ould never do them
again. I do not think the man ever lived who would not, eventually,
get into this condition. Some men "break" at the first shell that
strikes near them, while others will go for months under the heaviest
shell fire but, as I have said, it will certainly get them in the end.
Of course I did not express any of these feelings to Bouchard, but
tried to keep things moving all the time so as to give him little
opportunity to worry. But, to tell the truth, I guess I needed the
diversion more than he did, for he was the bravest and "gamest"
youngster I ever knew.

Before we left France for our week in London I was told by my Colonel
that I had been recommended for a commission and something or other in
the way of a decoration and he suggested that I call upon General
Carson, Canadian General in London, and find out about it. I did call
at the General's office several times but was unable to see him. It
afterward developed that the commission had already been gazetted and
I was really and truly a First "Leftenant." I did not hear of it for
nearly a month and, during the interval, went through, as a sergeant,
one of the hottest times in my whole career.

When our leave was up we, together with hundreds of others, left
Victoria Station early one morning for Folkestone and Boulogne and so
on, back to Poperinghe, where we arrived just at daybreak the
following morning and were welcomed by an early rising boche airman,
who dropped about half a dozen bombs, evidently aimed at the railroad
station. Fortunately, no one was hit. Then we trudged down the road,
kilometer after kilometer, every one gloomy and grouchy, looking for
our several units. Ours had moved and we spent the whole day before we
located it.

We found the battalion in camp near the town of Dickebusch and soon
settled down to the same old routine. They had not been back in the
line since we left but had been engaged in some special work in and
around this town, about which there is an interesting story.

Dickebusch was a town of several thousand inhabitants and considerable
commercial importance, located on the Ypres-Bailleul road, about
three and one-half miles directly west of St. Eloi. All troops going
into the line anywhere from Wytschaete to Hill 60 were obliged to pass
through or very close to it. Just east of the town was a shallow lake
or pond, about a mile long and half as broad, called Dickebusch Etang,
to cross which it was necessary to