"As we advanced on the German trench, I was mildly concerned about the machine-gun fire and some blighter who was hurling stick bombs in my direction. Frankly, after my third or fourth shot, I found that the bowl of my pipe and the smoke from it was obscuring my line of vision. Much to my annoyance, I had to put my pipe in my pocket alight as it was; it was lucky that it did not burn my jacket.
When a shell fragment hit my throat. I started to cough and brought up some blood and a bit of the shell which must have stuck in my windpipe.
I retrieved the iron from the mud and kept it.
There was no sound of drum, pipes or trumpet to encourage him, no gallant charge, no cheers from onlookers, no excitement, only a tired and often very weary man heavily loaded with ammunition, bombs, kit and gas mask and rifle. Getting out with difficulty from his trench and slowly moving across an open space with a certain knowledge that he would be killed or wounded.
Every man in the ranks who started on the journey across no man's land to attack an entrenched enemy deserved the highest honour his country could give him." - Capt. Alexander Stewart, 3rd Scottish Rifles, Somme, France, 1916 #stayzero #ww1 #war #reality