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RANGE and FLANDERS
Four War Years
in
Poem and Story
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H. R. H. The Prince of Wales landing
AT Reed's Point, St. John, N. B., on
the morning op august 15, 1919.
The Duke of Devonshire is shown
stepping forward to greet the
Royal Visitor as he sets foot for
THE first time ON CANADIAN SOIL.
FRANCE & FLANDERS
Four Years Experience
Told in Poem 6f Story
By Sapper W. Brindle
With Souvenir Photographs of
the Visit of H. R. H. The Prince of Wales
to St. John, New Brunswick
August 15, 1919
□
Pub(Mh«d by S. K. SMITH. St. John. N. B.. Canada
J. Is! A McMillan
PaiNTIRS
Copyrifht 1919
♦
Eotervd according to the
Act ol Parliament under the Department
ol Agriculturt. November 1, 1919
.ap«7?^/kJf^T. .awiwi^.iiaTJAW FTWAg
'"^^iii
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
SINCE reaching home it has been the oft expressed
wish of my many friends that I would put into book
form the varied experiences through which I have
passed since my departure from the home city and
during my stay in the land of War and Desolation.
As I sit in my study thinking the matter over, what
a task it does seem to be sure, for one utterly unaccus-
tomed to literary work, to attempt to place upon a few
leaves of a book, the happenings of three and a half
years spent on the greatest battlefield of the ages.
If the opinions of those who have from time to time
read my letters is worth anything, I have the ability
to tell a story in an interesting fashion, and as I have a
story to tell, which I fully believe will repay the reader
for the time he spends over it, I have decided to make
the attempt, and if the result does not as a literary
eflFort meet the expectations of the reader, I trust it will
at least have served to pass pleasantly an otherwise idle
moment, as the writing of these incidents and verses
helped to make the time pass more pleasantly for me
midst the mud and slush of Flanders and FVance.
W. B.
PUBLISHER'S PREFACE
IT having been my privilege to edit and place before the
public during the time of his service overseas, absorb-
ing letters written by Sapper W. Brindle containing
proof in themselves that the writer possessed no little
literary ability, together with a wonderful gift of descrip-
tion, I suggested to him on his return that these letters
should be collected and published in book form. In the
manuscript he submitted to me, however, he offered
jnaterial for a much more pretentious volume than a
mere reprint of letters already published in the daily
press. By reference to his diary and by effort of memory
he has compiled a running account of experiences in
France and Flanders covering nearly four years, and has
touched the high lights of the Canadian campaign.
His verse may not always follow the rule of metre, but
requires no apologist. The war, it has been said, failed
signally to produce any great j^ poems, with one or two
striking exceptions, and these which follow in the pages
of this book, many of them written on the battlefield
within range of the enemy's guns, have at least the virtue
of being an attempt at portrayal of actual war scenes as
witnessed by a grizzled veteran doing his duty from day
to day, rather than mere poetic flights of fancy. We
leave them to the reader's kind consideration. As for the
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
prose, it deals with the accomplishments of the Canadian
Overseas Railway Construction Corps and the writer has
performed a valuable service in thus putting on record the
achievements of a unit which trained in St. John and
which took such an important part in the winning of the
war from the broad standpoint of the Allied cause.
S. K. S.
INDEX
□
Chapter Page
1. Fighting Myself 1
2. Training and Work in England 3
3. Our Corps 7
4. Off to France U
5. Meeting Old Friends 15
6. What Happened in Bergues 22
7. On the Move 27
8. Huns Driven Back 3]
9. lifeless Destruction 39
10. Peace and Plenty 43
11. A Stirring Sight and After 48
12. Sammy Puts One Over '. 52
13. The Push 59
14. The Huns' Worst 67
15. Marking Time 73
16. Canadian?* at Play and Work 75
FIGHTING MYSELF
WHEN war was declared in August, 1914, I was
just as enthusiastic as anyone could be, but I
persuaded myself that I was too old at the age
of 45 to think of enlisting for a struggle which I felt
sure would not by any means take on the feature of a
triumphant procession to Berlin.
Later on, when things began to assume a more serious
aspect for us than we anticipated, I could still console
myself with the thought that there were many young
fellows to go before my turn came, and so I contri-
buted as I was able, towards the comfort of those who
had gone.
