks as the infantry, taking good times & bad together, but what they miss in hopping over, patrol work, advancing against opposition & the rest constitutes the difference. And, as I said, the bearers are not always in the forward area so long as the infantry. Out of the line our chaps get a far better time than the drilling, marching & polishing infantry. They are the ones who might truly be said to do the dirty work of war, whether it is fighting or working.
Therefore, one or two caustic remarks that the 3rd Batt. boys made the other evening when, having marched from the front line in the rain they found us in possession of a good dug-out, & only bivouacs on a trench for them were understandable. I wanted to get out when