SOLDIER AT THIRTEEN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19550, 5 August 1925, Page 8

SOLDIER AT THIRTEEN.

YOUNG CANADIAN RECRUIT THRILLS AND WANDERINGS. ARCHANGEL TO AUCKLAND. Stephen William Harvey, who recently enlisted in the 10th Hussars—Prince Henry’s regiment, now at Aldershot—would probably be justified in describing himself as the most travelled and experienced young recruit the British Army has ever had. The following are the prinicipal events in his varied career, though he will not be 24 until next November: — Joined the Canadian Army at 13, and was for long the youngest member of the fighting forces: fought at Ypres (1915), the Somme, and Vimy Ridge before he was 15; won the Military Medal and the Croix de Guerre; wounded twice; went to Archangel with the Russian Expeditionary Force after the armistice; imprisoned for nine months by the Bolshevists; nearly starved to death; returned to Canada; travelled to Australia first class; was “down and out”; nearly starved again; worked a passage on a Canadian vessel; became ill; was landed at Fiji to recover; again returned to Canada; worked his way across to Halifax; joined the Canadian Navy; invalided out, after 18 months’ service; worked his passage to England; shipped as a steward on the Aorangi for New Zealand and Australia; afterwards sailed round the world; operated on at sea and nearly died again; has travelled 35,000 miles since January 2 of this year. “I am joining up again at Aldershot” Mr Harvey told a Daily Chronicle representative, who found him at an ex-service-men’s hostel in Duke street, Manchester square. HARVEY’S FIRST ENLISTMENT. Harvey is a fair, ruddy-faced boy, looking just a trifle older than his years, which is not surprising. He seemed to find his adventures very amusing in the restrospect, but apologised for his smile, explaining that he had had 17 teeth out a few days earlier. His latest exploit! "They wouldn't take me in the Army until my teeth were seen to,” he said. “I was rejected at Scotland Yard recruiting office last week because of them, so I walked to Woolwich and tried there; but they sail the same thing. It is by the kindness of .Countess Roberts that I am getting a new set.” "I first joined the Army,” he said, “because my two brothers and my sister were all in France. I tried to enlist at Winnipeg, where my father was Mayor for three years. I said I was 19, but they told me to go home and ask my mother when I would be 14. A good guess! So I jumped a train and went to Montreal. I told them there that I was 18, and this went down better, because they took me. “When we got to France, my sister, who, was a nurse, recognised me one day. I pretended I didn’t know her, but she went to my, colonel and asked for me to be sent home. I asked him to let me stay, and he did. My two brothers were both killed and my sister died in France of influenza. BOLSHEVIST’S PRISONER. “I was wounded twice, in the arm at Ypres and in the head at Passchendaele. Afterwards, In Russia, I was taken prisoner by the Bolshevists and had a terrible time. We were herded together in a barbed-wire enclosure and fed upon black bread and water. Sometimes women used to throw food over the fence to us. Or.“ of them was caught and clubbed over the head with the butt end of a rifle. Once 25 of us were confined in a sort of dungeon with three of our dead. “The American Red Cross got me released at last,, and I went back to Canada. Soon afterwards, my father and mother deid. I booked a first-class passage to Australia with a little money that came to me, but I could get no work there, an was soon ‘down and out’, sleeping in tfae ojajn. “When I signed on as deck hand in the steamer Canadian Skirmisher to go back to Canada I was so ill on the way that I nearly died. Wireless calls for med! y 1 help from other ships were, sent out, bpwithout avail. Finally, the ship’s course was specially diverted, and I was put ashore at Suva. Afterwards, I recovered and returned to Canada. Since then I have been round the world.” Mr Harvey has been presented to thd King once and to the Prince of Wales twice. Of all the places he has seen he likes Honolulu the best. In London his chief enjoyment is to watch the Guards at drill.