Young Soldier

In the middle of no man's land there was a young German soldier who caught his pant leg on the wire. He looked about 17 years old. To us he was just a kid. Someone tells him to move or he'll be killed. He shouts he doesn't want to tear his uniform.

A bullet tears into him through the abdomen. I hear him screaming, but I can not do anything for him or I could be next. He shouts for his mother, and asks if she will help him. He lives for about 20 minutes shouting for his mother and asks why she won't help him. We couldn't do anything for him. Finally someone shoots him to put him out of his pain. It appeared to come from our side of the lines.

The event really shook everyone up. The veterans were used to it and we acted like it didn't bother us. I didn't sleep that night. The next day we saw the rats all over him. We wanted to give him a proper burial, but it was too dangerous to retrieve a dead man. He eventually sunk into the mud a few days later.