"Life in the trenches is not a picnic. When we are supposed to be resting, we have to go on working parties, digging etc., we are always under shell fire, so it’s not much rest after all. The last shell we had, there was 4 killed and 17 wounded. We have been under fire for three months now, and we should like a rest, as the strain is tremendous on one’s nerves. The fighting lately has been terrible. Our shells knock the enemy all ways and the sight in the trenches that we take is awful. We wear our respirators because of the awful smell of the dead. I’ll never get the sight out of my eyes, and it will be an everlasting nightmare. We spent a most unpleasant eight days, during which time, we lost several hundred men; nearly all my friends who came out in the same draft and were killed or wounded. It was horrible suspense, as I seemed to be the only man untouched, all around me, all my men...in fact, it’s all wrong to call them men, as they were mostly mere boys." - Sgt. Richard Gilson, 4th Seaforth Highlanders, 12 May 1915, France. #reality #ww1 #war #zerofoxtrot #stayzero #trenchlife