STILL CHEERFUL.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144668, 30 April 1915, Page 7

STILL CHEERFUL.

PRIVATE -MARK TAPLEV" VXD HIS THIRTY WOUNDS. Tho following remarkable letter was written by Corpora! Garner, Northamptonshire Regiment, now in hospital at Tloimfinh. near Huddersfield, to Corporal li. J. Frost, who is still at the front with the regiment: ••That night when J left you in that cottage behind the firing-line with tho ammunition J got mixed up with a shell, it exploded just under my nose and half-stunned me. 1 hud between *2O and 30 wounds: left arm smashed at the wrist, another bullet in the elbow, right eye has gone west, and a lump of iron iu my face, smashing the jawbone. I got nine' or ten wounds hi the right thigh, and my left log has gone altogether. Jt is still in fiance somewhere. So you will seo J have about finished with the service. Anvway. it has put you one up the roll. Do you know if thy horses were hit, and who drives them now:-' Add who has claimed my kit in the valise on the cart, as also rny souvenirs in the hack—that bayonet and German drinking-cup, etc,? My ‘small hook’ saved a bullet going through my heart. If yon take my tip yon will keep away from tho shrapnel: it is very unhealthy. 1 have had seven operations may have some more yet through it.”