BACK FROM THE WAR.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 66, 17 March 1916, Page 6

BACK FROM THE WAR.

INVALID SOLDIERS RETURN. SOME HAIRBREADTH ESCAPES. | A TORPEDOED TRANSPORT. ((Special to "Star.") WELLINGTON, Thursday. Having spent several months recuperating. 129 wounded invalided soldiers returned on the Arawa to-day. They bore little signs of their hardships, though one officer has loet the power of speech, and some crutches were seen, the owners answering cheerfully to the nickname "Happy." All speak highly of the English hospital treatment. The peninsula, they say, was v death-trap. Though disappointed at the evacuation, they asreo that it was the only possible course. Given more men tne place could have been won in the early August fight. , Among the wounded is Sapper Swan, much better known to fame ac "Pedlar rainier." a lightweight champion. He dropped one kind of fighting for another, and bears a permanent mark in a nasty bayonet wound on his cheek. Early in the Uallipoli fight he was wounded by a bullet on the knee-cap. Next he was shot in the cheek, and had to be cent to Alexandria Hospital. THE TORPEDOED TRANSPORT. ■When returning to the front on the ] troopship Southland he encountered : more adventures, the being ; torpedoed 150 miles off Lemnoe. Two torpedoes lired by a submarine missed, but a third hit the etcamer forward. • Fortunately the watertight bulkhead , kept the vessel afloat. The crew refused to work below, and New Zealand anj Australian soldiers stoked the vessel till she was beached. Fifty men jumped i overboard, and several were drowned in i the strong current. The steamer carried a large quantity of money, which was ■ brought on deck and attached to floats,! ready to be thrown overboard if the ship. sack. Swan, getting back to the firing line, was hit in the knee on August 9. A comrade who was helping him away was chot dead through the forehead. Swan has almost completely recovered now, and is bound for the Rotorua convalescent home. "They fixed mc first day of landing," said Private O'Meara. of the 3rd (Auckland) Regiment, "".My trouble was a nerve in the leg severed. English surgery i≤ wonderful. They joined up the severed nerve, and now I'm nearly right." A bullet wound in the shoulder while defending the famous Rhododendron , Ridge was the cause of Corporal Burns' return. He joined other Aucklanders in a chorus of praise for the English hospitals. Corporal Simpson, "who got his discharge from the Medical Board after the! ship's arrival, sustained a bullet -wound j in the head during trench work at Apex! last September. "Both sides were enip-j ing." he said. "I put my head up too' high, and they got mc by an _unlucky! shot in the darkness. I am glad to say I lasted it out on Gallipoli three months before they got mc." Contrary to earlier reports, the Aucklanders did not proceed north toy train. They remained on the Arawa, which left at 5 p.m., and will reach Auckland at imidday on Saturday. •• ■■■ PARTY ARRIVES THIS MOKNDIG. WELCOJIED BY THE MAYOR. MORE DUE TOMORROW. A party of some 2S invalided soldiers, being a portion of the draft which reached Dunedin early this week by a transport from Egypt, arrived at Auckland this morning by the early Main Trunk express. Sixteen other men left the train at" I'r\nkton, some for their homes, and some for special treatment at Eotorua. A good assemblage of relatives and friends gathered at the railway station early this morning to meet j the train- After' they had greeted their i relatives the men were lined up and ad- j dressed by the Mayor (Mr J. H. Uun- i son), who assured them of the wa'm ; feelings of the Auckland citizens to j ward them, and the determination of the ', public to "rive them a warm welcome, i The Motor" Service Corps, under Major ! C. Rhodes, provided some -half dozen, cars, in which the men were conveyed to the hospital (where nine are receiving treatment), or to their homes. The men greatly appreciated the action of a number "of Hamilton people, who mustered on the Frankton platform in the early hours of the morning and i provided the whole contingent with re- I freshments, in addition to assuming charge of the men who had to detrain at that point. Under the new arrangements adopted by Baee Records, no lists of email drafts are issued. The following Auckland names, however, have been extracted from the roll of the troopship toy which the men arrived, and form an approximately correct list of thoee who reached Auckland this morning:— ARTILLERY. Chas. Wm. Gray—Mrs. C. Gray, Mt. Roskill. Gwillyim Hopkin Jones—Mrs. K. Jones, Dedwood Terrace, Ponsonby. Leslie Roy McGinley—Mrs. Marion Mc(Jinlev, Jervois Road. Robert' W. \V. Stewart—J. Stewart, Arthur Street. Onehunga. . N.Z. MEDICAL CORPS. Thos. Oliver L. Jenkins —T. O. Jenkins, Ahuroa, Kaipara. N.Z. ENGINEERS. Xorman Cosgrove —Norman Cosgrove, 11, Wynyard Street, Devonport. ARMY SERVICE CORPS. Sergeant Edward Chas. Dare —Alfred Dare, 21, Mainukau Road, Newmarket. Wm. Jas. Clark—Margaret Clark, Princes Street VVest, Onehunga. Frederick Geo. Tucker—Mrs. J. Tucker, 3, Burleigh Street. CANTERBURY INFANTRY. Lance-Sergeant Leonard Le Noel —C. T. Le Noel, Matakohe. John Ferdinand Jolly—J. Jolly, Prospect Terrace, Mt. Eden. AUCKLAND INFANTRY. Sergeant WnV. Andrews —A. C. Andrewß, Ardmore Road, Ponsonby. Peter Brady—Mrs D. B. Brady, Church Street, Onehunea. Theodore Ilaultara—Capt. Haultain, Northern S.S. Co. Arnold Rodney Webster—Joseph WebBter, WMtford. OTAGO INFANTRY. Wm. George J. Richardson —Miae Ivy Richardson, Grange Boad, Mount Eden. WELLINGTON INFANTRY. Frank Mahoney—Mrs Ellen. Kelly, Robert StrecJ, EUerslie. Charles Scown—W. Scown, Tauranga.

