steve fuller Posted 24 January , 2007 Share Posted 24 January , 2007 Hi all Thought Id share a daft little story with you as it tickled me no end. A chap contacted my website and told me how grandad used to share some of his stories around the table when he was young. This was one of them. "The night Shorty fell in a shell hole" 'A short summer night somewhere on the Western Front. A patrol of the 2nd Bedfords emerges from the line and slowly and stealthily in single file makes its way forward. It is unusually quiet, all are on tenterhooks,(or as the old man put it - shitting ourselves). Suddenly there comes a grunt and muffled plop from the rear which startles those who hear it. At the same time a flare arcs from the German Lines and they all freeze, hardly daring to breathe. As the flare dies, the rear rank men can see a steel helmet on a bobbing head. Their comrade has just his nose above the water. A whispered message flows from man to man up the column. "Shorty's fallen in a shell hole". A pause, stretched to eternity, as crouching they waited for the reply. At last a command decision, reflecting the comradeship of the British soldier,"F**k Shorty, carry on". Later the patrol returned with "sod all accomplished". It was just following the dawn stand to, there appeared in the trench, an apparition,sopping wet,covered from helmet to boot in green slime,duckweed and mud, 5ft of incandescent rage directed at his comrades or more properly 'those effing ******** of his section'. Shorty was no longer missing in action.' Maybe its just me but I was belly laughing and genuinely in tears when I read it and am again now I am re-reading it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanith Posted 24 January , 2007 Share Posted 24 January , 2007 Aww bless!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce Posted 24 January , 2007 Share Posted 24 January , 2007 Thanks! Best laugh I've had tonight! Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Hesketh Posted 24 January , 2007 Share Posted 24 January , 2007 Priceless! Thanks Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike13 Posted 25 January , 2007 Share Posted 25 January , 2007 mate,how to start the day with a laugh Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Barker Posted 25 January , 2007 Share Posted 25 January , 2007 Worth repeating at your talk to MK WFA branch I hope?! Stephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzie Posted 25 January , 2007 Share Posted 25 January , 2007 You can just picture it, Thanks Steve. Kim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve fuller Posted 25 January , 2007 Author Share Posted 25 January , 2007 Worth repeating at your talk to MK WFA branch I hope?! Stephen oooh, Ive been recognised!! It was going to be shared, yes! May have to watch my P's & Q's a little but so what?! See you there from the sound of it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squirrel Posted 25 January , 2007 Share Posted 25 January , 2007 Thanks for sharing the story - those of us who won't be at MK WFA much appreciate it. Sums Tommy up to a tee I reckon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6th Shropshires Posted 25 January , 2007 Share Posted 25 January , 2007 That's whot I love about Tommy Atkins, his wicked sence of humour, thanks Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteWolf Posted 25 January , 2007 Share Posted 25 January , 2007 Thanks for sharing, but I now have a sore lip where I had to bite it to stop myself laughing out loud as I'm supposed to working. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Barker Posted 25 January , 2007 Share Posted 25 January , 2007 I will be there - We have occasionally commented on common threads usually 6th Beds/8East Lancs 112th Brigade 37th Division. All the best. Stephen no heckling at MK by the way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve fuller Posted 25 January , 2007 Author Share Posted 25 January , 2007 I will be there - We have occasionally commented on common threads usually 6th Beds/8East Lancs 112th Brigade 37th Division. All the best. Stephen no heckling at MK by the way! Be nice to put a face to a name Will be doing a part of it on the 6th at Arras so hpefully something aguely interesting for you there! See you soon then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotonmate Posted 27 January , 2007 Share Posted 27 January , 2007 Steve Good story ! May I add another amusing interchange, gleaned from a book "The Soldier's War 1914-1918"by Peter H Liddle: "Mining activity beneath the trenches was unsettling to troops in every sense. Captain Deane,in August 1915, wrote: "Yesterday morning there was a sharp shock and the ground shook. I climbed up and looked over the parapet to see if there was any smoke about. As the Germans are mining under us it is not encouraging", On that occasion British countermining had exploded a counter-charge ( a camouflet) to destroy the german gallery,but the degree of alarm which such work occasioned may be apocryphally illustrated by the sentry who is supposed to have looked puzzled on being instructed to blow his whistle if the trench were mined. It was reported that he revealed his puzzlement by enquiring whether he should blow his whistle as he was going up or coming down " Sotonmate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest KevinEndon Posted 27 January , 2007 Share Posted 27 January , 2007 In todays pc world of ageism, sexism and all other isms this story would be frowned upon for being short legged personism. Its a craker of a story bet shorty was glad he wasn't 4 foot 7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MACRAE Posted 27 January , 2007 Share Posted 27 January , 2007 Good tales of the Tommy nuttin to beat a soldiers sense of humor when your back passage is as tight as a ducks right in the middle of a oporation. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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