TO RUPERT BROOKE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 81, 7 April 1931, Page 7

TO RUPERT BROOKE.

MEMORIAL IN GREECE.

LONDON, April 0,

"To Rupert Brooke, noble friend of Greece, and his immortal poetry," is the inscription at the base of a nude statue of Brooke, erected by means of international subscriptions, which was unveiled to-day with simple ceremony at the island of Skyros. There were present international writers and poets. Professor Lascelles Abercrombie had previously recited one of Brooked poems over the poet's grave.

At the outbreak of war in 1914 Rupert Brooke joined the Royal Naval \olunteer Reserve, and was posted to the Koya.. Naval Division as a sub-lieutenant. In February, 1915, Rupert Brooke s battalion formed part of a special expedition to tne Dardenelles' to co-operate with the navy in its attempt to force the is arrows and threaten Constantinople, an operation which was attempted on March 14 and ended in failure, and so led 'to the attack on Gallipoli, with which we are all familiar After this failure the R.N.D. formed part of the large army, comprising British, Australian,.. New Zealand and French forces concentrated, in Egypt, under the command of Sir, lan Hamilton,' for the purpose of being for the subsequent attack on. Gallipoli in co-opera-tion with British, French and Russian men-o'-war. v

As soon as the various portions of this force <>■ had completed their organisation they were dispatched under escort to various islands in the Aegean in readiness for the battle of the landing. _ ihe rendezvous for Rupert Brooke's division the R.N.D. —was the island of Skyros, where its fleet of ten transports and three warships arrived on April 16. Rupert Brooke showed his high sense of duty, his courage and his love for the men in the ranks by his preferring to remain with his unit in the field rather than accept a staff appointment at the base offered him by the commander-in-cluet, who saw in his literary genius an opportunity for turning it to greater advantage in some special form of staff work. Un April 22, while still on board ship in the harbour of Skyros, Brooke contracted septicaemea through an abrasion on the lip His illness was of short duration, and he died on the following day, only two days prior to the landing. His death was specially referred by Sir lan Hamilton as not only a loss to the army but to the nation.

The island of Skyros is a dull and very uninteresting spot, occupied by a few Greek peasants, who are content to live in the past and not advance with the times. Their methods of cultivating tne land at tliat time had not advanced from those used 1000 years ago. A wooden plough drawn by two under-sized oxen driven by a peasant with a long pole to prod the beasts of burden were the most up to date methods of tilling the soil. It was on this unprogressive and uninteresting island that the G.0.C.. General Paris, decided to bury the young British soldier poet rather than bury him at sea.

It fell to the lot of Sir George Richardson to make the general arrangements for the burial. Difficulty was experienced in deciding upon a suitable spot for Rupert' Brooke's last resting place, which it was then not realised was to be immortalised by his own words: "If I should ever die, think only this of me: That there's some corner of a common field that is for ever England." The spot selected was at the head of the valley, a few hundred yards from the beach, where, under olive trees, the grave was dug and the funeral subsequently carried out after dark. The funeral party, comprising hie brother officers and a few men of his unit, came ashore in the ship's boats, and the solemn procession wended its way up the trackless valley, the body, in a simple wooden coffin, being borne by Rupert Brooke's comrades. Although those present had participated in many funerals on the battlefield, this particular ceremony on the eve of a. great battle seemed to convey to their minds mors than the usual land sadnew. <