There came a time, however, a little later, when I could
no longer satisfy myself that I had done all that was re-
quired of me, though I had given of my means, and as-
sisted in the recruiting campaign. When Turkey and
Bulgaria went against us, and decided to throw in their
lot with Germany, I felt the time had come when every
able bodied man would be called upon to do his bit, and
so though I had added another year to my age in the
meantime, I faced the doctor and feverishly awaited his
verdict.
My wish was to go with the infantry in order to be near
my three boys who had already joined the 64th and 115th,
but I could not meet the eye test, and so was disappointed
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
in that. I offered myself for any other branch of the
service where I could fit in, and in less than a month from
that date, I was notified by telegram to present myself
at Montreal in three days time, to be fitted out for
overseas.
I had three weeks hard training there, and left for
England on the 20th of November, 1915, and landed at
Pljmdouth after an uneventful voyage, on the 20th. The
first man to grip my hand as I went down the gang way
was Capt., now Major Ronald McAvity who was trans-
portation officer at that port at the time.
TRAINING AND WORK IN
ENGLAND
WE pulled into Plymouth late at night, and had
breakfast at five o'clock next morning, and
leaving the boat at eight o'clock, we took the
train for Longmoor Camp in Hampshire, which camp is
situated in the heart of the New Forest where Robin
Hood and his merry men were wont to hang out, and
live on the best of the King's fat deer. We reached this
place a little after twelve o'clock the same night, and
as no supper had been provided for us, and we had par-
taken of nothing on the way but a sandwich handed to
us when we left the boat, and a bun and a cup of coffee
kindly served out to us at the station by the good ladies
of Exeter, you may be sure we did full justice to our
breakfast next morning.
The camp where we were to make our home for the
next month belonged to the Royal Engineers, the Corps
that gave us the late Lord Kitchener and many another
famous general.
There was a military railway in the camp, run by the
soldiers, and on the long stretches of level ground where
the stately pines had been felled to make clearings for
parade grounds, rifle ranges, etc., we along with thousands
of others had our final training. Bramshot, Liphook,
Liss, Borden, Aldershot, Witley, and many villages for
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
a distance of twenty miles around, were filled with soldiers,
cavalry, infantry and artillery — whilst Famham was the
training centre for airmen, and many a youngster who
first handled the joy sticks here, became a veritable
terror to the Huns later on.
When we had been in England three weeks, my name
appeared on a draft of twenty-five men to proceed to
France on Christmas Day, and in consequence, I was
given five days' leave, to visit the members of my family
in the north, so had a trip of some 250 miles diagonally
across country, and on return to camp was disappointed
to find the draft had been cancelled indefinitely.
The last day of December, 1915, found us on our way
to Newcastle-on-Tyne, the largest city in the north of
England, where there is much shipbuilding and large
iron industries are carried on. Our work here was to
connect up the ammunition factories with the main lines
of railway, put in sidings and yards for the quicker
handling of the war stores turned out from this very
busy centre.
Newcastle gave us a great reception, when we reached
there, and most of our men were quickly adopted by
some family for the week ends. The newspapers printed
articles about the Canadian railway builders who had
come amongst them for a little while, and when we got
to work on our first job, many were the comments on the
way we did our work, and the speed with which the work
grew in the hands of our efficient officers and our thor-
oughly competent rank and file. The work done at
Blaydon, Birtley and other places around will long be
remembered, and is spoken of as examples of what can
be done by the hardy Canadian railway man. The old
commandment "Six days shalt thou labour" was duly
carried out by us, and we were surely tired as each
Saturday came.
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
It was not all work, however; we had our evenings
and week ends, when we were invited to homes, churches,
entertainments and concerts, and some of our men
found their way to some of the beauty spots of nature,
which are very plentiful around here, with members of
the fair sex, and there told them the story that never
grows old, and some of these soldiers now that the war
is over, are showing the same ladies the beauties of our
fair Canada. There were many things here to remind
us of the grim business which brought us so far from
home and kindred, the uniformed men on the streets,
who were here in training, and others who had already
been maimed in the first bitter onslaught of the great
struggle. Then there were the shaded lights in the
stores and on the street, and the air raid warning which
several times sounded out while we were there, and
on three occasions we heard the engines of the Zeppelins
as they sailed over head in the dark. No bombs were
dropped here, however, but other places on the coast
were not so fortunate as the following lines will show:
The Air Raid
In a quiet little street.
