SIDELIGHTS ON THE WAR

New Zealand Tablet, 11 November 1915, Page 15

SIDELIGHTS ON THE WAR

GENERAL. Lord Granard, a distinguished Irish Catholic nobleman, who comes of a fighting race, has been winning marked distinction by his bravery in the fighting at the Dardanelles. A letter received from that region recounts remarkable feats of bravery performed by the Earl, who commands one of the Irish regiments taking a prominent part in that fierce conflict.

Lieutenant H. G. Nevile, 2nd Battalion South Wales Borderers, is reported missing. He was previously reported wounded at the Dardanelles. Lieutenant Nevile, who belongs to a well-known Catholic family, has for some years been a member of the firm of Cutler and Lacy, stockbrokers, Birmingham. He took great interest in the Catholic branch of the Street Children’s Union. Earlier in the war he was wounded, but not severely.

Lieutenant John Errol Burke, sth Battalion Connaught Rangers, son of the late Mr. Dominick F. Burke, R.M., and Mrs. Burke, 5 Royal terrace east, Kingstown, was killed in action at the Dardanelles on August 21. His brother, Captain Francis C. Burke, of the same battalion, was supporting his company on the same day, and was severely wounded. Mrs. Burke has a third son serving in the army —Lieutenant Burke who is with the 3rd Battalion Royal Irish Regiment at Richmond Barracks, Dublin.

YOUNGEST SERGEANT-MAJOR. The following paragraph is taken from the Birmingham W (‘tidy Post: —Quartermaster- F. J. Farrell, of the Mechanical Transport, can claim to be far the youngest Quartermaster-Sergeant in the British Army, being only 21 years of age. Originally a despatch rider, he has earned his promotion through his daring and cool behaviour under shell fire. He is the son of an Edgbaston gentleman.’ Since the above paragraph appeared Frank Farrell, who is an old boy_of St. Philip’s Grammar School, Edgbaston, Birmingham, has been promoted to the rank of Ser-geant-Major, and has twice been offered a commission. Congratulations have been extended to him and to his father, who has five other sons serving in the Army and Navy.

THE WANT OF A MARQUEE AT TAUHERENIKAU. The following is portion of a letter written on October 24 last by a soldier in training at Tanherenikau camp;‘The want of conveniences for Catholics to practise their religion and meet one another is greatly felt. We have not even a marquee of our own, and must borrow the Young Men’s Christian Association’s. The fault is not the camp authorities’. The Catholic Federation, which organised things at Trentham, has probably no funds. ■ Anyhow, I think it is a shame that we, soldiers, should be so little considered in this respect. It would cost from £4O to £SO to have a marquee where we could meet and have books and

papers. There are only: three -or V four camps in New Zealand; Catholics should be able to subscribe the amount required. ~ “I believe this is a case of'lack of initiative. This soldier* has left .Tauherenikau now and will soon leave New Zealand, with the Bth Reinforcements, but we must think of the other Catholic soldiers similarly placed now, and until the end of the war..

A TIMARU MAN IN MALTA. Mr. T. W. Lynch, Timaru, has received the following letter, under date August 13, from his sou, Private J. Lynch, who was wounded at the Dardanelles, and at time of writing was in hospital at Malta: ‘ Malta is a great place. One never dreamt of ever getting to this historic place. They tie you down so in these hospitals, one doesn’t get a chance of having a look round until one is really convalescent. I must tell you something about our big advance, which started last Saturday at daybreak. On our, extreme left a division of Kitchener’s Army made a fresh landing ; then came the Maoris, N.Z. Mounted Brigade, Gurkhas, N.Z, Infantry, and, by the way, in amongst this crowd was a brigade of Australian infantry, and the rest of the line from the N.Z. infantry, to the right was composed of Australians, both infantry and mounted. From what I can gather from some of the wounded who came aboard the hospital ship after me, things were going well, but the casualty lists will stagger New Zealand ; they will be greater than at the beginning. . . The sth Reinforcements did not land for the attack. I met a young Australian on the hos pital ship (where, by the way, the nurses were kindness itself, and they did work like navvies), who, during the attack, lost two elder brothers beside him, and was himself wounded in the head. He was only about 18 or 19 at the most. There were over 1000 on our ship, and about 70 died on the way from Gallipoli to here. It is the gruesome side of war you see on the hospital ships. The attack started at dawn. We had been marching all night from 9.30 the evening before. Where Ave attacked, the Turks offered very little resistance, but retreated to the trenches further back, and before we could dig ourselves in the machine guns were sending out bullets galore. 'Our battalion had a very bad time of it. You will probably see the casualty lists long before you get this letter. There isn’t one of our section (that is, the main body section) untouched now.

