NEARLY GASSED!

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume XVII, Issue 673, 27 August 1917, Page 4

NEARLY GASSED!

AVAIMATE OFFICER’S ! SENSATIONS, • Writing to his people here on 29th June, 1917, Lieut. A, D. Smith says:— 1 , , ■ ■ Here wo ,arei again' ,out lor a spell, and! I 'dan tell you. that it’s not before time .My nerves ,|a.s well as everybody else’s, were getting rather* raw. ■ ; I’ve had some pretty rotten time.' lately—times that I- don’t want gain. .One 1 wa,s; out with ■? pja,rty, and the; enemy shoved ovci gas shells, H.E; and shrapnel. ,My word, it was awful. 'We ran into it. Very little cover of any kind, I shoved the boys into what little cover 1 ‘could hud, and then-,de-cided to get right out. of it. Wc wore right in the centre of things We made a move (by, tins, time with gals respirators on), and man aged' eventually to get to wind ward' of the gaisl I was more thar half-gassed myself’ through chas ing up: and down, helping -a mac liw, yelling at mow men then Oh, it i ,- .va,;\a nightmare ' of a lime How on earth we got out ot: il with the casualties that wc iintor tun ato !y had, is a. marvel ,io us The enemy kept us in our hit o cover for five hou r s. Strafed! Gee Ho must have lead a month’s sup ply of stuff in .Coming hack ii the early hours of the morning wa. a tiling I’ll never forget. Ga:s wa lying very thick) and some hoav; stuff was ‘still hying ground. Wi first of all dug out three of on beys who had taken cover, am whom! I hadn't seen do so, The; were beyond aid. Then we decid'd to go down a sap. Crumbs! Tin gas was rotten. I couldn’t sci three yards in front. Respirator on you bet! Then the enemy la;ndc a. shell just behind mo. Talk abou wind-up? Another few nights wher we came from would have just a bout done for me. Whenever < shell wont over itjmado my hlc9se< stomach lift. Sensation I I’ve ha( alt the sensations lo hast mo fo a while. He landed a gas-shell ci our Bivvy that night. The nex night he dropped a, tree, cm it. was out both times. To add to all these little things I’m O.C. the company. I’ll he gla< when the o.co comes hack, to-mov row or the next day. I’ve had lh. .company live days. Tire' only con sedation was to-dayl when we hai an 8-mile march I hac* a hloomim neddy. Wh|at? Bupti I would soono pm a platoon commander oven 'time. This, is my first job ns O.C This is June, and we hear ru mours. You see, they didn’t ios< very many New -Zealanders in tin Messines fight, so they’ll shove ’on into another one, sure. ’By Jovd a lot of good chaps have "gom Cllt.” I may have mentioned Boh Ten hant, who. was up at the Grenade School with me. He was killed tin ether night. A fine hoy, too. Al present there are three ot us in the company. Makes it pretty solid. We hadj n lovely shower, to soiu us on our way yesterday. The sun came out about (en, and Hob Baxter ancV I iffy down on an oil shoot, and had two lovely hours’ shuteye, Bob is Battalion doctor. . Sleep! Well, 1 hadn’t had a, while for three nights. Any Good? And 1 “do" like my sleep. Say, what do you think we’re bavin igfor dessert to-night? Strawberries and c realm! Any -good! We went picking wild ones up thong the other day. They’re "gassed” now. The old lady thatnurs this batch is a great old girl. Has two daughters midi a son. One of the girls is rather above the average French girl that vve see, and speaks .a, bit of English. \ Her brother in the army wais gassed,, and they ( are greatly cut up, Evidently he <wa,s ;a. favourite’. Nearly every French woman is in black. And my word, they work! Our English girls in Blighty think they arc doing great things. Yes; they certainly may look natty in their breeches 'and laggings and smocks, but—work! They don’t know what work is, A'French gi r l or woman (and a, woman may>be .anywhere up to 55) does more work in a diay than they del in a. week'. But stillrthoy provide “pore lonely soldiers” like us with pictures of 'them in the illustrated papers. 1