In a quiet little town,
In a quiet English seaside place.
Played a happy band of children,
In a quiet little game.
And peace was on each happy little face.
Said a quiet little girl.
In a quiet little way.
To her quiet little chum by her side,
"I hear a strange noise way up in the sky,"
And the children ceased their play
F R A N 'C E AND FLANDERS
To follow where she pointed,
With a quiet little finger on high.
Then a quiet little bomb
From a quiet aeroplane,
Fell down in a quiet little way,
And death came with it.
And it fell rushing down.
And landed with a crash,
On that quiet little town.
Where those quiet little girls were at play.
As each fond little mother
Rushed out to the door,
She gazed on destruction dire,
For she saw each little daughter
Lying quiet on the ground.
Some were dead, others maimed.
Some on fire.
And the fathers coming home.
In the quiet peaceful eve.
On that very quiet summer's day.
Heard the quiet sound of weeping
And the murmur of the dying.
From those quiet little forms
As they lay.
And this is Hunnish Kulture
And these scenes are oft repeated.
In these quiet little seaside towns.
Along the northern English coast.
Along the peaceful downs.
We stayed in Newcastle till the end of February and
then were drafted to France to join our Corps which had
been there since September.
OUR CORPS
IN the early stages of the war, it was found that the
Belgian, French and English troops were sadly handi-
capped by the lack of railway facilities, as the exist-
ing lines were scarcely sufficient to meet the needs of
industry in peace times, and when troops and supplies
had to be rushed into position, the railway system then
in existence proved utterly inadequate to meet the
demands made upon it, one factor which hastened the
retreat from Mons. Canada hastily put into the field
her first contingent of infantry, and so quickly was the
work done, that the attention of the British government
was arrested by it, and those in authority came to the
conclusion that the Dominion which had so readily
responded to the Empire's need for fighting men, could
be depended upon to raise in a similar way a corps of ex-
perienced railway men, who could give as good an account
of themselves on the fields of France and Flanders.
A request for such a corps was cabled to Ottawa,
made known to the C P R., and a warrant for the forma-
tion of the corps was granted in February, 1915, the
unit being known as the Canadian Railway Construction
Corps, under command of Lieut.-Col. C. W. P. Ramsay.
The corps began to organize in March at St. John, and
the body of 500 men sailed for overseas on June 15, 1915,
two days after the 26th Battalion, and consisted of the
FRANCE AND F L A N D E R S
very best and most skillful men the Canadian railway
sjrstem had to give. The foregoing statement is vouched
for by the fact that 170 commissions were given to its
members in the field, in addition to promotions to those
who already held commissioned rank.
Lt.-Col. Ramsay became Brig.-General, Major Reid
Lt.-Col., and 0. C. of the corps; Major Hervey became
0. C. of the 4th C. R. T. ; Capt, Grant second in command
of the 5th C. R. T., whilst many of the N. C. O.'s rose even
to such heights as colonels of Canadian and Imperial
troops.
It was to just such a corps as this that I was drafted
in November, 1915, and with which I served until the
armistice was signed, leaving then for home on the 22nd
of December, 1918, and reaching home on the 24th of
February, 1919.
The Bugles of Empire
The Bugles of Empire had sounded
The call had been given to advance,
And many brave men who responded.
Lay dead now in Flanders and France.
That brave little army of Britons
Hurled back by the merciless Hun,
Now lay in a fresh line of trenches,
Awaiting the help that should come.
A cry went out from the homeland
That surged like a wave to the shores
Of Canada, New Zealand, Australia,
Where men delved for rich, shining ores.
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
And down went the pick and the shovel,
Down went the rake and the hoe,
And big men who toiled on the farm lands
Got ready to answer, and go.
And many a man on his section,
And many a brave engineer,
As they laid track or drove the steel monster,
Oftimes felt their brave hearts filled with cheer.
For letters received from their mates there,
Way out in that war stricken land
Had told how, that shoulder to shoulder
Like heroes, their comrades now stand.
Some news just received a few days since,
Told how nobly the Canucks had stood
Till the last round of shot had been fired.
Then for Empire, gave life, limb and blood.
