Stories from the Trenches: Humorous and Lively Doings of Our 'Boys Over There'

Book excerpt: "Stories from the Trenches" by Carleton B. Case provides insight into the dreadful life of the men in the trenches. Naturally, there are wartime horrors that those who have lived through them will retain to themselves. The 25 selected letters are primarily about American soldiers during the United States officially entering the war and after that, with brief jokes interspersed to break the tension. Excerpt: "ONE of the strangest of the many personal romances which the war has brought is the tale of a man who, dismissed from the British Army by court martial, redeemed himself through service with that most heterogeneous of organizations, the French Foreign Legion. His name was John F. Elkington, and he had held an honored post for more than thirty years. Then, just as his regiment, in the closing months of 1914, was going into the fighting on the Western front, he was cashiered for an unrevealed error and deprived of the opportunity to serve his country."