So far the heat has been very trying. Last night it was very hot, but I believe it will get cooler from this out. By the way, I spent my 22nd birthday ,on the hospital ship, and didn’t think of it until after we landed. To-day is Sunday, and I have just been to Mass. The priests here are Maltese of course, and speak fairly good English. . . Some of the wounded who came in last night say the sth Reinforcements had landed and were in the big fight. Don’t forget to pray for our chaps out here.’ In another letter, dated August 30, Private Lynch says:—-‘I wish I could get some news from Timaru. I haven’t had a mail for nearly three months, and goodness knows when I’ll get one. They will go to Gallipoli, then back to Alexandria,, and when they find out where I am I’ll stand a poor chance of getting them. Last night (Sunday). I went for a walk into Valetta; it is a beautiful place, and was at its best. It was celebrating the feast of some saintSt. Julian, I think, after whom one of their beautiful bays is named. There are thousands of wounded here, and the people of Malta are very kind. We were nearly going' to Sicily. I understand the Italian Government made an offer to accommodate so many of our wounded, but it had to be declined, as it was, too late to make preparations before our big advance. . . The Maltese are a fine-looking race, something like the Italians, and are very good-natured. The - ladies of Valetta and Sleima are untiring in their efforts to treat the wounded from the time they land on the pier. ... „S The Fifths, I believe, have had a pretty bad handling since I left there. If I have the good, luck

to get back. I’ll tell you something about trenches. Although this war game is no joke, it’s surprising the amount of fun one can get out of it, especially if one is with a good crowd. I hope it doesn’t last the winter at Gallipoli, as ' the rain and snow will be very unpleasant there. The Turks are very stubborn, and the women are even fighting now. TJiey caught one out on our left the day we advanced. She was about 16 years old, and had 24 identification discs around her neck. She was only one of the many killed. But I don’t, think it is possible for a nation’s women to work as ours have done : you want to be in a hospital town to see it. ‘ I have seen about a thousand of us bathing from the piers we had erected at Anzac—a place which the Turkish batteries commanded from the right and left flanks. The Turks would wait for the best time, when a big crowd was bathing, and then, bash ! bash ! and all hands would snatch up their clothing and make off into shelter. But not every one would have the luck to get out of it. Each day there were chaps blown to eternity, yet when the shelling ceased, back would go the rest to finish their dip.’ Private Lynch is now in Hamstead Hospital, England. DISTINGUISHED CONDUCT MEDALS. Recent D.C.M. awards include the following to Irish residents of Scotland:—Sergeant J. C. Carlin, Scots Fusiliers, for conspicuous gallantry on June 12 in the Gallipoli Peninsula. Having got ahead of his men, he faced thirteen Turks, killed one who was about to shoot a wounded man, and disarmed ten others. He was under heavy shell fire all the time. Private T. Garrity, for displaying conspicuous gallantry on various occasions. In March, near Vormerzeele, although wounded in the head, he remained with his working party until the work was finished. On May 9, when wounded in the neck, he had his wound dressed and rejoined his platoon in the trenches. On, May 2, he concealed from his men the fact that he was wounded, in order to maintain coolness among them. On May 10, when severely wounded by shrapnel, he refused to be carried back until the other wounded had been attended to. Corporal Prank O’Reilly, R.F.A., Main street, Carfin, has been recommended for the D.C.M. He did excellent work, his commanding officer states, in keeping the signal communications working and repairing the telephone wires under heavy fire. TO THE MEMORY. OF CATHOLIC OFFICERS. A monument was unveiled recently in the Catholic Church at Broxwood, England, in memory of the two young sons of Mr. Snead-Cox (editor of the Tablet) who were killed in Flanders last October. The inscription on the monument reads: In loving memory of Lieutenant Richard Mary Snead-Cox, Royal Scots, killed in action near Neuve Chapelle, Oct. 28, 1914, aged twenty-one; and Lieutenant Geoffrey Philip Joseph Snead-Cox, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, killed in action near Ypres, Oct. 21, 1914, aged nineteen ; elder sons of John Snead-Cox : Lord of the Manor of Broxwood, and Mary, his wife. May they rest in peace. “ Greater love than this hath no man.” ’ MANY SONS WITH THE COLORS. In every parish in the north of England are to be found Irish and Catholic families who have responded splendidly to the call of King and country. Mrs. Cassidy, of Tantobie, widow of Sergeant Cassidy, Northumberland Fusiliers, who had fourteen years of service to his credit, may well be proud of her five soldier sons —Corporal Patrick Cassidy, Northumberland Fusiliers, who served three years in the South African war, and is now on active service in France ; Sapper Peter Cassidy, Royal Engineers, of Flint Hill, unfortunately seriously wounded; Sergeant Tom Cassidy, 24th Northumberland Fusiliers, now undergoing training at Salisbury, and Private Daniel Cassidy, 26th Northumberland -Fusiliers, of .Tantobie, also in camp at

