Another letter mentions a case where
a man got two bullets; one struck his cartridge belt, and the other
entered his sleeve and passed through his trousers as far as the knee,
without even scratching him. Drummer E. O'Brien, South Lancashires, had
his bugle and piccolo smashed, his cap carried away by a bullet, and
another bullet through his coat before he was finally struck by a piece
of shrapnel which injured his ankle; and another soldier records thus
his adventures under fire: (1) Shell hit and shattered my rifle; (2) Cap
shot off my head; (3) Bullet in muscle of right arm. "But never mind, my
dear," he comments, "I had a good run for my money." Staff-Sergeant J.W.
Butler, 1st Lincolns, was saved by a paper pad in his pocket book; the
bullet embedded itself there.
Sapper McKenny, Royal Engineers, records the unique experience of a
comrade whose cap was shot off so neatly that the bullet left a groove
in his hair just like a barber's parting! He thinks the German who fired
the shot is probably a London hairdresser.
Private J. Drury, 3rd Coldstream Guards, also had a narrow escape, being
hit by a bullet out of a shell between the left eye and the temple. "It
struck there," he relates, "but one of our men got it out with a safety
pin, and now I've got it in my pocket!"
The amusing escapade of "wee Hecky MacAlister," is told by Private T.
Pages:
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74