time & was forever stumbling
over dead men or falling
into muddy shell holes.
Barbed wire also bothered
me & I had to be very
careful when I bumped
into a stretch of it because
of hidden mines. Poor Carter,
another Runner, tripped
over a wire & was blown
to pieces.
At 2.30 a.m. I was relieved &
tried to sleep but the roar
of guns & frequent gas
alarms kept me awake.
Sept. 29th 1918.
This has been a day of
violence & death. 10 men in
my platoon, including my-
self, were selected to go
Over The Top with the machine
gun co. when the big attack
started at 6 a.m.
We took up our position
in a trench as per orders
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& stood waiting for zero
hour. As near as I can
recall, I wasn't afraid, but
I realized fully, as I glanced
out over No Mans Land, that
many of us would die there
very soon. Dawn was just
breaking when suddenly a
Verey signal light went up
& then with one accord
thousands of guns opened
fire & filled the air overhead
with shreiking shells. The
earth shook, & for a moment
I was dazed by the awful
magnitude of the barrage.
We scrambled over the
parapet, dragging our 1
pounder behind us but
before we had advanced
many hundreds of yards
a German shell blew up
our gun & wounded
Donnelly & Campano. I
piece of shrapnel crashed
thru a steel mirror
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