WAR HERO

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 45, 23 February 1942, Page 6

WAR HERO

DICK TRAVIS' PAL

DEATH OF "STARKIE"

James Douglas Stark, bomber in the Fifth Regiment, New Zealand Expeditionary Force during the Great War, brave enough to have been recommended for the Victoria Cross, reckless enough to have served imprisonment, tough enough to have escaped from Le Havre prison, wounded in 37 places, died last night in the Auckland Hospital, aged 42, after a week's illness. He leaves a wife and two children.

"Starkie" is a name that during the war became famous throughout the army. His exploits and reckless courage made him one of the most dangerous of the devil-may-care spirits that roamed in "no "man's land." He was a friend of the famous Dick Travis, V.C., and was himself recommended on six occasions for decorations. V.C. Recommendation After being twice wounded in Egypt and Gallipoli Starkie went to France and it was there that he achieved his reputation as a fierce and courageous individual fighter. On September 15, 1916, he was recommended for the V.C. The story is told graphically in the late Robin Hyde's "Passport to Hell." It is the story of a raid by the Otagos, when Starkie carried 20 of the wounded in on his back.

Held Up Attack It was about a year later when he was recommended by the Black Watch for the D.C.M. In Goose Alley the Black Watch had only a handful of men left after a sweeping German attack. Starkie and a friend in arms, Arthur Kelliher, crawled into an isolated trench and throughout a hectic day held up the German attack. A party of six men took turns in feeding them with bombs, these being thrown into the isolated trench, caught, and lobbed into the German lines with disastrous results Starkie performed many astonishing feats in No Man's Land, some of them being described as "sheer* lunacy." With Sergeant Travis he went on many forays into enemy territory. They would meet out between the trenches for a tot or two of rum and would then go forth into the darkness alone. One of his most Maillet, when he appeared ,in No Man's Land when he was supposed man's land when he was supposed to be serving a term of two years in Le Havre prison for assaulting a corporal. A German sniper using explosive bullets had killed eight men, but he was stalked by the New Zealander and bombed 600 yards from the British lines. But first he put a bullet through Starkie's chest. Another memorable occasion was when Starkie unofficially attached himself to a raiding party, going out ahead and cleaning up the objective himself and waiting in a shell hole with 11 dead, six prisoners and two captured machine-guns until the raiding party came up. When the Armistice was signed in 1918 he was in hospital with 22 wounds.