THE YPRES TIMES
85
who told his officer that he was dying. In this case what appeared to be a tragedy turned
to comedy, for the dying boy suddenly rose to his feet and ran for his life towards safety.
Brown's right leg was badly mangled, and splinters had hit him in the chest, the hand and
the throat. His pipe was blown to atoms in his pocket, and may easily have saved him from
a further wound. The shells continued to burst on all sides, and his worst wound was yet
to come. As each shell came near he bent his head in the direction of the burst in the
hope that his tin hat would afford some protection, but at last came one that burst through
that frail defence. It took his unwounded leg, fracturing the femur, with a distinctly
heard crack, sending a shudder through his body from head to foot, but for the time there
was no pain. That came later Providentially he did not lose consciousness, and with
Photo] [Imperial War MuseumCrown Copyright
CARRYING THE WOUNDED BACK THROUCH THE MUD—YPRES, 1917.
a constant appeal of Don't leave me, sir," always in his ears, called for help as his strength
allowed him. Day was now breaking, and two artillerymen located them in the dim light.
They had heard Brown's calls, and had only been waiting for the shelling to abate a little
before coming to the rescue. Away they went again, soon returning with reinforcements
and stretchers. As those good fellows gently lifted his mangled thirteen-stone body on
to the stretcher, and carried him over shell-holes, the considerable distance to the
dressing station, real hard labour willingly given for a complete stranger, Brown realised
more than he had ever done before, the self-sacrificing comradeship of the Great War.
After attention at the dressing station, the ambulance carried him away past Hell-
Fire Corner, the Menin Gate, and through the immortal ruins of Ypres, on to the
3rd Canadian C.C.S., the exact location of which he did not discover. What took place
