The Trench Journal was about Reginald H. Roy's diary on him being a soldier
during the Trench warfare. At the beginning, he was on his way to the firing line
with rations. The path leads down dirty and dangerous areas where bullets
continuously bounce off the wall right beside the author. He is introduced to dugout
life, where the sanitation is poor, and they have to be fully alert all the time. For the
next 4 months, the author toiled the dug-out life and it was very tiring. Later on,
he went to no man's land for fight. The enemies fired endless waves of bullets
at him and his company. Many of them die, but some of them and the author
survived. He and the remainder of his company went down into artillery shell
holes, and shot the trench's inhabitants to death. The living condition was very bad
as well because they get very little food to eat (teaspoons only) and the surroundings
were all full of rats and mud.
What would have been most difficult about life in the trenches?
It would have been keeping yourself clean and having precautions for diseases.
How would you try to deal with the stress?
I would start writing diaries just like the author did to pretend that I have "somebody" to confess to.
How do you think you would feel about your role? A sense of duty?
I would feel that this is my duty to win victory for my country. So no matter what, I must go on
and fight for my country.
If you survived, how do you think you might be changed after the war?
I might be permanently sensitive to any kinds of violence or turbulence, because the horrible things
that I've experienced will stick in my mind forever and traumatize me.