PATER’S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3523, 20 September 1921, Page 55

PATER’S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

THE' OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE OTAGO REGIME AT, N.Z.E.F. This is the latest book on the war as far as we are concerned, and is really an outpost detail. But for all that, flora our point of view, it stands next to “The New Zealanders at Gallipoli. ’ It is a book I can recommend for “keeps” to all boys and girls who have had relatives at the war, the most stupendous in all history. The best for school use and to get our direct insight into the superficial details of our ” view is, of course, Major Waite’s “The Yew Zealanders at Gallipoli,” for it deals with that little peninsula, Gallipoli. Lieutenant Byime s book takes a larger view. Major Waites

volume contains 330 pages, but Lieutenant Byrnes volume is 407, and apart from illustrations, which are very helplul, page by page, Lieutenant Byrne's volume has 82 pages dealing with Anzac, while lie takes up over 300 pages dealing with the Western Front. In short, Waite s ‘ ,r ihe New Zealanders at Gallipoli” gives us a near view, a personal one, while Lieutenant Byrne’s gives us an impersonal one, more in accordance with the historical value, and fits in the general scheme of a Universal History. “The New Zealanders at Gallipoli” is" a self-contained history,

more appilicable to New Zealand, and secondarily to Australia. “The Otago Regiment” definitely takes up 82 pages on Gallipoli, the last words being: "The Ist Battalion arrived at Marseil !es on August 13; three days later the 2nd Battalion had also reached its destination in France.” From there onwards the “Part ll—France and Flanders” takes up as much as is necessary of the remaining 325 pages as the author thinks are necessary for his purpose, and right loyally has he performed his self-imposed task. In Chapter 15 he deals with Sergeant Richard Travis, V.C., D.C.M., M.M., Croix de Guerre, whom he speaks of as “a man of striking and outstanding personality even among the bravest of brave men by whom he was surrounded. SERGEANT RICHARD TRAVIS, Y.C., M.M., D.C.M. Seeing that I have touched upon Sergeant Travis, V.C., M.M., it will be permissible, seeing that he has a chapter to himself in Lieutenant Byrne’s volume, to touch further on this remarkable man. Lieutenant Byrne speaks of “his escape fiom death and his immunity from wounds of a serious nature,” and touching his life as 'an "observer, sniper, scout, patrol leader, and raider, extending over a period of over two years, with all his attendant and thrilling adventure, and his death ultimately within his own lines, suddenly and tragically struck down at the height of a bombardment by a chance missile, is curiously and pathetically suggestive of the waywardness and eccentricity of Fate —or was it in accordance with an ordered and settled design inexorable and relentless in its operation?” Again he adds: “He was in truth the knight-errant of the regiment, steeled and modernised. His forays into enemy territory, attended by his small but carefully chosen band of men-at-arms: his swift and dramatically sudden surprises in enemy stronghold and trenches; his desperate single-handed encounters against many—the number of the enemy in these affairs never troubled him ; —his summary and terror-inspiring methods; his unfailing resource and lightning change of attack in seemingly hopeless emergencies : his killings and capturings and forced surrenders—these things became merely the normal programme of events in the daily and nightly fighting life of this remarkable man. "His escape from death and his immunitv from wounds of a serious nature in this life of observer, sniper, scout, patrol leader, and raider, over a period of two Year. . with all its attendant and thrilling adventure, and his death ultimately within his own lines is curiously pathetic.” Sergeant Travis was New Zealand born. He enlisted from Ryai Bush, Southland, in August, 1914, joined the Otago Mounted Rides Regiment, and left New Zealand with the Main Body. His regiment was tempo, arily detained in Egypt when the New Zealand infantry sailed to make his i ated. His rt stless spirit revolted again t his comparative quietude, and he “made an, unofficial departure to the busier ami more congenial theatre of the Western Front.” For this reason Major Waite’s narrative is the poorer and Lieutenant Byrne’s the richer for his name. The last of the many leports hearing on the remarkable achievements of Sergeant Travis deals with the events reported on by the sergeant at Rossignol on July 24,

when Travis gained the Victoria Gross : “Huns tried to cut us off from the left of Hawk trench, but were beaten off with their own bombs. Very heavy casualties inflicted on enemy in Hawk trench. Total for the day about 50 killed (including two officers), and six machine guns captured. Had our party had enough bombs they could have gone to Berlin.” These are the words of the sergeant quoted from his despatches. It was on the day following that Sergeant Travis was killed. The death of no other soldier could have stirred men to such deep sorrow or caused such an acute sense of real loss. Full military honours and a long procession of all ranks paid full tribute to his memory. “His name will live in the records of the battalion as a glorious example of heroism and devotion to duty.' This is the record opposite Sergeant Richard Travis’s name in the 2nd Battalion. We are told by Lieutenant Byrne that when the representatives of the regiment returned from the funeral they were met by soldiers of British regiments, who came out of their billets to cheer the returning soldiers. I Ley had laid their New Zealander to rest. I have been irresistibly drawn into giving these notes upon Sergeant Travis, ■ V.C., for “The Official History of the Otago Regiment” does not, as Major Waite’s book, take in a general description of Gallipoli, but is confined to the infantry work, and Lieutenant Byrne imports into his survey the episode of Sergeant Travis, V.C., as a tribute standing out by itself. “The Official History of the Otago Regiment in the Great War. 1914-1918,” is taken up afresh in Chapter I of Part 11, and if I return to it to give any further “Chats” upon tire hook it will have to take up some of the stirring incidents connected with Messines, Passchendaele, the Ilindenburg system, and the collapse of the Germans. Have you ever noticed that the armistice commenced on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the vear? I may return to this book again ; hut I hope that every school will make an ilf t to get Major Waite’s “The New Zealanders at Gallipoli,” and the more sustained and more exhaustive reading of Lieutenant A. E. Byrne, M.C.’s, more satisfying volume. Both volumes are indispensable : but Lieutenant Byrne’s contains the memorable references to Sergeant Travis, V.C. What is the name of the school closest to the spot where he enli.-ted? Has that school any reference to him? I think it ought to be remembered on his account. I)o not think that I believe in bloodshed : but if we live in a bloody time—and we have—we must he governed by the times. He risked his life, and in the end gave it. And we must pay him the tribute that we give others who have done tile same thing. He fought for his King and his country. Could he have done anything better?