TENDING THE WOUNDED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16459, 8 February 1917, Page 8

TENDING THE WOUNDED

STRETCHER-BEARERS' WORK. NEW ZEAL-ANDERS' HEROISM. From the Official War Correspondent with the New Zealand Forces. FRANCE, Dec. 1. No account of the fighting on the Romme would be complete without reference to the splendid work dono by the New Zealand Medical Corps. Two thousand yards away was Flers, about which the battle raged for tome time. From there the bearers had' to I carry uphill, over sodden ground, through a fairly heavy barrage of 5.9 high explosive and shrapnel. It was a long and difficult job, but, rain or shine, they never ceased their efforts. In many cases it took six bearers five hours to ■ bring in a wounded man from the relay post 500 yds south 'of Flers. A medical I officer and 12 men were sent out there. ! The post was no sinecure. There it was I that Major Martin and Captain Bogle were killed. I During the whole of the first week the ' Germans kept up their barrage with a j view to preventing transport and troops 1 getting up to Flers; but during the I whole of the fighting not a single man i ever hesitated to go forward when required. "I had to stop them twice," said the doctor who had charge of all ; this forward work. " I went up myself i and had a look at the barrage. I would I not have gone through it myself, so I ' reckoned I should not send my men through it." But as soon as the shelling moderated) away they trotted' as cheerfully as possible. "By Jove," be added, "they were great, those boys!" Good Work in the Field. Some of these bearers worked for 48 hours, some for 72 hours, without sleep, J and with but little food. One, who brought a wounded man right down to Flat Iron Copse, was, at the finish, almost i worse than his patient. Another bearer : was wounded, but went on carrying in I other wounded till wounded a second : time. He was shot in the leg. Later he was shot in the arm, but even then ho I picked up his stretcher and wanted to carry on, and would have done so were • it not for the fact that a doctor ordered : hira away. He 'how proudly wears j the riband' of the Military. Medal. ' Several of the bearers earned MilitaryMedals on the Somme. There are others who found graves there who also earned : them; some who earned them over and j over again. v Time after time they led ' parties through the barrage to look for wounded. V.C.'s have been given for less. Magnificent Achievement. And hero let mo mention a wonderful thing. The big attack started on, v the morning of September 15. On the night of September 17 the colonel sent out 2CO men and one medical officer— Auckland captain—with orders to search for wounded on the ground over which we had advanced. A systematic search of the whole area failed to find a single wounded man left out! On this -particular job the New Zealanders had two men killed and five wounded. Thus the only wounded they brought in "were their own! That ' performance from start "to finish must I surely stand out as one'of the most magnii ficent of its kind ever recorded in a great battle. In spite of heavy casualties every j wounded man had been brought in within 48 hours after the time the first infantry went over the parapet. Not only did the New Zealanders do this in regard to their own men, but they also carried in English wounded as well, and quite a number of these were cleared from our stations.