HOSPITAL STORIES

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9620, 28 March 1917, Page 6

HOSPITAL STORIES

STRANGE DEATH ATTITUDES WORSHIPPERS AND BASHFUL V.C.'S. Yon are in the convalescent ward at Ra ml wick Military Hospital. «'rites a correspondent in the Sydney “Sun.’’ U is not yet noon, and the sifter of the ward is putting brNk finishing touches to tlie vase that dorks the white KDiiraeiled table at the foot of each man’s bed. From the tar end of the ward comes an incessant gabbling, taut lisfts every now and then to an indignant shout. It is tlie voice of a soldier who has been into the operating theatre, ard lias not vet recovered from the effects of tho anaesthetic. Sitting up in bed or strolling about, the room are his mates, wiio grin now and again us the gabbling increases in volume. Willi this 'accompaniment tho voice of Private Barnett. of the Uth Battalion, goes on, quietly telling you. much as it ho wore discussing some worn topic, incidents, of war that make you wonder at tile possibility of men in the firingline keeping sane and balanced. Private Harnett was in the. Gallipoli landing, and tonght on the peninsula tot 30 days before receiving tho wound that ha* kept him over biuce in one hospital and another—London, Weymouth,, liaudwick. DID NOT FEEL IT. 'T had been on fatigue duty all night,'’ Che quiet voice continues, “going onckward* and forwards through n pass which was prohibited to u* during the daytime. It wa.s breaking dawn, :md we were just fini.-diiiig up when a sniper got mo He got; SI of us that day. But our chaps got him for good the next day. I was carrying a case of provisions on my right shoulder, and had my left hand on my hip. The littio finger of that hand had tho top shot oh, ana I fell down. I told the others. “ ‘Well, walk down, to the beach,* said they, ‘and have it’ dressed.’ I tried to get up, and finding I could not stand, examined my leg. There was a hole in it you could have put your fiat in. Funny X didn’t feel any pain in that log for three days—and then it gave me Kip. “The main sensation when you 'get a shot into you is one of surprise. ‘Why should I have got it?* I wondered. “Wo saw some strange eights, 1 can tell you. D*you remember when the Turks threatened to putdi us back into the sea? The night of May 18th and the morning of May 19th was the time I mention. We killed 4000 of tho beggars. Well, after that charge of th©ir« it was so queer to see some of the positions in which the men had died. 1 saw them on their hands and knees gripping their rifles. Some had stiffened in tho act of trying to_Jscale a parapet. An Austro*lian and a Turk jabbed each other simultaneously with their bayonets, and fell dead that way, gripping the butts. Wo had to bury them together. THE SEATED SOLDIER. “One of our own chaps was shot in the back of the head. Ho staggered to a stump and sat down with his rifle across his knees and his head on one hand. Next morning, when. I peoped oyer the parapet there was this chap sibling quietly in the middle of No Man’s Land. I said to an officer, ‘i think that fellow must have gone mad to b© sitting out there.* The officer used his glasses. ‘The back of his head's shot away,' he said. And the dead man sat on the stump until be fell to pieces. “Talking of strange death attitudes, I was at a listening post on© night, rnd through my periscope 1 saw a Turk crawling toward me with a bayonet. I chucked a bomb at him, and then found out he hud been dead some time!** WAITING FOR A CHARGE.

‘‘The thing that gets on a man’s nerves is the time spent waiting for tile signal to charge. 1 remember once we were going to charge at 6 p.m. We were given our orders at 6 p.m. What do you do in the meantime? "Well, you fiddle round your rifle and equipment to see that everything’s right. You light a cigarette, and after a puff or two chucic it away. Your pal speaks to you, and you snap his head off. You think of the home people, 1 and wonder just what they’re doing. Y'ou fumble with the letters in your pocket, and have another read of them. Then you light an*ther cigarette and chuck it away again. You're ail on edge. And when you hear the whistle you just go clean mad. I don’t remember anything of the first two days at Gallipoli. X don’t fancy anyone remembers much. We were ail mad—bayonets all the time, you know,” When Private Barnett was in Weymouth Hospital he suffered with gastritis, and was on a milk diet. "1 was about fed up,” he says, “and one bittej.sold, evening X said to a chap who was allowed to walk about, 'Do you think you could order oysters, and ham and eggs to follow, at the shop- across the road?’ He thought he could, and went off. Then the sister left tho ward. X whipped into another fellow’s overcoat, and out into the street. I had my oysters and ham and eggs before sister got back, and sho could not understand why my temperature was 102 the next morning.” In the Xxmdon hospital Private Barnett had on either side of him Sergeant Bassett, V.C., of Auckland, and Corporal Keysor, V.C. No qne knew of their military honours for a mouth. Tho news leaked out through addresses on their letters. At first they stoutly denied their V.C.’s, because the.v said that they would get no peace. “Poor beggars!” says Private Barnett, “as soon as it was known they were so bombarded with attentions from visitors that it pulled them back for a month. The morning after Jack Hamilton's.V.C. was announced ho got 300 letters from people ho did not know. Six wristlet watches followed, and It fountain pens. So he says df he’s ever down on his luck he’ll bo able to raise money on them,” Private Hamilton. V.C.. was at the Xxmdon Anzao Buffet one afternoon when Lady Birdwood sent her autograph book round for all the boys to sign. Hamilton was not known by anyone there. When I’rivate Barnett saw the signature he asked quietly-; ’’Haven’t you got the V.C.?” “Yes,” said the hero, “but for God’s sake don’t let it out, or I’ll have all these women, taking liberties with me.” “If you’ve got it on you,” said Private Barnett, “I’d very much like to have a look at it.”

“Come over here/'said Hamilton, loading tho way to a dark corner. He took tho cross from the depths of his trousers pocket, held It under cover of his coatflan and gave Private Barnett a fleeting view of tho coveted trophy. Then ho hurried back to his place.