INVALIDED SOLDIERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16666, 11 April 1916, Page 5

INVALIDED SOLDIERS

RETURN TO NEW ZEALAND. WELCOME AT AUCKLAND (Pbb United Pbess Assoctathw.) AUCKLAND, April 10. The Turakina arrived at 6.30 this morn* ing with 84 invalided soldiers, in charge of Captain Conway, of Beefton. There, are no cot cases. A number are limping and using sticks. All are on a fair -way to recovery. The men were publicly welcomed! by the Hon. A. M. Myers (Minister of Munitions), -

HEROISM REWARDED.

HOSPITABLE TREATMENT. J

BULLET IN THE SKULL.

' GIFT FROM WOMEN OF ENGLAND. (Pee United Press Association.) AUCKLAND, April 10. ' -« Captain Conway brings a beautiful silk Union Jack and a silver shield, presented to. New Zealanders who participated in the Gallipoli fighting, bearing the inscription; "To New Zealand heroes at Gallipoli from the women of England. It was presented, ■ , at Paddington Station by Lady SmjthDorrien.

VOYAGE BENEFICIAL. (Peb United Pause Association.) ' '■> AUCKLAND., April 10. Most of the southern sick and woonded men left for their homes by to-nightfs ex- ; press. The men speak highly of the ho»- , pitality of the people of England. On the , voyage out they saw- a ship sinking. It had fallen into the hands of the German raider Moewe, though they did not know it " . at the time. The crew of the sunken sKip were at Teneriffe when they arrived. Entertainments were arranged for' the men at, ' Hobart and Capetown, and they have benefited- greatly by the voyage. , s ■

A REMARKABLE RECOVERY.

(Feom Oue Own Cobeespondbnt.) • AUCKLAND, April 10. The condition of health of the men "svae '* all that could be desired under the cir-' , cunktances. They have all epent a consider- ', able period in jsnglandV-in hospitals and convalescent homes at Wahon-on-Thames, Manchester, Hornchurch, and 'elsewhere,— , ■-' and have improved wonderfully, lie.voyage has had a further bracing effect on -',] them, with the result that not only -were -I there no cot cases, but there was scarcely I a man who could not walk unaided from the boat. . ~ , Most of the men have come home with thrilling stories, which, if merely traversing familiar ground from the point of view of >' the general public, will keep their family ., l circles enthralled for many a long day.i ,' There have been remarkable surgical cases successfully pulled through and many won- "*'■ derful escapes from, death. Such a one wae >- - 1 that experienced by Lance-corporal Ken- \'.',; nedy, of Dunedin, a cheery individual, 'who, * in spite of , his shattered health, talks lightly ' ~.-h of his inexplicable escape. With a twink- " \ ling eye, he answered " Sure " when asked * to show his wound, and he pulled off hia •' hat to show a shocking depression of the <-\ temple as big as a five-shilling piece. A , ' shrapnel bullet shattered, the bone,)' traversed the entire length of the head, , and still rests at the base of the skull, defy-' • ing the ability of surgical skill to remove -''■ it. saidi Lance-corporal 'Kennedy, "according to the doctors I've no business ' - to be here. I should be fertilising the daisies. It was .in the second big attach <- on August 7 that it happened. I just remembered the craeh.and then it seemed a* J though I was soaring -„ up and up on a dizzy*sky ride, until something brought me ' to earth.' It was.the. stretcher-bearers. Ji. f .remember' being carried away, and then fpra whole fortnight it was a blank—l was unconscious. When I came round I " was a special subject for Sir Victor Hora- •" ley, who could not explain why I was alive. ,, L but he pulled me through, and 'was a real decent chap. He often used to sit on my bed and chat to me. How I feel all right, except for an occasional headache."

~ , FIVE ..WOUNDS AND ALIVE.- 1 \ <; (Fhom Odb Own Coeeespohdb^it.)' ■• ' AUCKLAND, April «10. ] . One of the 53 who, after desperate hand- *' to-hand fighting, won their way out when the Wellington Battalion were "caught" -"-, by the Turks on Hill 971 in the August *'' attack, has arrived back in New Zealand apparently none the worse;-but, sad to re-" ■'} late, a piece of the forearm bone 'in , the • right arm I 'has gone completely, and: one o of the wounds in his aide is anything but v'. , , satisfactory. ''How many wounds did you get alto-' ' gether"? asked a reporter. "Well, there were five well marked—th'p others were scratches hardly worth, merfr. .- tioning," the soldier replied cheerfully. ,'■ "When we went to 971 we had every as- -i surance' about the reinforcements that were -' going to back us up as required/ There seemed to be plenty of them. They landed down at Suvla Bay as we went up the big valley to 971. There wore Turks every- \ where, and when we got up higher and tho reinforcements showed no disposition to 4 1 come up alongside us, the enemy ewormed " down. .The range was point blarik, and! '. hand-to-hand fighting was the order of the day. The Turks numbered about 10 - ; to one, and although we mowed them down every time they rushed, we couJd not' get." enough down quickly to stop them coming to close quartets. The navy backed us ~ up splendidly, but, of course, could not do much jie the range got shorter and; shorter. ' After a while we realised the dreadful truth —that we. were left —and we turned, to fight our way out. Wβ got out' —at least a few of us did. I mast have ' been unconscious for a long time after get- ,' ting to' cover, as i$ was four daye afteß the engagement before I managed to get ~ to the beach." "■ ' '

AKM. (Fbom Oob Ow:r CoßßESMwiunrrJ ' . AUCKLAND, April 10. There is another clover example of surgery in tho patching up cf ute arm of Sergeant Oppenheim, of Lyttelton, which ' was twice injured* and wae bens round in an afparently hopeless deformity -when he ' > reached England. Thanks to the skill cf tho surgeons in a Home hospital, the limb was straightened out, a silver supporting % plate was let into the flesh on each side of thft bone, aud Sergeant Oppenheini, , oarries several shillings' worth of impawn* able silver about with him. ',i

WITH THE MACHINE GFDNS. (Fbom Our Own Cobbe3pondekt.) AUCKLAND, April 10. ~' , Captain Conway, of the Ganterbtrry Battalion, whose home is at .Reefton, has clao .-' given several chances, to use the cricket phraseology. Ho was with the machine-gua '■ stction for four months and a-half, and ao- .- - cording to tho warm testimony of several ': of his men, he rendered yeoman service. .; Hβ -was wounded' twice by shrapnel, and after spending , a short recuperative period at Lenrnos, was bade at his old post on August 11. In the Suvla Bay landing ho ' received a bullet through his chest, and was also shot through the liver. For his work at Suvla Bay Captain Conway was mentioned in despatches.