HOW FOOTLESS SOLDIERS ARE MADE TO WALK.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 16039, 25 January 1918, Page 5

HOW FOOTLESS SOLDIERS ARE MADE TO WALK.

REMARKABLE CASE OF A BRITISH SOLDIER. Tho caso of Drummer James Proctor, 2nd Battalion East Vorkshore Regiment, who now resides with his mother and stepfather, Mr. and Mrs. Ben. Ellis, 17 Cambridge Street, Morley. is a remarkable testimony, says the Morley Observer, of the efficiency of modern science in the manufacture of artificial limbs for | soldiers who, in the present war, have j been deprived of the use of one or more limbs in fighting. His is a story of especial interest. He joined tho Army on January 2G, 1910, and had been iii ' India rather more than four .years when - liis regiment arrived in England on j Christmas Eve, 1014, to take its part in j tiie war, and was sent to France on I I January 15, 1915. | j Drummer Proctor fought at Hill 60, j j and was there only two days’ when he : i was wounded by shrapnel in twelve 1 j places—two wounds being in tho left j arm, four in the right shoulder, two in the left slloulder, one on each side of his I spine, one in the middle of his back, and I one between the shoulders. The Geri mans had enfiladed his battalion, and j killed all but about 19. Fourteen of i thorn were kept in-tho trench to keep up a fire on the enemy while tho others got away, and they were told that tho men who had retired would return to fetch him and his three comrades, but they did not do so. It was whilst holding the trench that Proctor was wounded, and ten days elapsed before ho was captured by tiie Germans. - In' tho meantime, Proctor, though so badly wounded,, had saved the life of a comrade, Private Willie Lovptt, of Huddersfield, .who had been wounded, and dragged him to an old house situate between the linos. Proctor bandaged Lovett’s wounds, and fetched water for them both. Asked who hound iiis own wounds, Proctor said “Nobody. I left them to look after them- ] selves.” Lovett’s left leg was broken below the knee by ia piece of shrapnel. Three days after 'being wounded in the log, Levett was hit bn the right hand by an explosive bullet, three fingers and a portion of his hand being blown off, KEPT ALIVE ON STAGNANT WATER. Proctor was then suffering from frostbite in both feet, and Levotl also lost his right leg from frostbite. Neither Proctor nor nis comrade had any rations for ten days, and Proctor says that they were kept alive by' stagnant water, as green as grass, which he himself procured from a pool. Proctor and Levett were captured by the Germans on February 13, and taken to the Notre Dame Hospital, Courtrai, , where Proctor says they were well treated by the Germans, who gave them plenty of coffee and bread l and butter. Proctor remained- at tho Notre Dame Hospital about eight months, and was under the charge of a. most humane German doctor, who seemed to. take a groat interest in his case. , For five months ho was unable to feed or do anything for himself. It was whilst at this | hospital that both his feet were amputated by German doctors, and all the time he was nursed by Belgian nursen. From Courtrai, Proctor was sent to Cologne, and from thence to Stendall Camp, 20 miles from Berlin, whore lie remained about fourteen days, being then sent to a place called Arden, the first station in Germany. From Arden hd was transferred home on September i last, and was sent to tiie 3rd London General Hospital, Wandsworth, ultimately going to-Queen Mary’s Convalescent Home, Roehampton, an institution whore rfiaimed soldiers are supplied with artificial limbs. He remained at Roehampton eight weeks, during which he was fitted with artificial feet. The second day after getting his feet he rede a bicycle and played at football. On one day there was a- chair race, and Proctor, finding bo was not going fast enough, took his feet off and got out of his chair, and pushed the chair the remainder of .the distance on his siiunipn As showing the remarkable ease with which Proctor can walk —and he now walks about the town without tho aid of a stick, except in rainy weather and snow—it only need be stated that on the day he came home from London ho was sent from Euston instead of King’s Cross Station, and that on arriving at the London and North-Western Station at Morley, ho walked up tiie steps into Albert Road and forward home, carry-ing-a kit-bag weighing 301 b. without the aid of stick or crutch. Ho had intended coming home by the Great Northern Railway, and his stepfather was at tho Morley station to meet him, and on returning homo, he was surprised to find Proctor there. Proctor has been given a handsome pension by the War Office. A CLECKHEATON DEMONSTRATION. Drummer Proctor gave a demonstration of the utility of artificial feet the other day to the mother of a soldier named "Willie Barraclough, whose

mother resides at Scholes, Cleokheaton, and whose feet were amputated following a severe attack of frostbite which he had while in the trenches iii the Dardanelles. Although he had written very cheery and hopeful letters homej his mother was so -anxious about his future that she had been to London to make inquiries as to whether he would be able to get about again; and Mr. Albert Webster, of 63a Queen Street, Morley, ■who had interested himself in Proctor’s case from the beginning, arranged that he and Proctor should go to Scholes and see Mrs. Barraclough, and convince her that such a thing was quite possible. Mr. Webster took Proctor in the sidecar of his motor-cycle, and on their arrival at Mrs. Barraclongh’s that lady and her neighbours were suprised with the freedom and elasticity of Proctor’s step.