Deadly 'Whiz-Bangs'

We were under shell fire most of the time, whizbangs going over us in the trenches, you know. It would be right on the line and you’d hear, “Whiz! Bang!” and you were up against that. You never knew what minute it was going to land right alongside of you or in your funk hole. I think there was times you were terrified, terrified, especially if a shell lit close to you, half buried you in the trench. As they were, they were running mud, running mud in the trenches, in a lot of those places it was terrible. And as we were advancing a lot of the boys would get it. I remember a very good friend of mine, he was in the trench about here, we went to lift him out and he came in half so that’s one thing I’ll never forget.