THE YPRES TIMES
167
kindness, courage, determination and gallantry, displayed by someone or other of the
greathearted gentlemen who served with him, in the same rank, or as a subordinate
or a superior.
When an ex-soldier tells me that he finds such a book as All Quiet true to his own
experiences he was, so I think, certainly one of a rotten bad unit or probably deserved to
be. To the kind of ex-soldier to whom I am writing, these lurid books do not ring true.
I want to tell of several instances of splendid unselfishness that came my way when I
was an amateur Gunner.
I will begin with a simple example of absolute unselfishness which I met with one
night when, as Forward Observation Officer (F. O. 0.) of my battery, I was lodging at
Company H. Q. of a London Scottish battalion. The usual Company H. Q. dugout had
been blown in during the morning that I arrived and a hurried move had had to be made
to another and smaller dugout where the accomodation was so far below requirements
that the few wire-netting bunks had to be used in rotation by three sleepers.
I came in shortly after midnight, my share of the bed being from twelve midnight
(0001 hours) to 5.30 a.m. (0530 hours) stand to." As I climbed down the forty foot
deep staircase slippery with lumps of mud I trod upon a man sleeping across the
stairway. He rose without a word, took me by the hand, and turning on an electric
torch led me down to the dugout and carefully steered me between and over the weary
men asleep all over the floor. As I was a newcomer to this Company and, of course,
to this dugout, it would have been impossible for me to have reached my bed in the dark
unaided without disturbing some of the sleepers.
As careful hands tucked the muddy blankets round me the kilted soldier's shirt gaped
open and I saw in the dim candle-light that he was wearing a large ebony crucifix hung
from his neck on a slender silver cnain.
Next morning in reply to my enquiries the Company Commander, whose batman the
man turned out to be, told me how this private had asked him for duties which would
not involve taking lives as he was a monk in civil life. Finding that the job of officer's
batman in France was entailing less hardships than fell to the lot of other privates he
had tried to level things up by sleeping on the stairs so that each latecomer to the dug
out would awaken him to act as guide to prevent disturbance of any of those sleeping on
the floor.
Next I will tell of an episode which illustrates excellently the spirit of comradeship dis
played in the Army. Just as we were preparing to embark at Marseilles for Salonica
there joined our battery a Maltese cart with mule and driver attached from the Army
Service Corps.
The driver, who is the subject of this story, was middle-aged, sturdy of build, and of
the toughest possible appearance. It was not long after we had landed at Salonica that
it became obvious to all of us that this driver was no novice serving for the duration
but an extremely capable and efticient soldier. He was a lone wolf who kept apart,
ate his meals and slept by himself under his little cart. His sense of discipline was
remarkable, he was as reliable as a ship's chronometer, he was neat, punctual, con
scientious, an admirable horseman and horsemaster, the finest long rein driver that I
ever saw. He was as tough as the sole of a boot and in spite of his age won two important
lightweight boxing contests open to the whole Division. He kept Mary, the fine roan
mare he soon got hold of, in show condition and his harness was always a picture.
Our Battery Sergeant Major was a superb specimen of the efficient professional senior
N. C. O. After 22 years service there was literally no department of military proficiency
that he had not got at his finger-tips. He was a very kindly human character, "a holy
