FORGOTTEN MEN
"Orders Is Orders" I wonder if any men on active service in France will be as lucky (or as artful) as two in the 1914-18 war? writes a columnist in a British exchange. It was Sir Ccdrie Hardwickc who told me about them. As an ollicer in the Northumberland Fusiliers he was on duty at Havre after the Armistice when two men reported to him for demobilisation. He discovered they hud been posted as deserters since 1014. It transpired that on arrival with the original Expeditionary Force thev had been put in charge" of a rifle range. Their battalion had suddenly been rushed to Ypres, they had been overlooked, left behind. They stuck to their rifle .range, ran a small canteen, on which they lived. Nobody bothered to ask why they were there and they had never asked for their pay. seeing that they had obeyed orders that had never been cancelled, they could not be treated as deserters. So they were presented with four .years' pay, plus gratuity; were sent 'home without a stain on their characters!
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Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 70, 23 March 1940, Page 6 (Supplement)
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180FORGOTTEN MEN Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 70, 23 March 1940, Page 6 (Supplement)
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