THE IRISH AT THE DARDANELLES

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2618, 13 November 1915, Page 9

THE IRISH AT THE DARDANELLES

An Irish officer, a Connaught man, in a letter to Mr. J. R. Kelly, K.C., which has. been printed in the "Freeman's Journal," writes giving an account of rccent fighting in the Dardanelles:—

"I am someVhere iu Turkey—at least, they, tell me ; it is Turkey; it might be ono of the summer resorts for tho inhabitants of Hades—and. have been having a rough time. Tho casualty lists from here since August Jwill convey more to your mina than pages' of a' letter from me. Wo met with a, terribly hot reception we arrived here to force a- new 'anding. Shot and shell rained on us from tlio shore .and aeroplanes dropped, bombs all around us. The oldest soldiers amongst us that day said he had seen war in all its horrors, but he had never evon dreamt of anything so terriblo as tluit landing.' Our naval guns did splendid work that day. After a continuous duel lasting from about 4 a.m. till far into the afternoon our big guns triumphed, and the Turk had to push back. , During all these dreadful hours wo were pouring into small boats and wading for tho shore. It wa-s dangerous work, and many a poor, fellow left tho ship's sido but novcr reached the beach, and then —up that shingly beach strewn with dead and dying, dashing through a hail of lead: and steel, whilst the. thunder of the guns' and tho bursting of tho shrapnel turned the place into a real inferno. Well, thank God, I lived through it all, but all tho poor Irish boys who found a grave- on that shore—we wore all Irish—-the like never was on earth 1 If Irish soldiers never fired another.shot, their doings in this .country since they landed' would, bo sufficient to earn for them a fame equal to, if not greater than, that which their ancestors won in tho past. English, Scotch, and colonial all unite in their praise. 'Tho Irish are great,' you hear on all sidos. Truly they are great to fight and greater still to.die! I havo looked upon poor Catholic soldiers dying, here on tho battlefield,, and havo felt prouder than ever I; felt before —proud of being, a Catholic and proud of being an Irishman."