Reports also said how much different
The sad story might have been told.
Had there been just a few miles of railway
Over which shells and guns could be rolled.
In the roundhouse a keen driver waited
For the time to take over his train.
Said he, while the talk round him abated,
"Boys, this must never happen again."
"A big railway corps has been started.
Men from England, Scotland and Wales,
We'll drive the trains to the trenches.
Our trackmen shall lay down the rails."
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
A cheer shook the roof of the roundhouse.
The cheer wafted out o'er the track,
And down went the spike, maul and peevie,
As cheer after cheer answered back.
The corps was enrolled very quickly.
From B. C. to Newfoundland they came,
Handsome lads, brave and gayest of any,
To keep up the Empire's fame.
And they laid down the lines to the trenches,
From Dunkerque to old Kemmel hill,
By Poperinghe, Ypres, and Rhenninghelse
And many a car did they fill.
Big guns were sent up and erected.
And shells by the train load galore.
Trench mortars, and small ammunition.
The Canadians went forward once more.
They sprang in the breach at Givenchy,
They dashed to attack St. Eloi.
While the men who had given them the railway
Lay back, the great sight to enjoy.
The war is now ended, all over,
And the Boche if he wants it again.
Now knows he must take into reckoning,
The brave lads from over the main.
10
OFF TO FRANCE
THE last week in February, 1916, saw us all excited
getting ready to leave the city of Newcastle, for
the goal of every soldier's hopes — the blood-red
fields of France.
A draft of fifty men of which I was one left the first
week in March to join the corps which had been out
there for some three months.
We had a great send-off from the people of New-
castle, which place we left at 5.30 in the afternoon by
train, arriving at Folkestone next morning. About four
o'clock in the afternoon, we crossed the channel on one
of the many boats that were constantly rushing troops
across to the theatre of war.
We made Boulogne about 6.30, and were put into
barracks for the night. In the morning after breakfast
we were marched about three miles up a big hill to
get our goat skin coats and gas-masks, or P. H. helmets,
as they were called at that time. Boulogne is a very
pretty place, possessing quite a harbor, and doing a
good business in the fishing industry.
Away to the left of the station, some two miles along,
is a fine promenade and if you are fortunate enough to
be there on a Sunday afternoon, you will see just what the
PYench ladies can do in the way of dress, for that is
certainly "some" parade. Some two miles farther still,
11
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
is the sweetest little bathing place, Wimereaux by name.
It was one huge hospital during the war.
We left this place about noon on our way to the
front, and brought up late at night in the famous horse
shoe salient near Ypres. We found our corps, the
C. O. R. C. C. (Canadian Overseas Railway Construction
Corps), at work on a new line running right around the
whole salient from Abeele to Kemmel Hill. Our camp
was at Whippenhook, just outside Poperinghe, and the
line ran through this place by way of Dickebusch, La
Clyte and Rhenninghelse. This was a very unhealthy
spot in early 1916, as there was constant shelling of our
positions, and frequent use was made of cloud gas when
ever the wind was favorable. Our draft was portioned
off into the various companies, and it fell to my lot to
remain with headquarters, being allotted to the quarter-
master's department. Much of our work was done at
night with shaded lights, as we were past the daylight
limit with the line at this time. We had an armored
engine for taking up the train of cars with supplies,
and I would often go up with the night crew on
their runs.
One night riding along in the cab with the driver, he
showed me a spot, between Dickebusch and La Clyte
where the previous night, he had picked up a number
of wounded men who were making their way to the
dressing station. The Huns had been makirfg an at-
tack, and had been repulsed again as they often were
in that salient, by the stubborn resistance of our sturdy
Canadian boys who seemed to fear neither shells nor
gas, but I will tell you the story as it was told to me by
the driver.
12
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
The Engineer's Story
'Twas in the horse shoe salient,
Which, as everybody knows,
Wasn't famous as a health resort,
By reason of our foes.
For death lurked round old Poperinghe,
And gas belched forth from Ypres (heaps).
And shells shrieked over Rhenninghelse
That gave us all the creeps.
It grew to be my duty,
As each night came along.
To climb into the engine cab
And listen to their song.
My run was out of Whippenhook,
Around to Kemmel Hill,
Through Dickebusch, and by La Clyte,
With rock to make a fill.