Salisbury; apd Private Joseph Cassidy, Northumberland Fusiliers, now at the Dardanelles.

Two notable examples of loyalty are recorded from the village of Auchinstorry, - Dumbartonshire! Mr. and Mrs. James Mellon have contributed six sons to the fighting forces, and a seventh has been doing excellent service tending to the wounded soldiers in France. Mr, Thomas Mcßride had five sons and one son-in-law with the forces. One of the sons, Frank, who was in the Munster Fusiliers, has been killed at the Dardanelles. John joined the Dublin Fusiliers and has been wounded at the “ Dardanelles. James is in the Munsters, Thomas in the Seaforth Highlanders, Bernard in the " East Yorkshires, and the son-in-law, Neil O’Neill, in the Munsters. A sixth son, Edward, served through the South African war with the H.L.I.

IN A CONVALESCENT CAMP IN MALTA. The following are extracts from a letter written from All Saints’ Convalescent Camp, Malta, by Corporal D. O’Brien.to his father, Mr. O’Brien, Kihikihi. The letter is dated August 1 ; —Wounded still continue to come in to the hospitals, but not a twentieth of the number that came in during the first three weeks. I have been away from the hospital for a couple of weeks, _ and am in a rest camp I am still on crutches, and haven’t had my foot on the ground since the day I was hit. I don’t know what is wrong, but the leg has shrunk till it is as thin as a rake. The bullet passed clean through the ankle, so you can judge , how long I will be incapacitated. One doctor has told me that I am finfiished so far as soldiering is concerned. This camp is the exact opposite to a training camp; there are no police, no guards, no restrictions at all. We are in big marquees furnished with camp beds, sheets, blankets, and all home comforts. We get out of bed at any hour we like, go out, come in, do what we like. No parades except medical inspection one a week to see who is fit again. They give us ten shillings a week, with which we buy fruit, sweets, and tobacco, and go to picture shows. The people here give us two concerts a week in, the camp. There are no. rules and regulations to abide by. When a man is passed as fit he is sent to one of the forts, , and has a couple of weeks there doing nothing; then he goes to Alexandria, and is equipped and given light training for a period, and is then sent back to the firing line. I think there is not much chance of my getting there for weeks at least. It seems unfair that we should be having such a good time while our mates are getting killed, and almost every one of us is anxious to get back to the trenches.

‘ Every day we hear tales of heroism from mates coming in. No matter what you read in the papers, there are deeds of heroism done by New Zealanders that will never be seen in print. A V.C. is not given on account of a brave act, but because that act is seen by an officer. ... ... In our tent we have the following regiments represented;Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury, Otago, Tasmania, Australia, Royal Scots, Royal Dublins, Royal Munsters, Lancashire Fusiliers, Hampshires, and South Wales Borderers. That is a mixture, isn’t it? They are all fine fellows, and nearly all were wounded the same day as I was. The Munster man was crushed in a trench beneath the weight of dozens of dead men. I suppose you have read with pride of the great deeds of the Irish regiments. This Munster battalion had 20 men answer the roll out of 1100 men on the Peninsula a few days after the landing. Let me tell you of an Australian who had his jaws torn away by a shell. , He was almost gone when he pulled out his -book and wrote on it, “Are we down-hearted? No!” He died ten minutes later.

When I was wounded and lying out a mate of mine was brought near me. He was groaning, and I told him to keep up as the stretcher-bearers were coming. He simply said, “I don’t want stretchers; I’m going right one.” He died in peace beside me shortly after. . . . It is deeds like these that make us proud of our country and make the wounded anxious to be in the fight again.’ *