Word was passed down the line to beat it for our trenches. We needed
no urging; grabbing our tools and stooping low, we legged it across No
Man's Land. The covering party got away to a poor start but beat us
in. They must have had wings because we lowered the record.

Panting and out of breath, we tumbled into our front-line trench. I
tore my hands getting through our wire, but, at the time, didn't
notice it; my journey was too urgent.

When the roll was called we found that we had gotten it in the nose
for sixty-three casualties.

Our artillery put a barrage on Fritz's front-line and communication
trenches and their machine gun and rifle fire suddenly ceased.

Upon the cessation of this fire, stretcher-bearers went out to look
for killed and wounded. Next day we learned that twenty-one of our men
had been killed and thirty-seven wounded. Five men were missing; lost
in the darkness they must have wandered over into the German lines,
where they were either killed or captured.

Speaking of stretcher-bearers and wounded, it is very hard for the
average civilian to comprehend the enormous cost of taking care of
wounded and the war in general. He or she gets so accustomed to seeing
billions of dollars in print that the significance of the amount is
passed over without thought.

From an official statement published in one of the London papers, it
is stated that it costs between six and seven thousand pounds ($30,000