Part 02: Dene Barrett Fry letters, 17th May 1915-16 April 1917 - Page 178
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[Page 178]
2
6 feet deep, & got our machine gun placed. The following day we spent keeping our heads well down, one man observing, & widening the trench, as much as we could, without making a commotion. Next night it snowed like mad; a tearing wind turned it into an icy blizzard, but we had to take our turn on watch and dig like mad just the same. Some of us were sent out a bit to put up some barbed wire. I can tell you it was just about as much as we could stand by 4 in the morning. I could hardly feel any part of my body, & digging was a farce. Then the rum issue came, & made us all as warm as if by a fire, & put new life into us. But some just threw themselves on the floor of the shallow trench, & took no notice of the snow, just fell asleep out of sheer exhaustion. When the officer loomed out of the mist & snow, & tried to wake