As the moon shone from behind the clouds, and we gazed at the wide open sea, it was like a fresh blood bath. Outside it was silent, desolate, and bleak. Was it all over?
Had I died and didn’t even know about it?
No. Death wouldn’t be that easy for any of us.
That night, rats woke us up in our trench scurrying in groups among us. We lived in absolute squalor. It stunk of human faeces, the first thing war took from us was our dignity.
People are starting to get very ill. People were hallucinating and convulsing with various diseases. The situation was getting worse and worse. I thought it had got as bad as it gets, but then no, it actually gets worse than I ever thought it could be.
The trenches were swarming with lice. They were crawling over the corpses of decaying bodies and even trying to plague live people. They crawled and slithered around every part of your body. It was disgusting; when you should be sleeping a peaceful sleep you are repetitively bit instead. By morning, you are full of scabs and marks.
People are starting to develop trench foot and it is an increasing problem. Feet are getting extremely swollen and the smell is appallingly bad. The stench of demise is in the air, made worse when boots are removed. I’m surprised it doesn’t kill off all the rats and lice in an instant!
There is a man, roughly my age, next to me, and he has developed severe trench foot. The smell is unbearable, starting to make me feel ill; his feet look contaminated and disfigured. His case of trench foot has got so bad that he can no longer walk and just sits there all day, all night, awake, crying and complaining, until we all want him to disappear.
As I looked up, I could feel and hear the roaring flames. The fire blazed and burned, creeping closer and closer to our trench.
Everytime a bomb hits the ground, more fire is unleashed, spreading wildly. Sometimes soldiers that were too close to the edge would be severely burnt by the fire and couldn’t move afterwards, skin blistered and raw.
Thomas was out on the front line. I had been in this with him from the very beginning. I heard a horrific wailing noise. It was excruciating. I peered over outside to see what had happened, scared to see the truth.
He had been repeatedly shot. He was moaning and groaning. He just lay there staring into the sky. I could tell that his life was slowly fading away. I was holding him when his eyes closed and his body went limp. I had held him while he was dying.
I laid him down to rest. I realised that this was far from over, he was just lying there lifeless, motionless and killed by war; I was absolutely devastated. He was my best friend and I have just lost him. The shock of it is beginning to sink in when I realised, he is gone forever.
I don’t know how I am going to cope now my closest comrade has gone. I have no one, but when you have been here as long as I have, you start to get used to it.
Sometimes I just sit there staring at the sky, thinking that I could have done more for him, but what’s happened has happened and he’s gone.
I am here and he has gone. He would want me to live.
Letter Home
Part B Original Writing
Dear Mother,
I am missing you dearly; I wish I was at home with you. I miss everything - I miss your love - I miss home life. I can’t wait to get home and see you, but the letters and photographs you are sending me keep my spirits high and remind me of why I am here and why all of us are doing this.
Well mother, I am fine and in good health. I haven’t developed any diseases, even though I will have to be careful because there are some deadly things lurking out there.
There has been one fatality that has devastated me.
Do you remember Thomas, my friend? Well, I am afraid that he has been killed. I was gravely shocked. It was very difficult to experience this but it has made me realise how important life is to me.
One thing that I am really missing is your home cooked meals. I only have to think about them and I am starving! The food that they give us here is very inadequate and it is not enough to feed a mouse, never mind a man. Actually, the mice and rats often end up eating our food instead of us! When I return, I want one of your classic meals mother, it would be most gratefully received.
I guess it’s not that bad being here, the only thing is that it can be very lonely here, especially now that Thomas has gone, but I have a good strong team around me and I am pretty confident that we will win this war. I am so very glad to hear that you are well and please keep sending photographs to me as they cheer me up to see your face.
Sometimes though I do get very scared, but I find something to do and focus on, and I just get through it. The daytime is not really that bad. It is just night time that can be very lonely, but it’s soon over and the sun rises again.
Mother, if I don’t make it please remember that I died fighting for our country, but please don’t worry about it because I am holding my head up high and I am fighting strong.
Hopefully I will see you soon.
Love,
Your beloved son
Clinton