WATCHING AND WAITING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22000, 5 January 1935, Page 2 (Supplement)

WATCHING AND WAITING

INCIDENTS OF THE GREAT WAR

COUNTESS HAIG'S MEMORIES

ANXIOUS DAYS AND NIGHTS

" The war has left me with many memories of love, devotion and seltsacrifice." says Countess Haig in an article in the Sunday Chronicle. She proceeds: " Since my husband's death I have tried my best to carry on the great work to which he set his hand —the alleviation of suffering, the relief of those of his men who through no fault of their own have lost their jobs, or are unable through disability to earn a livelihood. This task to me is a sacred trust. " When war broke out in August, 1914, my husband and I were living in Government House, Aldershot. At that time he was G.O.C. Aldershot Command. On the day he left Britain with the ' Old Contemptibles' as commander of the First Army Corps we spent the afternoon together. After lunch we played golf, because it was an excuse for going out alone. But we could talk very little, for we both felt the great uncertainties of the future. Postal Arrangements Upset

" Naturally, like all wives, 1 felt terribly our parting. I did not go to Southampton to see my husband off, as I did not wish to distract his mind from its tremendous responsibilities; but he sent me a telegram before he sailed and wrote a letter to me from Southampton. He also wrote to me during the ' silent ' crossing on August lf> —the day that our first troops landed in France. " After those two letters 1 received no news. The postal arrangements, I was told, were upset by the Mons retreat. Like thousands of other wives I watched and waited. I stayed on at Government House, Aldershot, for the next few weeks and experienced terrible anxiet}'. The first nows that I got of what was happening was from a newspaper published just as the retreat began, which said that our British Army was surrounded and that there was little hope. " Next came the telegrams to tho bereaved, and they, poor things, came to me—thinking that I had perhaps some special concessions for getting letters and could tell them what the smoke of battle concealed. B"t I was placed just as they were. I could tell them nothing. Brave Women's Smiling Faces

" It was during these days that I learned how brave women could be. Those wives and mothers —tho mothers especially, who kept a smiling face through everything—although they were hourly expecting' a telegram from the War Office which might contain . . . bad news.

" Then there was the problem of the children. To keep their tiny minds sheltered from tho fears and horrors of war was our special anxiety. My own two girls were only five and seven at that time, and scarcely understood what war meant or how their little lives might )je affected by it. " After leaving Aldershot I worked in the Empress Eugenie Hospital for Officers at Earn borough Hill. I shall never forget tho comfort which I derived through all those days of stress from tho kind words said to me by the patients there. Everyone spoke so highly of my husband. They told me how he had passed them oil the road and stopped to shake them by the hand. How he had gone among them and spoken to them and helped them in a hundred and one little ways. The White Chateau at Ypres

" I would not dream now of putting pen to paper other than for the fact that the proceeds of this article will be paid to the disabled ex-Service men who are working in the poppy factory at Edinburgh. " Looking back it is difficult for mo to say which part of the war was most anxious, but it will be seen that the very early stages have left an indelible imprint upon my mind. " Another period of anxiety camo when my husband's headquarters were near Ypres in the TS hito Chateau where I mvself have since stayed. While he was there his headquarters were shelled four or five tunes, but in spite of repeated suggestions that ho should move further back he insisted on remaining in close touch with tho troops under his command. Now it is my duty to remain in touch with them in his stead."