One night while running of the train,
I saw along the track
A little chap all bleeding, torn.
Creep out from the attack.
His left hand gone above the wrist.
His right foot blown away.
And tied up in a sand bag.
The bleeding stopped with clay.
I pulled back the old engine,
And jumped down in a trice,
I thought to take him into camp.
But judqe of my surprise,
13
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
When with a smile he feebly said,
Don't waste your time on me,
Just run a mile along the track,
And many worse you'll see.
"If you've a fag, just light it, please.
And pass it on to me.
And I'll go on, and so must you,
The day is breaking, see!"
I parted with the little chap.
And found as he had said,
A bunch of fellows down the line.
With wounds in limb and head.
I brought them in to our first aid.
And found my little chap,
With foot and wrist, all neatly bound,
And ready for a nap.
Thus have the boys, with splendid grit
Shown of the stuff they're made.
Their fame now fills the whole wide world.
May their memory never fade.
Many sights such as these were seen round this
salient, day after day, as our own forces and those of the
enemy struggled for the mastery.
14
MEETING OLD FRIENDS
1 HEARD one day that the 26th were out resting
about five kilometers away, so walked out to see
them, and found them at Locre near Kemmel Hill,
and renewed acquaintances with many of the officers
and men.
Their Fathers' Sons
I stood in the streets of old St. John,
On the shore of Fundy's bay,
And saw a crowd of soldiers
Like happy boys at play.
They had heard the call of the Empire,
And put the khaki on,
Had done their bit of training,
And were eager to be gone.
They marched along with a swinging pace.
And laughed and sang with glee,
As they trooped aboard the transport.
To sail across the sea.
I saw them again on England's shores.
Mid the din of war's alarms,
They were much smarter now at forming a squad.
Into fours, about turn, sloping arms.
15
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
They had done well at shooting,
Could throw well the bomb
As if a baseball it had been,
And didn't they shout when the general said, "Bojrs
You are fit for the front now, I ween."
Then they laughed and they joked
As they marched back to camp,
A smarter bunch never was seen.
It was many months after,
I saw them in France,
With their brothers of Britain and Gaul,
They had come out of action.
Where bullet and shell, like snowfiakes,
In winter did fall.
They were now just a handful.
For many poor lads who went with them.
Had failed to come back.
Yet they laughed and they sang
As they had done before they went out.
To that awful attack.
I asked me this question
Of my chum by my side.
For I had donned khaki ere this,
"How is it the boys can joke, laugh, and sing
As if there was nothing amiss."
Said he: "My dear comrade, there's one reason why,
The boys are light hearted and gay
They are sons of their fathers,
And all the world knows
'Twas ever their fathers' way to laugh and to joke.
When troubles loom large.
As the boys are still doing today."
16
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John's Youth and
THE Prince.
Immediately following the inspection of
the guard of honor commanded by Capt.
R. A. Major, M.C., H. R. H. The Prince
of Wales on the occasion of his visit to
St. John, August 15, 1919, was greeted
by hundreds of singing school children
massed on a specially constructed grand-
stand, as seen in the picture opposite, with
D. Arnold Fox as director. While the last
song was being sung a group of young ladies,
dressed in white, with wreaths of maple
leaves around their foreheads and carrying
shields bearing the arms of the various
provinces, appeared through an opening in
the stand and advanced and made a curtesy
to the Prince. As each young lady reached
the edge of the platform and bowed, the
Prince saluted. Those taking part in the
tableau and their representations were
as follows: St. John City, Miss Rhona
Lloyd; New Brunswick, Miss Elizabeth
Foster; Nova Scotia, Miss Alice Hayes;
Prince Edward Island, Miss Ollie Golding;
Quebec, Miss Inez Ready; Ontario, Miss
Ethel Powell; Manitoba, Miss Phyllis
Kenney; Saskatchewan, Miss Catherine
McAvity; Alberta, Miss Jean Anderson;
British Columbia, Miss Grace Kuhring;
Northwest Territories, Miss Kathleen Stur-
dee, and the Yukon, Miss Dorothy Blizzard.
The tableau was arranged under the direc-
tion of Miss Grace Kuhring.
