Trench warfare

story by Breyanna Helm

Fingers freezing and feet cloaked in mud, Sarah McClellan, Jr., sat behind her man-made wall ready to aim and fire against the enemy. Trench warfare was a military strategy that started back during WWI (1914 – 1918), when armies of millions of men faced each other in a line of trenches extending from the Belgian coast through northeastern France to Switzerland. These were intricate networks that contained command posts, forwarded supply dumps, first-aid stations, kitchens, and latrines. The downside was that many trenches also had pests living inside them, who would eat all the soldier’s food. Their lice would give soldiers Trench fever, which made soldiers itchy, and gave them fevers, headache, sore muscles, bones, and joints. Exposure to the wet condition gave many soldiers a terrible medical condition called Trench foot, which would usually result in foot amputation.

Luckily, when EHS juniors re-enact this historic battle strategy that isn’t the case.

They start with the class hours 1,2,3 on one team and 5,6,7 on the other team. Tuesday they began digging their trenches during their own class periods and were required to bring shovels.

Thursday morning at 7:25 a.m., with their army gear on, everyone grabbed two water balloons and hid behind their trenches. Even though the fight only lasted about  15 – 20 minutes many students enjoyed getting a chance to get down and dirty about a topic in history.

“It was really fun and I wish we could’ve done it all day,” said McClellan.

Jason Tharp, US history teacher at EHS, has been doing this event for five years now. At first it started as throwing paper balls in the classroom and has progressed each year, all filmed by EHS Cardinal Productions.

“I do it to give a real life look at what these guys had to go through. Whether the students dig a small or big hole, it’s about showing them how hard they worked,” Tharp said.

“I was excited because it was hands on and we were going to experience it for ourselves,” said Sydney Elmer, Jr.

Elmer was one of the many juniors who participated during the trench warfare on Thurs. Oct. 13. She advises that upcoming juniors should have fun and definitely be prepared with extra clothing for afterwards.