BATTLE MEMORIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13730, 22 April 1908, Page 4

BATTLE MEMORIES.

THE BOOM OF THE GUN. TALES OF FAMOUS FIGHTS. VETERAN'S REMINISCENCES. It was the Easter manoeuvres that did it. The occasional booming of a big gun, reverberating on the air waves intervening, came faintly to the ears of SergeantMajor David Dun lop and a Herald representative as the two sat "yarning" in the library of the Veterans' Home, at Epsom. The stalwart graybeard, well set up and vigorous still, in spite of his 74 years, and his long term of active service with the famous Black Watch (the 42nd Highlanders), had been introduced by Commander Archer, who had courteously also placed 'at the pressman's disposal the record of the old soldier's military career. SeVgeant-Majoi Dtlttlop had been playing billiards, and, indeed, was then due to meet another doughty wielder of the cue, but he had willingly yielded to the - interviewer's desire that he should postpone his game. It was not easy to draw him. There came a gleam of pride into the bright old eyes as the pressman, by way of preliminary, read aloud from his records some of the things he had done, some of the fights he had fought, And then the distant gun boomed, and the ice was broken. "Reminds you of old times, eh?" queried the scribe, with a nod of the head Takapunawards. The veteran peered out into the sweeping drizzle, and the mist beyond, and a, look of half condescension, half scorn, crept into his seared and wrinkled face. THE WAY THEY DID THINGS THEN. , : .; "Humph," lie said, unconsciously straightening himself in his arm-chair, ; "if you had heard the bombardment of SebastapoJ, like I did, you'd ha' thought I the end of the world had come. How many guns do you think there were there? Come now," and lie looked at Ins visitor piercingly. The blood of the old warhorse was warming. ''No idea. Several hundred?" "There; Were 1500 guns at work. The Russians had 800, and the French and us had 700. If you had heard them guns opening fire —!" and he shrugged his shoulders, contemptuously maybe, and looked again out into the driving rain. A man of many medals, this. One for the Crimea, with a clasp for the battle of Alma : one for Sebastopol; the Turkish medal; one for the Indian Mutiny, with a decoration, too, for Lucknow ; and another for the New Zealand war. It was a treat to listen to him. '"By gad," he sa.id, suddenly, with a flash of flic eye, "you'll not Sprint all this?" He told of Alma, displaying now and throughout the remainder of the interview a, remarkable memory for dates, told how the first shot was fired by the Russians on the heights at half-past one, and how, through shot and shell, his regiment advanced till at twenty minutes past five the Russians were in full retreat. His sensations in this, his first action? By gad, he vowed, he had none. " Fear is not a thing that comes into a man's head at such a time/' he said. "When a man has not been' in an engagement before he is not sure of himself nor of the others. That's all I know. At Alma we went up that hill under the fire of big guns. They poured all kinds of fire on to usgrape, ' canister, and musketry. However, we got underneath their fire, and they could not touch us. The nature of the ground covered us till we showed up at the top of the first terrace. On the wav up we passed a brigade of the light division. They had suffered terribly, and were badly cut up.. We were luckier. Our commanding officer marched us right up the heights, and I don't know how far we would have "gone if' the Russians hadn't broken."

SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL. "Ever wounded?" "Hit at Sejjastopol. But, by gad, you don't want to hear about that. You do,' eh? Oh, we'll, I was in a working party in one of the trencheson July 10, 1855, it was—about 180 yds from the redan. It was night, of coarse.' As soon as the Russians heard us they opened fire-with everything they could. You've seen a hand grenade'' Well, they bad no big guns, only a lot of little ones, and 'mortars. They kept dropping haudfuls of these grenades in amongst us. 011 1 tislft't think a man was killed every time. "No fear. All the same, it was warm. I was hit in the hand. I don't know what bit me, but I was put out of action and had five weeks in hospital." '• Hard hick." "Ob, aye," raising his band anil looking remiuiscently at the scar upon it. Then a mental picture of the capture of Balaclava forts whs formed on the film of the veteran's memory, and he repainted it in words. He related how the brigade of (Jiiafds and his own regiment wont up and took the forts Without the loss of a man. When they got there the Russians had cleared. Then followed an account of four days of grape-eating in the deserted valtey. "Sebastopol was first invested" he went on. "on October 1. We worked on the trenches until October 17. Remember, all our siege guns had to be drawn up by men. Then the bombardment- began. . Our regiment (the 42nd Highlanders) was in great spirits. Our Lancaster guns were going to blow the Russians to atoms, we thought. It was going to be dead easy. Well, after we had banged at them for seven days all our ammunition was gone. The Russians .were making batteries all the time, and had five times as many as us. However, on October 25 the Russians made a dash for Balaclava, and our regiment was one of those ordered down to the harbour front. We just got down after the charge of the Light Brigade, in time to see the Tnniskillens and Scots Greys coming in from covering their retreat." AFTER LUCKNOW. The sergeant-major had a good " yarn" to spin also about the Indian Mutiny, the siege, of Lucknow, and many other- historical combats. " About a month after Lucknow," lie went on, " I. was in the battle of Eaerilly. The Highlanders were advancing in echelon. The rebels had cleared and we were feeling our way, with the 4th Punjabs skirmishing. It was hot enough to make a kaffir faint, All at once"— the old eyes flashed at this memory there was ft rush as of 10,000 horses. The ground was. as hard as this table"down came a might fist on the board. "What was this but. the 4th Pun j aha running like blazes, and 125—0r Was it 135? rebels after them. Well, in far less time than it takes to tell you, not one of those rebels was living." "What was the tightest corner you were ever in?" " The last time I was engaged in India. After the downfall of Lucknow and other places the rebels scattered, and columns were put out to root them out. We were sent to a. position on the river Groga to keep them from crossing into country that was free of rebels. We were only 65 Europeans, with a squadron of native cavalry and ' two columns of native militia*. We had to guard three fords, and furnished 20 Europeans for each of 'the other two, 25 of us remaining at the camp ford. On the night of January 14, 1859, a strong body of rebels, about 2000 or 3000 strong, passed between us and the first picket. There were enough of them to eat us. Our picket being cut off, we had no support at all, but we went and faced them in a skirmish. We were in the open and they were in the jungle. The fight began early in the afternoon, and we managed to keep them at bay until two companies from headquarters came up. That was half-past eight at night, by which time not a gun amongst us would go off. They were all choked. We had collected together and given up hope. We could do no more. It was a 'grand sound when we heard the order behind us to 'front form,' and realised that our comrades had come." The booming of the guns across the Waitemata had done, more than servo their purpose in the, mimic warfare. They h*id unloosed a hero's' memories— gallant soldier of silver hair and glorious past.