Shell through the roof

So we left the Ypres Salient and went on down to Albert down on the Somme. That first night that I was on, my company was assigned to go into the front line trenches. We were shelled on the way in - had suffered no casualties however, but we went in on a Monday night and by Wednesday we were getting short of water. So I sent four of my men from my platoons, I had charge of 7 and 8 platoons on this trip in, and sent them out for water right after dark and came one and two o’clock in the morning and they hadn’t returned and I was terribly worried what had happened to them. I knew they didn’t know where the water, where to go and get the water, but I was sure they could find out anyway. Oh, perhaps at about three o’clock in the morning one of the boys I’d sent out arrived back and said, “Oh, we were shelled on the way back with the water, and one of the lads is pretty badly wounded,” and he said, “the other is staying there looking after him and I came up to tell you and see if I could get some help.” So I sent four more men back with a stretcher to get him and take him back to the casualty station. I wondered what happened then when it came seven o’clock in the morning and they hadn’t returned. Finally, I heard that after they had picked this lad up and were carrying him back, a shell came and hit a direct hit on the stretcher bearer and blew this lad all to pieces and wounded the four men that were on the stretcher with him.