Tanner S Journal Entry I I

Nothing is like the papers said it would be here.

I remember sailing off the coast of Australia to cheers, like we were all damned heroes already. I thought I would be a hero. They said the war'd be over before we could blink, so we'd best get in while we could. They said the Huns'd fall like wheat when they saw Aussies gunning for them.

The Mehmet guns and shells cut us down like wheat today. Men lay dying, bleeding, there was nothing I could do. When I ran forward to help a man, I near got shelled to death myself. Not sure how I made it out alive.

I don't understand why we're here. I don't understand why the war started, or why we're fighting the Turks. I don't understand.

William Tanner, April 1915