The shrapnel shells of the Germans were bursting over the trenches
where we were lying, and I was struck in the foot with a piece of
shell, which took the sole of my boot clean off. Five minutes later,
when I was trying to help a fellow near me who had been hit in the
shoulder, I was struck in the right thigh by a pellet from a shrapnel
shell. I fired one more shot after that. I aimed for the driver of a
German machine gun and hit him. This was my first experience of actual
fighting, and I can tell you it is a funny sensation at first to see
the shells bursting near and around you, to hear the bullets whistling
by you, but you soon get used to it all. It tries your nerves a bit at
first, but you soon get in the way of it: _Private C. D. Moore_.