DICK TRAVIS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18380, 21 April 1923, Page 1 (Supplement)

DICK TRAVIS.

BT D.C.H.

A DARING SOLDIER. .

I met Dick Travis (Richard Cornelius Savage) when the N.Z. Division was holding the line in the Reutel Sector, in front of Ypres., It was said that he first came into prominence by stowing away from Egypt on to Gallipoli. In thoso days he was in the A.S.C., and his companions declared that he was court-martialled for using firearms against the enemy without permission! Many a time later he used them effectively and with the fullest possible sanction! In 1917, he was sent over to Sling, in England, ostensibly for a tour of duty, in reality to give him a rest. He came back at a time when existence was very drab indeed. Probably during the whole war there was no period when the morale of the Division was lower. In these circumstances Dick's return acted like an inspiration. He had a marvellous capacity for giving other men confidence. His immediate associates, the snipers, worshipped him. If it be true that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Dick was- a much-flattered man. They copied even,his idiosyncrasies. When Dick adopted a balaclava ' for general use, because he believed it less liable to detection than a tin hat. they all wore balaclavas. If Travis went armed with two revolvers, Hun manufacture, strapped in front in a particular way, the snipers did not feel that they were properly equipped until they were similarly weaponed.

Although he was a man apart everyone liked him. He never put on the superior old-timer air to new men. He had a peculiar position in the battalion. Nominally he was a sergeant in Eighth Company, but he roamed a good deal. Officers treated him as an equal. Yet he never traded upon this unique relationship. He generally addressed officers as " sir," and did not forget to salute. It is true that his salute was never a very gorgeous affair and, indeed, none of the outer forms of the soldier sat gracefully upon him. ' Almost every new commanding officer, on taking over the battalion, made the attempt to reform Dick's appearance. He sympathised with their efforts and, for a while, he would appear all dressed up in a new uniform, including a new hat, with a very new looking pugaree, but sooner or later the old grey balaclava came back and claimed its own place on the side of head, the barbwire at night, out on No Man's Land, wrought sad havoc with the new uniform, and the I CO. sighing, gave him up. Saved Scores of Lives. Of all his doings probably the most outstanding were his daylight raids. In that way alone he saved scores of lives. His raids were simply paralysing in their daring. Generally when the Colonel sent for Dick, it was known that something was in the wind. The snipers had unbounded confidence that he could pull off anything that he undertook. , Once- at the council table, when a proposed raid was being discussed, one of them was heard to say, ; "Let Dick arrange it. sir, and it will be all right."; „.!__„_ . 'He had no fear, and yet he was not foolishly rash. When going out on a daylight raid he would plan carefully every detail and leave nothing to chance. Each man in his party knew what was expected of him during the raid in any one of a great variety of circumstances which might arise. In the science of visible and invisible backgrounds, in the knowledge of what was and what was not adequate cover, he was an expert. He seemed to have an almost uncanny insight into the German habit of mind, for -again ' and again events would turn out exactly as he had anticipated. But when : circumstances that he had not foreseen did arise his judgment was rapid and correct, and his action unfaltering. Travis was not a very good shot, but at close quarters, when the case was desperate, he did not miss. Like another great New Zealander, General Freyberg, Travis seemed to be able to .think more clearly and to act more brilliantly when in great danger than at any other time. "/ « * A Typical Bald. Let }me outline a typical raid. The one chosen took place from Hebuterne. For some time identification i had been urgently required, and the battalion in the line had not been able to lay hands ton their quarry. The 2nd Otago Battalion was in support about 1000 yards behind the line, when Dick and three companions went' out on their quest. . They started off at 7 o'clock on a summer evening, in clear daylight- To get to their objective they crossed over into the "Tommy*' sector next ours and crawled down an old C.T. Travis knew exactly where he was going, for in the night watches he had been in that vicinity before. When lie arrived at the German " bivvy," seven men were busy at a game of cards. They were ;, astonished when the dangerous end of two revolvers, with a particularly significant pair of eyes behind them, disturbed the - play. One man, who showed signs of resistance, there and then ended his earthly pilgrimage. The other six " kamaraded." On the return journey, which had to be : accomplished rapidly across "No Man Land." Dick took up the dangerous position at the rear of the 'column.. Twice bullets rom( the German (trench whizzed past him, and each time hit one of the prisoners. That was the kind of tb*"" which made men think that Travis had a charmed life and that he would never be killed. At ten nast eight, an hour and ten minutes from the time they set out, and still in broad daylight, four Huns, now wearing balaclavas, and four snipers, wearing German caps, all eight oh excellent terms, having finished their smoke, arrived at battalion headquarters. He had secured the required identification.

The last time I saw Travis alive, was just before the stunt" began in front of that Rossignol Wood. He came safely through all the adventures of that exciting advance, bi.t the next morning he was hit by a shell when standing in the new front line. He had previously received almost every possible decoration, except the V.C. That final badge, of courage, was awarded posthumously, although the men of his own battalion were certain that he had earned it more than once before.

The night of his death the battalion was relieved, and although the men were absolutely exhausted they insisted on carrying his body right out of the shellfire area and away back to Couin. On the following evening he was accorded the rare honour in those days of a full military funeral. The Presbyterian chaplain attached to the battalion conducted the service. Travis was not a Presbyterian, but there was a fine friendliness among the chaplains and generally the- men liked to have their own padre at the grave of their mates, irrespective of denomination. With strangely subdued feelings, not only the whole of his own battalion, but also many men from other units, billeted in that area, kept step to the solemn strains of the Dead March as they climbed the hill to the military cemetery. There seemed something even appropriate in the perfect deluge of rain that poured down as we laid him in the resting place where he lies with his friend, Lieut. Charles Kerse, killed by the same shell. Gladly did he live and gladly die, and he laid him down with a will, ' . . ,;( ; -. :^(;>.''^(/v.(; v-.,7("-' ■