ARRIVAL AT HOSPITAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16021, 13 September 1915, Page 4

ARRIVAL AT HOSPITAL.

THEIB JOUBNEY'S END. ! TRAVEL-WEARY SOLDIERS. | SCENE IN THE WARDS. * The final stage in five long weeks of travel for some of the men came when the hospital train polled into Newmarket yes-" ,4\ terday afternoon and the sick and wounded soldiers entered waiting ambulances and '■-■''" motor-cars en route for the Auckland 'civ Hospital. -* "•■}

Here an eager crowd had waited since ? .; two o'clock, many who had come, flower-".,...; laden, to visit friends, and • others who ,*" J simply wished to be there for the arrival - ::-> of the wounded soldiers. So when the cars finally swerved into the smooth drive-" :■'. way of the hospital shortly before four m 3 o'clock, a welcoming sight greeted the

home-comers familiar grey building x V with Red Cross flag flying straight,out against clear blue skies, faces clustering at every window, .a band playing. at the., entrance, and men, 'women and children all in their Sunday best crowding the drive"and stairways. • ■ .";"'-- One by one the cars came smoothly to" a';" t stop. The band played the National - Anthem and "Soldiers of the King," but. the waiting crowd gave no sign. The sight of the wounded being lifted from the "■ ambulance with skilled tenderness struck a note too deep for cheering. " " "'£};?-, One by one they limped or were car- ..'- ried inside, save those who could walk alone. The crowd pressed heavily in -■-\ anxiety to get a glimpse of some of the " men who have brought; undying fame to their country; "slowly the sad little procession passed, some of the men with empty sleeves pinned across their breast, some hardly able to walk, some lying *: quietly on their stretchers with white and ~ weary faces, and in the eyes of many of the women there were .tears. It is processions such as this, as well as those which .\». from time to time go marching so bravely '-'.-.V. down Queen Street, which are bringing' the true meaning of war to Auckland homes and hearts. So the men passed inside, out of the beautiful spring afternoon into a hospital :? ward once more, only this 'time there was :; a great differencethe hospital ward meant home, and well-known faces. In the Wards. ''SfS|

Wards No. 1 and 2 were in perfect 7-■% readiness, the latter particularly attract ;.;£ tive, with decoration of red, white and .. blue spring flowers adorning the long - table. At the entrance one of the earlierwounded waited on his crutches, and his ,* friendly greeting to each new arrival, . I " Cheer up, old man !"' brought an answer- :: ing smile to several wan faces. T l *? Then followed the usual busi- -'- ness of getting" the men to bed, and : doctors and nurses worked frith a will, head, hands, and feet, for the- next two . busy hours. The visitors' bell had clanged ~i loudly at four o'clock, but many relatives' : '.' :T i and friends remained to see their soldiers.: And when wounds had been dressed, charts made out, temperatures taken, and. • S. the men tucked snugly into cool, white -"-.■;>■ beds, the longed-for moment came and' J bedside meetings and greetings made tie - •*. wards, for the time being, one of the happiest places in Auckland. Not for »■;-■.»■ moment, however, were the needs of the-->J' men forgotten. As soon as all were >J safely between the sheets, tea was served, and with the tea, an appetising piece of -1 fried fish and bread and butter. " Didn't % know I was so hungry," commented one -,'/} youthful warrior, with a sigh of satisfac- T '; tion, as he surveyed the one small bone .j left on bis plate. "And they've been. ' feeding us all the way up, too!" >j: The Fortunes of War.

Comfortably settled in bed, the majority ""-. of the men were quite willing to talk, and, many and varied were the tales vividly 7" "Vj. told. Quite a, number had had the remarkable experience of being as long as"" 'm three months unscathed in the firing-line,. and then becoming ill. Several had never left- Egypt, and one bad had the singularlybad luck to fall off the train from Cairo .. to Alexandria, en route for Gallipoli. "Not much wonder I got sick'" «*- s j| claimed one ruefully. "The water alone —well, just indescribable. We never had enough and most of what we did have v came all the way from Malta. It was midsummer and there was practically no drinking water at Anzac. There are some ; j wells at I.emnos, about eight hours* dis- Sj j tant, but the supply is only sufficient for ._ I the village people there." _- -« "Yes, they'll be getting lots of rain tat Anzac before longmore than they twant," responded another. " Our men are.: right on the bare hillside and they'll be pretty well washed into the sea when winter sets in properly!" One of the j pleasantest experiences of many of the- ih men was meeting with New Zealand nurses - > and doctors. "We passed the Maheno, f. too, somewhere in the Red Sea," stated/ one soldier. " I missed her, as I was in bed, but there -was great excitement on board." Gradually the groups round the bed- _j; sides thinned and "the busy wards became *;.:- quiet. One by one the visitors went, fall :„-._. onlv one was'left, a mother still talking to her boy. From the floor above, pre- % sently came the sound of soft singing, and -; through dusk and gathering shadows of night the beautiful hymn-tune, "Peace, perfect peace," brought- message of comfort and: sweet, benediction to the war* j wounded men below. . :Sv tt;