EXCERPT:

Dan sat in the cramped and muddy trench with ten other soldiers trying desperately to read Nancy’s last letter without getting it wet from the rain which had been inflicting misery continuously on them for days. Some of the words were smudged now but he knew them by heart so it didn’t really matter. He tried to imagine her voice as he read it for probably the fiftieth time.

     Here in Flanders it had been raining for eight days with sporadic hard fighting and the men were exhausted from lack of sleep and sickness. There had been no mail in weeks in this God-forsaken area of Belgium and they were all so tired, restless and desperate for word from home—anything to help them forget what was going on around them.

     The day before there had been a lull in the fighting as the enemy retreated, but they knew that wouldn’t last. The Canadian artillery line had struggled to move forward through the mire worried the guns would catch them unprotected in no-man’s-land. The screaming of terrified horses was indelibly etched on his mind and, in frustration, he folded the letter and tucked it safely back into his pocket. Then, off to the east, the guns began their incessant booming all over again.

     Adjusting his helmet, he leaned against the side of the hole and cautiously looked over the top as he waited for orders. His eyes darted about barely noticing the flat landscape interrupted only by an occasional burnt-out tree and remnants of a stone wall. He had often tried to imagine how it would have looked … someone’s home and garden … children playing not so long ago … but today he had his own survival on his mind.

     From the corner of his eye he caught the single flash of light and signalled his men to readiness. Furtively he viewed the scene around him, barked another order and, together they scrambled over the walls to their new gun placements. This time there were only three others with him as they waited for replacements. Two of them were young, inexperienced and scared.

     He set the measurements into the cannon and took one last visual measurement before giving his men the command. The shell was sent on its way. He listened for the explosion as they readied another shell.