OLD CONTEMPTIBLES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19973, 17 October 1927, Page 8

OLD CONTEMPTIBLES

MARCH TO THE CENOTAPH "KERNEL OF A GREAT ARMY.’’ ‘‘Old Contemptibles,’ ’ the the number of some 1500, remnants of the British Expeditionary Force which left England in August, 1514, assembled recently in London for their second annual rajly. and to lay a wreath at the base of the Cenotaph. They are aal members of the Cid Contemptibles’ Association, founded by Captain J. P. Danny, a Little over two years ago. The majority of those on parade were Londoners, but not a few had journeyed from afar to take part in the ceremony.

The men assembled on the Embankment at Cleopatra’s Needle. Headed by the band of the Irish Guards and escorting a wreath of Flanders poppies, palm leaves and bay leaves, they marched to the Horse Guards’ Parade, to such tunes as ‘‘Tipperary’’ and "Pack L’p Your Troubles in Tour Old Kit Bag.” "Ole Bill,” one of the original motor.omnibuses which transported the "Old Contemptibles” in France, brought up the rear of the procession.

There were two notable absentees—- " Polly” and "Tiger,” horses in gun teams at Mons and. the retreat to the Marne. They are now old pensioners at Aldersnot, and owing to the bad weather it was not found possible to take them to town for the occasion. They are now 18 years old, being five when they landed in France in 1914.

The Rev. J. J). S. Parry-Evans, in an address, said this was the second time they had assembled there to pay tribute to the immortal memory of their comrades who fell in the Great War. It was was a memorable day, because it was the anniversary of the day when the first British shot was fired, showing that this country and the Empire had taken their stand on the side of right. He recalled in rapid survey the retreat from Mons, the advance to the Marne, the Battle of the Marne, the Battle of the Aisne, and, after that, how they were transported to Ypres, where they were locked in a death struggle with the enemy. So magnificent was that old Army that General Von Kluck had been forced to express his admiration for it. "It was,” he had said to General Bingham, "the kernel of a great army. The way in which that retreat was conducted was simply remarkable. I did iny best to outflank them, but I could not do so. ’ ’

The procession subsequently reformed and went up Whitehall, and through the Admiralty Arch to the Mall, where they marched past some 60 disabled "Old Contemptibles,” who, on account of their wounds, were unable to take part in the procession.