BRITISH SOLDIER POET

Hawera Star, Volume L, 8 April 1931, Page 9

BRITISH SOLDIER POET

FAMOUS HUBERT BROOKE

BURIAL AT SKYROS.

At the outbreak of the war in 1914 Rupert Brooke the British soldier poet (to whom a memorial has just been erected in the Greek is and of Skyios) joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, and was posted to the Royal Naval Division as a sub-lieutenant. In February, 1915, Rupert Brooke s battalion formed part of a special expedition to the Dardenelles to co-operate with the navy in its attempt to force the Narrows and threaten Constantinople, an operation which was attempt, ed on March 14 and ended m failure, and so led to the attack on Gallipoli, with which we are all familiar. Alter this failure the R. N. D. formed part of the large army, comprising British, Australian, New Zealand and Frenc i forces concentrated in Egypt, under the command of ’Sir lan Hamilton, for the purpose of being organised for the subsequent attack on Gallipoli in cooperation with British, French awd Russian men-o’-war. As soon as the various portions or this force had completely their organisation they were dispatched under the escort to various islands in the Aegean in readiness for the battle of the landing. The 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, liis courage and his love for the men in the ranks by preferring to remain with his unit in the field rather than accept a staff appointment at the base offered him by the commonder-in-chief, who saw in his literary genius an opportunity for turning it to greater advantage in some special form of _ staff work. On 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 to by Sir lan Hamilton as not only a loss to the army by to the nation.

The island of iSkyros 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 the land at that time had not adA*anced from those used 1000 years ago. A Avooden 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 uniiiteresting island that the G.O.C. General Paris, decided the 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 AA r as experienced in deciding upon a suitable resting place for Rupert Brooke’s last resting place, which is was then not realised was to be immortalised by his o-wn words: “If I should ever die, think only this of me: That there’s some corner of a common field that is for CA r er England.” The spot, selected aatis at the head of the valley, a feAV hundred yards from the .beach, where, under the olive trees, the grave Avas dug and the funeral subsequently carried out after dark. The funeral pai'ty, consisted of his brother officers and a feAA r men of his unit, came ashore in the ship’s boats, and the solemn procession Avended its way up the trackness A r alley, 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 oa t c of a great battle seemed to convey to their minds more than the usual solemnity and sadness.