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- The washing facilities ere very poor here though. For some unexplained reason ell the wells in this country are sunk right- by the manure piles, so that every drop used has to he sterilized. This is accomplished by,the use of chloride of lifrp, the resultant taste being rather "abatush", Por washing purposes rpin water is usually used, the same being collected in tanks. Our tank ran dry today, so have been forced to. wash in a "Jack Johnson" hole in the courtyard. This hole, by the way, is big enough to swim in.
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I was on picket duty last night from 7 P.K, to 7 A.M. this morning. About midnight, the guns in this neighborhood, and there are scores of them, opened up'and started to serenade "Pritz". We are on the outskirts of what Used to be a city the size of Victoria but now after two years of steady shelling is a mass of ruins. As each gun fired the whole place was lit up for a seoond, giving it an indescribably weird look. The noise was simply fierce, and they kept it up for over enhour. They sure had "^ritz" was sending up flaring rockets all night, to.light up "Ho Han’s Land",
Just.atidaybreak the aeroplanes started to hum around, and the anti-aircraft guns got in their work. It is a great sight to see an aeroplane streaking it along, with puffs of shrapnel smoke all around it. Shouldn’t care for the job myself. Have seen two air fights, but neither one to a finish. You can hear the machine guns rattling up in the air just like a steam riveter. As a consequence of shrapnel bursting so much in the air, we have to wear steel helmets, none too light I can assure you.
We are about two miles from the trenches, and as this building has been used as a dressing stations for some considerable time, are comparatively safe from shell fire. "Pritz11 sends quite a few over us though trying to hit the hidden guns.
Things have been very quietton this front lately, that is outside of the artillery. They keep it up day and night. Last night only four cases passed thru here, two of them walking. We are due to stay here for five days yet, and then we move up to the advanced W dressing station for five days. After that we go into a rest camp
for a month.
Just opened a note, from Bill. He and Hank are up in these parts too, being attached to Ho. 2 P.Amb, They left Havre two days after we did. ^
Saw "Warry" Waterson at our base the other day. Didn’t get a chance to say more then "Hullo".. You might tell Jno. Grant that Cowan, an Odd Pellow whom I think he or Aunt Jennie knows, is paymaster sgt. with this amb. He-was with Vernon with us.
This outfit was recruited.* in C&lgary. Remember when we were in Victoria the rumor that we were going up to Calgary. Well,this is the bunch we would have reinforced had we gone. There are a good
bunch of fellows in it, six of them from our draft,, who left Havre
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