Looking for the water wagon

The first day we arrived from (inaudible) up onto the Pimple at Souchez, we were billeted in these Nissen huts. And one of the chaps – there’s some pictures in there – Gordon Hoskin was in my platoon and he wanted a drink of water. So, he went out and another chap and I were sitting talking and we were chatting around there for about an hour and Gordon didn’t come back. So, we thought we’d better go and look for him. So we went down the road and he’d been looking for the water wagon that is usually attached to a unit of some kind. When there are a number of men around it, there is always a field kitchen and water tanks and so on, but there was no sign of any field kitchen or water tank in our neighbourhood at that time. And there was... we walked down the road about, oh, I suppose half a mile and there was Gordon laying on his stomach beside a shell hole, just sick as a dog. And I said, “Gordon what happened? ” He says, “I took a drink out of this shell hole. I was just dying with thirst.” He says, “Look!” There was a German boot with a foot still in it, with a leg still in it, and it made him sick in the stomach. It just gives you an idea of some of the rotten things that happened.