The photographer has caught St. John,
represented by Miss Lloyd, in the act of
beckoning the provinces of Canada forward
to meet the Prince. Standing behind the
young ladies are the school principals, of
whom R. R. Cormier and W. L. McDiarmid
can be recognized in the picture, while
George E. Day, member of the School
Board having charge of the children's
celebration, is seen standing between the
young ladies representing Alberta and
Quebec
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
On my way back to camp again, I met a friend from the
city who went over with the first contingent, and he told
me many stories of the hardships the first crowd had to
endure. I have tried to reproduce something of what
he told me in the following:
The Soldier's Story
Was I out to the war, Why sure, sir,
For who could stay back there at home,
When the country one loves is in danger.
And the Hun threatens Empire and home.
I went out with the very first crowd, sir,
That sailed from fair Canada's shore.
And we had but few weeks to get ready.
The motherland needed us sore.
For the Hun had swept out across Belgium,
And over fair France like a blight.
Sweeping everything living before them.
Bright day soon became darkest night.
For oh, sir, the changes they wrought there,
Where all had been peace and content,
'Twas hard to believe less you'd seen it.
And yet it was clearly intent.
For churches and homes ground to powder,
Really couldn't have happened by chance,
Slain children, old men, outraged women.
Marked the road of that awful advance.
We first meet the monsters at "Plug Street,"
And oh, what a time we had there,
For whilst they had guns in abundance,
Our own we soon found were too rare.
17
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
And yet, sir, we held them quite firmly,
Nor could they break through our thin line,
And oh, weren't we proud when Sir Douglas,
Said, "Boys, you Canadians are fine."
But oh, sir, 'twas hard in the trenches.
With the mud from your feet to your waist,
In those days no dry, cosy dugouts,
Our trenches were dug in great haste.
And yet, sir, most of us lived through it,
Though many will never return,
As you see, sir, I left my best leg there.
To do without it, I'll soon learn.
I know that I played a man's part there,
For two years, a month and a day.
While many who might have been with us.
Cheered war films each night at the play.
Well, it's far easier cheering than fighting.
But if a hard job must be done,
I'd much "rather play the part of a man
Than act like a coward and run.
That's the kind of stuff of which the boys of the first
contingent were made, and the boys who held on to that
same Ypres salient in spite of cloud-gas and liquid flame
projectors.
Whilst in this salient, I was privileged to see many
thrilling air fights, and too often our fellows had to fight
against too great odds, for the German air force certainly
held the supremacy in point of numbers and in better
machines in those early days. In spite of this fact,
however, our boys often came off victorious against
tremendous odds.
18
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
It was just here on Easter Tuesday, 1916, that I
had my first experience of an air raid and if I said I
enjoyed myself I am afraid it would not be as near the
truth as I like to get. Our corps had moved away to a
new job some few days before, and a sergeant and I were
left behind in charge of the store cars. At that time we
were living on the rail, in the box cars that contained
our various stores and material, but the rest of the corps
occupied two huge huts in a field some two hundred
yards up the road.
We had six big cars, and when the crowd moved
away, it was found impossible to get an engine to take
us along until eight days later. At 3.30 o'clock in the
morning, three planes came over, and circling around
the cars dropped some fifteen bombs around, but not one
found its mark; one fell in the grounds of a hospital about
a mile away, and started in a blaze. I ran over to see
if the hospital was hit, but found the fire to be in a heap
of rubbish in the grounds. When I got back to my car
there was an exploded bomb just in front of the door.
I certainly blessed the fellow who left the defective fuse
in that bomb.
About 7.30 that same morning one of our own planes
was seen painfully making its way back to its hangar.
The following story told by the observer will explain
the reason of his disabled condition.
Wings R. F. C.
He was just a mere kid, not yet reached his twenty.
But brave as they're making them now.
He already had many brave deeds to his credit,
But this is the best one, I vow.
19
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
He went up that morning just as it broke daylight,
To spy out the lay of the land,
Where the Hun had his trenches, his guns and munitions^
Such was his flight captain's command.
Did he think of the danger, why no, 'twere unlike him.
To take these things into account,
He had his chief's orders, so nothing more worried,
Straight upward he quickly did mount.
He climbed in a spiral, till height he had plenty.
Then struck o'er the trenches like bird on the wing,
Till twelve thousand feet o'er the lines of the Boches,
He swooped to three hundred, a venturesome thing.
