ADVENTURE OF WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20622, 22 July 1930, Page 9

ADVENTURE OF WAR.

SERGEANT DIOK TRAVIS,

MAN WHO KNEW NO FEAR

DARING SCOUT AND FIGHTER. An unlisted anniversary, but one. that revives inspiring memories of the N.Z.E.F., falls this week, the deatli by a stray shell on July 25, 1918, of Sergeant " Dick " Travis, Y.C., D.0.M., M.M., Croix tie Guerre (Beige). The ironical gods that watched the nations fighting must have laughed when they saw that stray, a shell loosed into the blue away from its proper target by a careless German gutiuer, fall on to the spot where there was standing the man who knew no fear, who had looked death full in the eyes a hundred times and more and who cared less than a snap of the fingers for any party of the enemy. Had Travis been a second or two earlier or later in reaching the fatal spot, had the. shell struck a yard in front or behind—but such is the chance of war. It was as " Dick Travis " that he was known throughout the division and the familiar manner of address suggests the man he was. Of drill and parade ground work he knew little, nor could he be taught. Nominally he was attached to the Bth (Southland) Company of the 2nd Battalion, Otago Regiment, whoso badges and distinguishing tunic patch he wore, but in billets and in the line he ate and J slept where appetite and fatigue found him. Missing From Parade. On pay day any company commander of the battalion would place his name on the acquittance roll. Once, when he was required to parade before Sir -Alexander Godley to receive his military medal, a fruitless search of the battalion and of the trenches about to be taken over was made for him. Instead of resting in billets "Dick'' had "lorry-hopped" from Bac St. Maur back to Armentieres, and was initiating the newly-arrived 3rd Australian Division into the mysteries of no man's land in front of Ilouplines.

It Mas in the Houplines sector before t lie division went down to the Somme in 1916 that Travis became greater than a battalion scout and attracted to himself a little band of daredevils whose work justified the unofficial confirmation of the same privileges of wandering about that he enjoyed. With these fellows, he made no man's land a misnomer. An enemy patrol or a wiring party outside the German line was a piece of impertinence that must be corrected on the spot. Hence down the line would be passed the word, " Dick Travis and a patrol of six, out from T. 84, working to the left." N'o flares would go up from our line; Lewis guns and rifles would be stilled. Then out of the darkness would come a double boom and perhaps a few shots. Travis and his patrol had located the enemy and started a row. A One-man Job.

Later he would supply a report, but it would be from one of the others that the real story would bo obtained. Then it wotjld be found that after much whispering in a shell hole and threats by Travis to " knock their heads off" or appeals to reason, the remaining men had been disposed as a covering party while Travis alone crept forward and threw the bombs. It was not selfishness on liis part, hut practical knowledge of the fact that one man would be able to crawl to bombing distance unobserved where half-a-dozen in the breathless stillness of no man's land would make a noise akin to that of Piccadilly. " Dick " had early learnt this lesson. Jle once conceived the idea that he coultl give the Germans a nasty jolt if he could blow up a machine-gun post without warning and he proposed that he should be allowed to use a dulied bayonet io bore a hole under a concrete, base, insert a plug of gelignite, fix detonator and fuse and then crawl back to our line, where he would take a box seat to enjoy the fireworks. Although it seemed ridiculous to believe that the gelignite could be placed in position while ihe sentry was only a foot, or two away, Travis was certain he could do it, and at last was given permission to try. However, his best men insisted on going with him, so did a company commander, and someone else in authority decreed that only an engineer could handle the explosive. The foray was not. a success, for the inevitable noise of half a dozen men creeping through grass and wire aroused the enemy, who opened a hot fire. Locating Enemy Posts.

Travis' method of locating enemy posts was simple in the extreme. By himself or with some of his men-at-arms he would go out and look at the suspected position, and if the enemy failed to disclose himself he sot about drawing fire. This was usually accomplished by throwing a bomb and then noting the places from which the a]armed Germans sent up flares or opened fire with rifles. Such information when an attack was contemplated was vital, but there were many occasions when a spirit of devilment provided the motive for an excursion into the enemy line. In the neighbourhood of lleutel, a destroyed village on a hillside beyond the Butte do Polygon it was suspected that the Germans had a. post near an abandoned tank, in close proximity to a pillbox. Rifle grenades and other offensive action failed to make the enemy disclose himself.

Travis collected his band for a daylight reconnaissance. All known German posts in the locality were placed under cover of rifles and Lewis guns, for, however daring Travis might be when he established contact with the enemy, he never knowingly allowed himself to he an easy mark for a sniper. Otago men who witnessed the show still laugh when they recall it. Jumping from shell hole to shell hole, the scouts were soon near the pillbox. In the best motion-picture style the sentry raised his hand as if to make sure that his eyes were not deceiving him, and then calling out, doubled along his small trench to summon his comrades. A few paces and he dropped with a bullet through his head. Others manned the trench, but one remained in the pillbox to fire alarm flares through the ventilator. More lire from the Otago lino stopped further hostile action and Travis and his men returned with the definite information that only the pillbox was occupied. A few nights later it was mopped up. Presence an Inspiration.

In hot comers (lie confidence engendered l>y Travis' simple presence was sometimes worth more than many men. It is probable that he had never heard of the Napoleonic maxim, "march to the sound of the guns," but n disturbance anywhere in the sector was like a magnet to him. How he managed to pass scatheless through enemy barrages no one could say. Many a newly-joined officer or newlypromoted sergeant was initiated into his job by Travis and learned from him that the enemy could be beaten if he was assaulted rigorously enough. He taught while at the same time suggesting by his acts that he took it for granted that Ins pupil already knew what was to be learned. It is doubtful whether he appreciated the significance of his decorations, for that which ho did lie counted merely as something which under the given circumstances must be done. "Dick" Travis' end came the day after he had cleaned up. single-handed, machine guns and bombing posts which were jeopardising the success of an attack. He was buried in a little cemetery above Couin, the one "other rank" of the division to be given a full military funeral with attending officers of all rank" on the battlefield.