Only 75 of them came out

Well, when I joined they just came off the Lens front just before Christmas in ‘17 down in Souchez Valley there, had there a lot of snow there. Go down to shave and had to dig, break the ice down in the little pot hole there to shave with and damn it was, it was cold. So right after Christmas the battalion moved up to the Ypres front. That was the second gas attack up there. The Battalion went in, oh, about 700 strong (inaudible) and came out with what, only seventy-five, I think it was, that came out. Oh, it was disgraceful to send them in under those conditions. There is more fellas that, there was many fellows died that slipped into a shell hole and couldn’t get out, got drowned that got shot. The big, the top guys that forced that battle onto the troops, by God, they’re the ones that should have been shot. God, it was ridiculous. The horses couldn’t move, couldn’t pull the guns up. You couldn’t walk hardly in that there chalk. It was terrible when it was wet. Yes, it was ridiculous to try to send troops over under those conditions. You couldn’t stand up hardly.