We were in the Passchendaele sector in 1917, and all who were there
know there were no trenches--just shell-holes half-filled with water.
Jerry had been strafing us for two days without a stop and of our
platoon of twenty-three men only seven came out alive. As we were
coming down the duckboard track after being relieved Jerry started to
put over a barrage. We had to dive for the best cover we could get.
Three of us jumped into a large shell-hole, up to our necks in water.
As the shells dropped around us we kept ducking our heads under the
water.
Bert Norton, one of us--a Cockney--said: "Strike, we're like the little
ducks in 'Yde Park--keep going under."
After another shell had burst and we had just come up to breathe Bert
chimed in again with: "Blimey, mustn't it be awful to have to get your
living by ducking?"--_J. A. Wood, 185 Dalston Lane, E.8._