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[Page 21]
was going to the M/O. I remember his remark spoken seriously, "It was a near thing, but I was not killed thank God". At his side, blown from his pocket was a piece of a soldier's hymn book with the music. Its large type it was headed "Oh God our help in ages past". I wondered how that message would be read by the soldiers who passed.
The remainder of the day and night was spent in sitting shivering in the trenches in a state of coma when not on sentry duty, and enduring the bombardment by the enemy which increased always at twilight and at daybreak when Fritz, in his nervous state expected we may be attacking in the dull light. The only incident worthy of note the second day, occurred to a fatigue party of 12 and a Sergeant, of which I was one of the number. We set for the food dump at Flers, which was about 1½ miles back from our position at about 9 a.m. to obtain food and water. So far we had nothing since arriving here and the second day all I had was a small piece of bread and jam, which a more fortunate comrade gave me. Tea or anything hot, was of course, out of the way, as fires could not be concealed from the enemy, and we had nothing hot all the time we were in the trenches. On the way to Flers we went along a sunken road, which was strewn with the bodies of New Zealanders and Germans in various stages of decomposition. The New Zealand troops had done the attacking at this point about 3 weeks previously and still the bodies remained unburied. This ghastly sight I was able to look upon without a tremor; so providentially hardened does one's susceptibilities become. The stench strangely, was very slight.
When we had almost come under the enemy's observation, we turned off into a sap, but must have been seen as his guns opened out on the sap head before we were able to emerge, and compelled us to remain in it. For 45 minutes shells burst all about us, but fortunately none came near enough to damage us. We were showered with splinters of shell, and I was struck several times on my steel helmet by pieces which though spent, would have caused a nasty cut without that protection, and bruised about the
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