Congressman visits the trenches in World War I, quickly attracts German gunfire for fun and pisses off a sergeant.

>Toward the end of World War I, Alben E. Barkley visited France as a member of a House Committee investigating the conduct of the war. On a trip to the front lines in the Ypres sector, the committeemen went into the trenches about seventy-five feet from the German front lines, and a tough but good-natured sergeant led them through the narrow, muddy excavation. >For the fun of it, Barkley asked the sergeant to stop, and then took a rifle, stuck a helmet on it, and raised it above the trench level. Zing! Before he could pull it back eleven enemy bullets hit the helmet and whanged it around. >”Man,” said the sergeant, looking disgustedly at Barkley, “I wish the German Army knew there was a Congressman within seventy-five feet of ‘em – they’d just walk over here and surrender!” _________________________ **Source:** Boller, Paul F. “Comedy.” *Congressional Anecdotes*. New York: Oxford UP, 1991. 160. Print. **Original Source Listed:** Alben W. Barkley, *That Reminds Me* (Garden City, N.Y., 1954), 113-14.