RELEASED FROM GERMAN PRISON CAMPS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 58, 1 December 1917, Page 11

RELEASED FROM GERMAN PRISON CAMPS

MEN WELCOMED BY THE KING.

Tho King recently sent the following message to' lepatriated l officers and soldiers on their roturn from Germany:

The Queen and I offer you a hearty welcome back to tho Old Country, for whose honour and safety your duty has been nobly done. During these long months our thoughts have been constantly with you, and we trust that the good'cheer and happiness of home life among your relatives and friends may help to heal wounds and obscure memories of all you have suffered. GEORGE R.t

When the second batch of repatriated prisoners arrived at Waterloo only a low persons were allowed inside the barrier. Many relatives were kept back, among them a 'widow with her little daughter. "My . husband, although over age, has been killed at the front," she said, "and now thoy will not let me Bee my boy after all this long separation." As the train drew iu the men hung out of the windows to catch their first glimpse of their friends. Most of them wore able to walk to the motor-cars in waiting, but a few had to bo carried or wheeled on chairs. The first train brought 24 officers and 146 men. The former included the Earl of Stair, who was welcomed by the Countess. The men wero not allowed to mis with their friends, but were driven straight away amid hearty cheers from the crowd. "There's one song we have barred all along until we were on our way home." said a Highlander, "and that is 'Home, Sweet Home.' " A Welsh sol. dier said: "When wo received Swiss bread or other things from homo some of us would give the German bread to the Russians, who sometimes sold it back to the Germans." "In the streets of Constance," related another man, "the civilian population hit ns with sticks as wo passed along, and it was here the Germans wanted us to sign papers saying how we had been treated .at the various camps. They made out that it was in order that they could remedy anything wrong—but we knew. If we did not sign wo were in danger of not passing for exchange. "Another thing they used to do," said the soldier, "was to get out of ns, if they could, what our occupations were. Our fellows said all kinds of things. One said he was a 'treaole bender,' another a 'watchmaker's striker,' a 'milestone inspector,' a 'bladder blower,' and so on. Germans were absolutely mystified. They had never heard of such things." "I was in Lemborg when Roger Casement came, in and canvassed ns," said a Royal Dublin Fusilier. "We.soon had him shifted put, and told him a few things. As a result, we were all punished."- ,