They’ll eat up your food

Well we went down into the basement there, and the infantry men was mopping up any enemy troops that might be down there. And on this basement floor there was a man, a German soldier, lying on his back. It was quite obvious he was just on his last gasp, you know. He was like over there as we walked past him, while he was doing like this. He wanted a drink. And I saw . . . and I had water in my bottle. I went over and give him a drink. Well, the boys thought it was a heck of a thing to do. I did it without thinking you know, just impulsively . . . I don’t suppose he lived anytime after that, I don’t know. But, oh, I don’t know, they seemed to have a doctrine there that . . . I heard one quite a bit, this was before the Armistice - there was only one good Hun, and that’s a dead Hun. I remember one time, the orderly officer put it up to us when . . . in the mess room, at meal time, you see. He’d always come around, this officer, and say, “Any complaints? ” Well, nobody would make any complaints. If you did, why, he’d make it tough for you. But this time I remember the orderly officer come around. Instead of saying, “Any complaints? ” he said, “Well, you fellows are complaining that you don’t get enough to eat. And yet you keep on taking prisoners and they’ll eat up your food. What’s the matter with you? Don’t you realize there is only one good Hun and that’s a dead Hun? ” So, you see, they put it up to us.