During WW1, young men had to prove their self-worth as well as their physical endurance before they were allowed to head into the trenches of war. This photograph published in 1917 shows a file of young soldiers wearing gas masks and standing by a door marked with the symbol for deadly poison. It was the entrance to what was referred to as the “gas school” or “gas house" which was built behind the trench lines and filled with real poison gas.
Each young man had to enter the poisonous building to show that he could endure the possibility of a gas attack. If one of the soldiers showed that he could not withstand being shut in the poison house, he was given another job, other than fighting, within the military.
Real shit. #stayzero #zerofoxtrot #ww1 #gas