FUN IN THE ARMY

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21229, 27 September 1940, Page 4

FUN IN THE ARMY

A!R=RAID COMEDY SOLDIERS LEAP INTO TRENCH LANDS ON NAKED OFFICER (By Telegraph.—Special to Times) NEW PLYMOUTH, Thursday The spectacle of a naked officer, covered in soapsuds, running for a shelter trench, only to be jumped on by an army-booted private, is described by Corporal Howard Frost in I a letter to his parents, Mr and Mrs V. H. Frost, Eltham. “We had two air raid alarms one day last week,” writes Corporal Frost. “The first one we ignored as we could not hear any planes overhead, and by the time the ‘all clear’ was sounded, about an hour later, we had forgotten all about it. The second one sounded just as we were . going into mess, and even when we 1 heard the roar of many aircraft we | took no notice, thinking that they were our own. We started tea, but one chap suddenly spotted a large number of planes approaching and he called everybody out to have a look. We all streamed out and gazed skywards. “Small Objects Fall” “Suddenly we saw a number of small objects fall from the planes and come whistling down to strike the ground and explode with a terrific roar. And at the same time there came the rattle of machinegun fire and bullets thudded into the ground all around us. “Well! I have never seen such a scatter. There was a wild rush to the trenches and the chaps dived in head first. In some of the trenches ■ were several inches of water; others were muddy. One of our Taranaki boys flung himself down between two heaps of coal. When we all emerged later we found him black I from head to foot, the result of trying to bury himself in the coal. He now rejoices in the name- of ‘The Coalman.’ “Another very funny sight was that of our adjutant, Captain . He was having a shower and had just reached the stage where he was soap from head to foot, when he heard the bombers coming. He ran outside and gazed skywards. The Air Was Blue “When the bombs started to drop, he, too, streaked for the shelters, tumbled in and flattened himself on the bottom to be followed a few seconds later by one of the boys who, not being aware of the unlucky adjutant’s presence in the trench, took a flying leap, and landed feet first (clad in army boots) on top of him. The air was blue for many yards around. “Fortunately, there were no casualties and no damage was done, owing to the usual bad markmanship of the ‘Jerry’ pilots. But we all had a good laugh out of it afterwards,” says Corporal Frost.