HOW V.C. WAS WON

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 20, 24 January 1916, Page 8

HOW V.C. WAS WON

~- "~ ""-^^— ,-...—_. ... I.IETJT. SYMONS TEM.S STORY. MUST HAVE BEEN LUCKY. -"MEiioURNE, January'ls. Xieut.. "W. J. Syinons, Tin" Battalion (Vie) of the" 2nd Infantry Brigade, in a ■letter to his former, employer. Mr..D. T. Dot-galL". grocer„.l2l. Svrin'ev Boad, strugglejn .tlie trenches at Lone Pine, which resulted:.in hjni bein;; .awarded the Victoria -Cross.-- He .-jays:—The First Brigade (N.S.W.) took the Lone Pine position on the evening of August 7, and they held it until-the following day, when we were sent to relieve them, an 1 directly we had taken their places the enemy tried to dislod-je us, but in vain. I had' charge of the left of the position, and with mc 119 men. The Turks started to shell us, and. then, when they thought we bad enough, they seli't their bomb-throwers up with bombs. Eventually we either killed or put out of action the first lot, but they were soon replaced, and it was one continual stream of bomb-throwers until 3 o'clock in the morning, when they came out in hundreds. TURKS EXPELLED. We managed, to drive most of them hack, but some .of them got into our trenches and took some shifting out, •although our boys were using the bayonet well, ant at last they were removed. The same thing was done once •again, and we treated them with a similar dose, although we were sadly decreased in numbers. The same thing was carried ont-three times altogether, md, mv word, it was frightful to see the carnage in mv trench, format o o'clock in the morning I had 19 men left. I also had three officers with mc ia.ll .Lieutenant Edwards—(Bendigol. killed, and two brothers named Hamilton, both wounded. I will try to describe our trench. It was shallow, and in a filthy condition -when we entered it. There were dead Turks, and our boys buried them along the bottom oi the trench, and whenever you were, walking along you felt as if you-were'walking on rubber, tor they were ord-fx-buried -and covered with about— ISm of -earth. Just-fancy that.' and then, when-our boys started to "fall, we tried to take their bodies away and tend the-wounded, but that became an. utter impossibility, because--they- were falling much quicker"'than Sve. could'take them away; and then the wounled who could not walk were unattended, and were lying on their dead comrades on the bottom of the trench. Just imagine bombs coming in on top of them; ,You can picture what the trench was like, for the Turks' bombs -are very powerful. FOE KEPT AT BAY. Well, at 5 in -the morning we had just repelled, tbe first attack 'when the' CO. sent "for"me. I handed 10 men over to a corporal (about the only N.C.O. left in my company) and reported.. It seems that on. "the "riaht of the"" position the Turks had" taken a part of the.trench from our gallant boys, anl we had lost six officers trying to re-take it. He asked mc if.l would hold and keep what we had left. Well, you can guess that I was nearly dead-beat after holding my own position all night, and fighting with revolver, rifle and bayonet, and keeping the boys cheery, although far from it myself. However, I went down into th»-sap;-and directly ■ I got there two of ihe six "men I ha i with mc were hit, but-with.the other four I managed to get a sandbag barricade across the centre~of- file trench, and kept them at bay. There was a bend in the sap about 12 feet away, and around that corner the, Turks had their bomb-throwers, who never relaxed throwing their bombs, for they seemed to have an unlimited supply, while we were without any. We had a little overhead cover where we were, and they set fire to this,- and in trying to put this out I lost another man. That mc with only three men. "SFeJI. we were then subjected to a grand final attempt, and, by the number «sTVombs that were thrown in a few minufes "(and fire-sticks too) you' would have thought the whole of the trench would have fallen in; while the cover was set on fire again. They did manage to cut the sandbags, and directly the sand ran out from the end of the* bags they fell out towards the enemy. That left us fully exposed again, and I had the misfortune to have two more of th» men hit with a bomb, and how I missed it I cannot say, for 1 was with'them the whole time. SOLE DEFENDER OF TRENCH. Well. th__only thing I could do. was to send that man back .for reinforcements, and while he was away I held the trench by myself. Two Turks, a little bolder than the others, came around the -corner and tried to rush mc. but I shot them_wjth nn*. revolver just as rein-forcen-en-cs-arrived- and that was put in the report that helped mc to get that great honour the King has bestowed on mc. I don't think that anything very great was done by mc, but the credit seemed to be mine, and until this day the trench is ours, aud still will be as long as we have Australians to hold it There are no better fighters in the world. I had the misfortune to have mv revolver shot out of my hand in that .engagement, ani the broken pieces were scattered around my knuckles. That and a bad -attack--of—gastro-enteritis--is the cause of myrbeing in England today. We had a muster on the day before I left tlie Peninsula. Of the" men who had been there from the start I was one of six, so that I think that I must really have been very lucky. I am" having a most enjoyable time in England, but it is not like home.