MEMORY OF FALLEN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19806, 29 November 1927, Page 8

MEMORY OF FALLEN.

THE NORFOLK REGIMENT. VERY TOUCHING CEREMONY. ALTAR OF REMEMBRANCE. UNVEILING BY A VETERAN. [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. J II LOiNDON. Oct. 19 A veteran soldier of Norwich unveiled the memorial which the city has raised to her men killed in the war. He was a private in the Norfolk Regiment through the four long years of war. and no special medals' or other awards of valour fell to his lot. Only the desperate wounds which he received at the second Battle of Gaza arid long hours of suffering out on the plains of Palestine distinguish him from the comrades from whose ranks he was chosen. The service ol dedication was simple in form, yet ot overwhelming grandeur. The Bishop of Norwich, id scarlet robes and surplice of white lawn, attended by clergy of all denominations, was the first to take his place. Then came Private B. A. Withers, the disabled soldier who was to perform the unveiling, locked arm in arm with General Sir ian Hamilton, and supporting himself on the other side with a walking stick. When the first hymn had been sung and the prayers said, Sir lan Hamilton introduced the disabled soldier to the crowds stretching away before him "To unveil her altar,' ho said, "Norwich has chosen by lot a disabled soldier, and by 60 doing has established a closer liaison between the armies of the living and the armies of the dead than she could have attained had she entrusted the sacred duty to any divine, statesman, or general, however famous. "Almost your disaoled soldier had joined the army of the dead. 11 was a matter of the last gasp. He was ready to go—almost gone —and yet war, the best recruiting sergeant of that army, left him behind. To me he remains a symbol—a symbol of our splendid infantry; one who fought in those desperate battles at the far-off Dardanelles, and whose blood was shod not in vain at Gaza m the Holy Land —the human soul which suffers yet carries on. Here stands the disabled soldier His orders are 'Unveil!' " It was a tense minute of silence broken by many a stifled sob and nervous cough as Private Withers, this ambassador ol the dead, dressed in a plain blue suit, limped to the steps of the memorial and pulled the golden cord to loose the flaga jvhich shrouded it "in the name of my comrades 1 unveil this memorial to the glory of God and in memory of the men and women of Norwich who gave their lives in the Great iWar. . Fires of remembrance fiamed from the golden flambeaux as the soldier spoke, and the city flags broke from the masthead on the Guildhall