"STICK TO THE HILL"

Wanganui Herald, Volume L, Issue 14745, 26 October 1915, Page 4

"STICK TO THE HILL"

V.c. HERO WOULD NOT RETIRE.

‘IT'S JUST FATE.

I saw a young man iu khgki the other ““I>T ral a|a»f Square, writes a correspondent of the People's Journal. He was addressing a recruiting meeting which must have been thousands strong. It was little Lauoe-Corporal Dwyer, of v n ““5 Surrey Deginrent, who won the <t . n^er the most heroic circumvtajKv*. Won't you come and give us a hand V he asked, and you couldn't help feeling a thrill in your heart as the simple worfa rang cut from the quiet figure on the platform.

When he had finished bis add row I called him aside, and 1 got this gallant young fellow to tell me in his own language how he won the coveted distinction! After a little hesitation, be took the muzzle off bis tongue, and I listened. “I hate," he began, “to talk about how I did this or that, because, you know, there are thousands of chaps who are doing the same and get wiped off the earth. If 1 was only able to write I could fell you things which you would hardly believe of any soldier in the world, ant) yot I ve seen the British boys doing the most extraordinary things. HOW I WON THE V.C. I hndn t been iu tho East Surrey* long when they packed me off to France, and I cpn tpll you the last thought I had when I was leaving England w«a whether I should ever come home again, much less win the V.C. But there you are. It’s all luck or fate, or whatever you care to call it. and I am so glad that I have been spared to come back. “Now, talking about that V.C, Here is how the trick was done. On reaching Hill 60 we had to dig ourselves into a trench, and tho Germans were only a dozen yards away. That made no difference. because we have been near enough to shako hands with each other; On thi* eccasion, just after we found our Irene he*, they orened a devil'* own fire on us, and a terrible slaughter began. KILL AS MANY AS I COULD, “I had never seen a man die in my life, but withiu five minutes there were hundreds of corpses strewn alioul me. The trenches were littered with de*d. Every one'of my comrades went down, and suddenly I found myself all alone and iu a most dangerous position. “There I was, a young fellow from London, holding a trench against hundreds of sausages, who never ceased firing and shelling. I managed to collect rome hand bombs, and I took up a position for myself. I could see the German* grinning, as muoh as, to say they would have me in a minute. Well, I threw bomb after bomb into the German benches, and I could seo that they wer* disappearing. I could not retire, a* I had not instructions to do so. and th*r* wss nothing for it but to stick to (ha hi' 1 cai kill as many a* I could. “Th"T<» I remained until s"nport rsm« up to me, and I was very .glad,, when that experience wo* over Not caged .■ for I was ready to die on Hill 60 as w*U ns anywheme ’else. T had been in before, so it was nothing new to lie "uder fire. It was n bit out of t4>« ordinal though t" be ♦browing bomba IF* cricket baßs and killing German* at the rune time. “I get wounded a week later, and -T \-a« ‘nl-ce fb« base be""'*"!. When T that T b a d gnt tie V.C. I ra<d it w>« too W-od fo be tree. fr. r the’" •■'id m“ t’-c V.C. too’- "-me tT~wever, T emt if. «n4 T wi*Ai all my nnls were alive to get !♦. too.’’