Diary


 * Diary Entries:**

Ray Dunn's Diary Entries: March 17, 1918 Lately I have been so tired from fighting in this arduous war. Any free time that I have is devoted to sleeping; I am extremely fatigued. As I continue to fight in this war I notice that each countr y has their own specific and unique uniform. The British soldiers are usually seen wearing a dull green tunic and trousers made of thick wool. They also have a cap made of the same material as the uniform. I like the British uniform, because it has two breast pockets and two smaller pockets which could be used to store personal items. I'm sure that they have some internal pockets where you could store even more things which would be useful since I like to carry many things with me. The Canadians have much similar uniforms to the British although they have more buttons. Each unit of the Canadians has their own color that corresponds to their specific area of work. The only color that I noticed the color relation was the dark blue uniforms which were symbolic to the infantry unit. The last distinctive uniform that I noticed was the French, they have a blue cap, tunic and coat with red trousers. I have been able to tell the regimens apart much easier by gaining this knowledge on their uniforms. Since I wrote this down I can better remember it and always come back to it for future reference. I am going to hit the hay and get some sleep. (Liz) March 22, 1918 I sit here writing in my journal sitting in the trench. The appalling stench of rotten carcases is now my supply of air to my lungs. Trench foot going around right now. Trench foot is a fungal infection of the feet caused by cold, wet and unsanitary trench conditions. A solider I know got trench foot and had to have his leg amputated. I've been lucky and have not caught either yet. I keep going in and out of sleep, but am awaken by shots fired in the distance. We had our daily "stand to" today. This was our daily routine. Each morning we are roused to get up an hour before dawn and climb up on the fire step to guard a raid by the enemy. I hate waking up early, but its something you have to do. Last night I could hardly sleep. All I could hear was the scampering rats running through the trenches. Thinking of the rats munching on dead corpses made my stomach turn. I am exasperated and afraid of rats. They can produce up to 900 offspring a year and spread infections and contaminate the food. So not only do you need to worry about them biting you, but also if they contaminated your food your about to eat. Well I have to go do my daily chores with consist of refilling sand bags, draining the trenches, and repair the duckboards on the floor. (Kayla) March 24, 1918 I feel as if I should give you some background on what is causing the destruction I see happening all around me. They have invented many new weapons, ways to kill more people in the fastest amount of time. You have probably heard of the machine gun since it was used during our own civil war... this particular gun is the most effective and used the most over here. It fires up to 600 bullets per minute and can wipe out an entire row of soldiers. The sound of the constant firing of this gun keeps me up at night, repeating over and over again in my head. It's a constant nightmare and headache all wrapped in one. I hate the machine guns. Another sound that keeps swarming through my head is these darn cannons. They use them all of the time, they say that there has never been a war that we have used so many cannons! You have to constinently be aware of the sky and you learn to distinguish how far away the bombs are hitting by how loud of a sound they make. Another things the Germans are starting to use against everyone is gas gerenades. They seem to be quite effective for them, very scary for us. I hope this shows how confusing all of these new inventions have been to learn about and try to deal with. We are hanging on and hopefully we can come out on top despite all of these crazy weapons. Oh, here comes our commanding officer... I will write more later. (Dani) April 12, 1918 Four days ago there was an attack in the North. Everyone is calling the attack the Lys offensive. It was the second attack of a series of attacks the German is calling the Kaiserschlacht. There is word going around that there might be another attack. I hope my wound has healed by then. During the attack I was shot in the arm while fighting. Luckily it is a small wound and the bullet grazed my arm. Hopefully I will be serving my country again in a few weeks. They suggested that I should go on leave but I refused. I may hate the conditions here but I need to fight. I need to help my country and continue what others cannot finish. There are a lot of people around me that are wound at the moment. A few have lost limbs and others are unconscious. I know that I will never be able to forget the people here. Even though I am scared to go back and fight I will not give up. I don’t know if this war will end soon but I really hope it will. (Alina)