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wash in and also wash clothes. We are supposed
to use the water from the Regimental water case
for drinking purposes, but we are not always there
when it comes round. In some billets the
water is beautifully clean. The barn we lie in
is dirty (dirty straw) & lousy, so I believe we
are all a bit lousy too. In Winter they
don't get very bad, but in Summer they say
there is no escape from them & they get fierce.
Sometimes we are called out to do a bit of
interpreting for the officers, especially when new
billets are taken over.
So now we will soon be back where the
din & rattle goes on. The usual stay is 4 days
in the trenches & 2 or 3 days out & then
another 4 days in & 3 days out & so on & then
finally another Rest of 6 or 7 days. The 3
days "out" that comes between the 4 days spell in
are a great rest, but it does not mean that
we don't go into the firing line, but simply
means we get our nights rest in firing line
billets & work by day in the trenches on repairing
fatigues.
In these firing line billets we are always under
arms & often there is an alarm - perhaps the
same night we have come back from the trenches
& therefore need our rest rather badly - and from
our heavy slumber we are roused with the
unwelcome words: "Fall in", and then we
scramble for our equipment & rifle and [collect?]
out, in the dark road in "column formation"
& perhaps before we have gone a hundred yards,
a counter order comes "get back to billets, but
keep equipment on, you may be needed" -
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