TWO WOUNDS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3201, 21 July 1915, Page 84

TWO WOUNDS.

BULLET IN THE HIP. WELLINGTON, Lily 15. Lieutenant J W. Fletcher, who went ; :vvay as a sergeant-major of the New Zealand Permanent Staff, and who had been stationed at Helensville for some time before leaving the dominion for the front, received his commission as well as two wounds at Gallipoli. He was shot through the left wrist at Gaba Tope on May 8, while at Cape Holies a second bullet entered the right thigh and passed up through the hip. This bullet, although located, has not yet been extracted. “I was hit in the famous daisy patch,” said Lieutenant Fletcher. “We had to advance straight across open country, the Australians and New Zealanders being placed in the centre, and the French and English on either flank. As we advanced we met a hail of lead, and most of us who dropped found that the Turks took a special delight in endeavouring to finish _us altogether. The concealment of the Turkish trenches was very good. We did not see a single man. I did not at any rate, and yet all the while there came that stream of lead. The Turks were under German officers, who are born leaders, and cannot be beat. I saw them on another occasion driving the Turks on, and it made a deep impression. Their handling of the machine gun is a credit to them, while their snipers are splendid shots. On some occasions we even found the snipers covered up as walking bushes. The Turkish artillery, however, is absolutely rotten, or no class. I should say there was a marked superiority of our artillery over theirs. Lieutenant Fletcher pays a high tribute to the Now Zealanders. “The stretcher bearers,” ho said, “were splendid, and ours and those of Australia would have been a credit to any country. As for the Now Zealanders as a whole. I have not the slightest hesitation in saying that they are the finest soldiering material in the world. “They arc out on their own. I say that as an ex-sergoant in the Gordon Highlanders. Better men you could not wish to bo among, and ycu can depend on them. As evidence of this, I need quote onlyone instance. Throe parties of our men were sent to reinforce a particular section of ’the firing line. Only one of them got through.” Lieutenant Fletcher will join his wife and family at Mangaroa (W amirapa) for the present, and he may go into hospital later.