Volume 25 www.legionnl.com 33 Newfoundland Labrador Command continued ... continued ... We had to go back another two or three miles to the Hindenburg Line which we broke through thirteen days before. When we reached there we had some food waiting for us. This was the first we had to eat since Friday morning at five o'clock and it was now three o'clock on Monday morning. My Company was then counted and there were only nineteen of us. Fourteen days before we were over one hundred and thirty. The Captain who was Captain R.G. Paterson swore on his maker, "where in the so-and-so are the rest of them?” Certainly some had gone astray among other Battalions, but over one hundred from our Company had been killed or wounded. We had to spend two days in support of those who were in the front. Eventually the time came for us to be relieved and on December 5, 1917 we were on our way back from the battle of Cambrai. We had spent fifteen days and nights under a continual rain of bullets and shells and three of those days were without anything to eat. We were now going back for a six week's rest. We arrived at the village of Mondicourt where we stayed for a week. Our company now numbered between twenty-five and thirty men. Next we were required to march to Ypres in Belgium. After marching for a week we stopped in a little village called Fressin where we spent Christmas, 1917. For our Christmas dinner turkey had been provided but there was not enough to go around. Some of our group found a cow and butchered it for which the Regiment had to pay. It was here I spent my eighteenth birthday. We continued to march for another week and stopped some four miles outside the town of St. Omer. We spent a week or so there then marched on to St. Omer and took a train to go to Poperinghe in Belgium. We arrived on a Saturday night January 2, 1918. Sunday was the Kaiser's birthday and we marched in line for it this was January 27. We were expecting a big battle but it was one of the quietest days that I had ever spent in the trenches. After spending eight days in the trenches we came back to St. Jean for four days. This little village was under fire at all times so it was just as dangerous here as it was in the front trenches when it came to shell fire. By day we would rest a little but after sunset we would take our load of food, barbed wire, ammunition or whatever was needed and carry it up to those in the front line. This was the way we spent our time from January 26 to April 9 - in the front line six or eight days and out for four. During that time the enemy attempted to break through our trenches but they never reached our barbed wire. Every morning we would prepare for our 'iron rations' which the Germans would deal out to us in the form of trench mortars and whiz-bangs. One morning one of these trench mortars struck by the side of the door of our dug-out and almost closed it up. It split open the concrete over our heads and for a moment or two we didn’t know what was best to do; whether to run for better shelter of to stay where we were. Anyway we hung on and that was the nearest one that came to wish us 'good morning'. Most such mornings a number of our boys would be knocked out and, as I was stretcher bearer, I was kept pretty busy. On April 9 we were told that we were going back for three week's rest. We had now spent eight days and nights in the trenches and as we staggered alone one would think that we were all drunk. Several times I fell asleep while walking and bumped against the other fellow’s pack ahead of me waking myself up again. Finally we reached Poperinghe where we were to rest for a day or two. But we were in for a surprise! The Company Commander passed through the tents saying "now boys, you have two hours; eat, drink, sleep, bathe or do as you like, but be ready to start off again at one o'clock. The Germans have broken through the Portuguese Division lines at Armentieres and we have to stand in general reserves”. Soon we were on board the motor trucks which were to take us up the line again. As we passed through the villages there were many horrid sights to look at: old men and old women trying to help each other back to safety. Some had their heads bandaged which showed that they had been struck by a bullet or piece of shell. Others had broken limbs, whilst lying on the ground were men, women and children cold in death, and terribly mangled from heavy shell fire. After spending two or three hours on these motor lorries, they eventually came to a halt and we were ordered off. Bullets were whistling around us and we knew that we where no great distance from the enemy. I was soon busy carrying the wounded to the nearest dressing station. When night came we dug holes for ourselves and, covered with our rubber sheets, we lay down. It was far too cold to sleep even though we were very tired. Everything seemed quiet except for the rattle of a machine gun now and then, and the light from the 'star' shells that were fired into the air to light up 'no man's land', to see if any of the enemy were approaching. When daylight came we had to move further up toward the front line and ‘dig in'.
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