The Dingbat [poem, 16 February 1918]

[Editor: A poem published in Aussie: The Australian Soldiers’ Magazine, no. 2, 16 February 1918.]

The Dingbat.

He’s not a bally Batman, he’s a Dingbat now you know,
We’ve changed his blessed monicker for keeps.
We do not call him Orderly or Servant near the foe —
And he shines well ’mid polish tins in heaps.

Blokes that do not know him say: “Them coots — oh, not for mine!”
But things have changed a lot here at the front;
For he does his bit when strafing with his cobbers in the line,
And he shines well ’mid whizzbangs in a stunt.

— Pip.

Source:
Aussie: The Australian Soldiers’ Magazine, no. 2, 16 February 1918, page 4

Editor’s notes:
batman = a soldier assigned as a manservant or orderly to an officer (an abbreviated version of “bat-horse man”, from the French “bât” for packsaddle)

monicker = a person’s name, especially a nickname or alias

stunt = a military action, a battle

whizzbang = (slang) a small high-velocity artillery shell, which makes a “whizzing” sound as it travels through the air and then makes a “bang” when it explodes