Down in The Trenches: a Fictional Account of the First World War

The following is a fictional account of what it may have been like to fight in the First World War.

Many men and women gave their lives for us so that we may enjoy the freedom of today.

Lest we forget…

Here I am down in the trenches. No one to help me. Getting weaker by the second and starting to die.

Yes, that’s what’s happening to me. No turning back. I had my chance to go back to Canada just a week ago this past July in 1916. Yes I had my choice to join the army. I was not conscripted as I easily could have been. What am I saying? None of that is important now. Here I am down in the trenches. No one to help me. Getting weaker by the second and starting to die.

Time seems to move much slower when you are dying especially from injuries such as mine shrapnel in both my lungs and in my legs. Its terrible those shells, those artillery shells. The explosion is so destructive you don’t stand a chance. I was just 16 when I joined the army. I had lied about my age which I now regret doing. What was I to do? With all the propaganda the Canadian and British governments send out why would you not want to join the army? Now here I am down in the trenches. No one to help me. Getting weaker by the second and starting to die.

I was born in 1900 in a little down in England called Raunds. My father was the village milkman. My mother died of measles when I was quite young.  I had always been fascinated with war. My father fought in the Boer war of 1899 and he would not hesitate to tell of his experience which I was always intrigued by. I was very lucky compared to my other peers. I had the great opportunity to go to school until my grade 8 year. I was then old enough to find a job. And work there was a lot of but none of that matters now. Here I am down in the trenches. No one to help me. Getting weaker by the second and starting to die.

The gals at home don’t have the slightest idea of the realities of war. We send them letters but it is nearly impossible to describe the things I have seen. The human mind cannot even begin to imagine what its like to experience what it’s like to fight in a war such as this one. The reality is that it’s like a nightmare that you live for 24 hours a day and you can never wake up from it. All these months we have lived in fear, fear we may not wake up tomorrow. Fear that we may be injured  or worse being captured by the enemy. These were things we thought about on a daily basis. But none of that matters now. Here I am down in the trenches. No one to help me. Getting weaker by the second and  starting to die.

I am a sapper in charge of digging the trenches. The soil here is the perfect quality for them. It’s mainly made up of clay and sand stone. I had been working out in no mans land surveying land to creating an extension of our garrison. There had been lots of rain these past weeks and consequently we had lost at least half of our trenches to flooding.  I was about five hundred feet away from the existing trenches when suddenly out of nowhere there was an air raid. The Germans have really embraced the new flight technology and they definitely use it to their advantage. None of that matters now. Here I am down in the trenches. No one to help me. Getting weaker by the second and starting to die.

It’s been very foggy out here lately and the fog billows down into the trenches making visibility almost zero  and this is but another advantage to the enemy. Suddenly just for a moment the fog clears to reveal a shell plummeting toward me  I run as quickly as I can to take shelter in the nearby trench but its too late. The shell hits me and I am thrown down into the trenches. Now here I am down in the trenches. No one to help me. Getting weaker by the second and starting to die.

The explosion has lifted lots of dust up and you literally can not see beyond arm’s length. Suddenly all that can be heard is footsteps walking along the debris I try calling out but no sound can be heard. On top of this the pain is excruciating  I try to move a limb but it is next to impossible. I can hear the stranger getting close to me. It does not take long for me to realize it is the enemy. A German officer. He sees me and I know then that this is my last few moments alive. This war has been Hell. I have lost more friends and family in this war than I could even imagine.

Now here I am down in the trenches. No one to help me. Getting weaker by the second…and finally free.

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