AUCKLAND M.R. Corporal Walter Edward Riddell—Mrs J. C. Riddell, Pa.pa.moa, Bay of Plenty. Geo. Reeve Bettelheim—Joseph J. Bettelheim, Tauranga. Allan Eric Broderiok—Mre H. W. Broderiok, Te Teko. [Allan Brown —Alexander Brown, Dexter Avenue,-Mount Roskilt. Patrick Allen Finn—Mrs A. A. Finn, Clevedon South. Joee-ph Jas. Pennell —Geo. Pennell, Waikaraka, Whangarei. WELLINGTON M.R. Alexander Coutts Kerr—J. Kerr, Papain ra. DIVISIONAL TRAIN. Lance-Corporal Leonard Rosser —Wm. Rosser, Mountain Road, Mount Eden. DIVISIONAL HEADQUARTERS STAFF. Arthur Sherwood—Mrs G. Sherwood, 18, York Street, Newton. I N.Z. RIFLE BRIGADE. Geo. O'Connor—Mrs Annie J. O'Connor, 05, Hepburn Street, Ponsonby. MEDICAL ORDERLY. Corporal Alfred Barrell Jameson—Frank Jameson. Pakuranga. (Returning to complete medical studies.) ARAWA'S ARRIVAL. WELCOME ON THE WHARF. DUE ABOUT MIDDAY. The Shaw-Savill liner Arawa, whose passengers include a number of wounded and convalescent New Zealand soldiers from England, is expected to arrive between 10 and noon to-morrow. The men will be welcomed home on the wharf by the Mayor and other representative citizens, while members of the Women's Patriotic League arc prepared to have ready light refreshments if they jare needed. At present, however, the i time of the boat's arrival is not dc- ' finitely known. The welcome will take I place as 6oon as the men land, and the i Mayor is in communication with the De--1 fence Department with regard to the i arrangements to be made. The following is an approximately complete list of the men in the draft: — AUCKLAND INFANTRY. Major Wilfred Courtney Sinel — T. B. Sinel, 5, Queen's wharf. Corpl. William Saxon Burns—Wm. P. Burns, New Street, Newmarket. William Martin Brooks—Mrs. Nellie Stevens. Brisbane, Queensland. James Sidney Halton—Jame3 Halton, Bolton, Lancashire, England. Henry Edward O'Meara —Henry O'Meara, Church Street. • Leonard Robertehaw —F. J. Robertshaw, Strand. Takapuna. Robert Albien Aubrey—Mrs. Burne, Railway Street, Otahuhu. Wililam Young—William Young, Puriri, Murdoch Finlayson—Mrs. A. Finlayson, ! Maungaturoto. jClias. Fredk. Jones—Mrs. A. W. Jones, j Dargaville. Edwin' Battersby—L. Battersby, Mititai, i Northern Wairoa. J Harold Kenworthy—Ralph Ken orthy, sen., Houhora. Harry Passficld—Ernest Passfield, Kati Kati. Arthur J. T. Simpeon—Sybil Simpson, Whangapoua. ■ Wm. Sharplin—Mrs. H. Sharplin, Tau--1 ranga. ~ WELLINGTON "rNFANTRY. Sergeant Athol Courtney Forbes—Mrs. A. M. Forbes, Brighton, Hamilton. Sergeant H. Ohignell—C. Chignell, 99, Karangahape Road. AUCKLAND MOUNTED RIFLES. Major Ferdinand August Wood—Nina Kathleen Wood, Devonport. Lieutenant Gavin Melville Abbot—Thos. Abbot, AVaioka, Opotiki. Lovelace Francis Biggwithcr—Fredk. Biggwither, Public Works Department. Arthur Wilfred Lewis — Mrs. A. G Lewis, Suva. FIELD ARTILLERY. Eric Owen Pierce—Mrs. Lloyd Allen, Sydney. ENGINEERS. Frank Graham—Thomas Graham, Ray- ' ensboume, Dunedin. i i Alfred Swan—Miss J. Lewis, England. j MAORI CONTINGENT. ! Manuera Marsh—Robert T. Marsh, j Wbangape. I Rewi Tapihana — N'gafcai Retireti, i Maketu. ! Roy Devon.—Chas. Devon, Maketu. J By a mistake in the original official list, the name of Lieutenant Sydney Percival Abbott (Otago M.R.) was inserted in place of that of Lieutcnan£ G. M. Abbot; the mistake has since been officially corrected. Gunner Pierce is a hospital case, and Lieutenant Sinel and Sappers Graham I and Swan will receive treatment at i Rotorua.