He rose like a swallow, then dipped out of gunshot.
The observer snapshotted the whole of the trench,
His film had found out the machine guns laid ready,
A few miles of land with our boys' blood to drench.
His job neatly done, he turned his nose homeward.
With joy in his heart, and peace in his soul.
But 'twas too soon to whistle, for scarce had he started.
When seven Hun battle planes 'neath him did roll.
Was he scared? not a bit, for instead of retreating.
He drew their attention by opening a drum.
And sweeping right over the whole of the seven.
He let go his Lewis; things started to hum.
It was not very long till two out of action,
Dropped down through the air, and lit with a crash.
He turned for a nose dive, then quickly recovered.
And of the whole seven he made quite a hash.
20
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
The observer noticed the head of Wings falHng,
And asked in alarm, "Are you hurt, old chap?"
He feebly replied, "Oh, hang it, it's nothing,
I'll steer the ship home, then I don't care a rap."
And surely enough he just managed to do it.
And landed us safely without a mishap,
But when you remember his right arm was shattered,
'Tie clear that our Wings is a brave little chap.
We left Belgium that same day and crossed the border
into France. The Canadian cyclists had taken over the
camp vacated by our boys, and the German planes
coming over in the afternoon dropped several bombs,
one of which fell on the camp and inflicted a number of
casualties.
21
AT the close of a beautiful spring day, we found
ourselves outside the gates of the quaintest,
most old - fashioned town I have ever seen
before or since. The little town of Bergues, with its
five thousand population, dates back to the seventh
century, and still maintains many of its old traditions.
The old moat still surrounds its high, straight walls, the
gateways, drawbridges and portcullis are still in use.
The drawbridge is pulled in at 8.00 p.m. in winter and
9.00 P.M. in summer, when those outside must stay out
till morning, and all inside must remain in.
We were the only British troops in the vicinity, and
when the inhabitants learned we were Canadians nothing
.was too good for us. It was quite an agreeable change
to get away from the mud and desolation of Belgium,
and spend a time in a place untouched by the war; here
was no destroyed village or town, no desolation. The
country around was really fine, and as the spring emerged
into glorious summer it became a perfect treat to wander
through the leafy lanes, the fields of waving com, and
rich pasture land, to explore its ancient chateau and
old villages, and hear some old grandfather tell of the
bygone time, when the king held court in the neighbor-
hood, or visited some of the great folks with his gaily
dressed retinue.
Our work here consisted in putting in a length of
line connecting two main lines and with the object of
22
FRANCE .'f N D FLANDERS
shortening the time in bringing up supplies by about
twenty-four hours, quite a consideration at this time.
Whilst here our company No. 2 put several bridges
across the Yser, and did some smart work in other ways,
for which they were highly complimented. They were
located for a time at a place we called International
Comer, and it was "some" hot spot. The cars were just
outside a wood in which a battery of our heavies were
concealed, and what with the barking of the guns when
in action and the bursting of enemy shells trying to
silence our guns, it was no place for a tired man to
sleep. I spent one or two nights here, but got no sleep.
We lost quite a few men who were laboring for us here,
English labor battalions, but were fortunate in losing
none of our own men.
We should have spent a most happy time here had
it not been for the frequency of the air raids, of which we
had a superabundance. Often and often we have had
them three and four times in one night, and night after
night for weeks on end.
We had many close calls with our trains here, as we
were all living in cars now, and as we had a long string
of about forty of these cars, they were quite easily found
by the photographic planes. They could also be readily
located at night, as we were using sand ballast on our
work, and under a bright moon the track lay like a
broad yellow ribbon. To make matters worse we had
not a thing with which to defend ourselves, no anti air-
craft or machine gun.
On a beautiful night in June three raiders came over,
and the sentry on the church tower in the town had
either gone to sleep or was not sufficiently attentive, but
he failed to ring the bell in alarm, and we only became
conscious of the presence of the enemy by the crashing
of the first bomb just outside the town, and a number of
23
FRANCE AND F L A N D E R S
French soldiers making a dash from their billet into a
cellar were caught in the doorway by the second bomb,
and nine were killed. They were buried next day in
a straight row, side by side, in the pretty little cemet«y
inside the town gate. The sentry was court-martialed
and paid the penalty for his carelessness. Two nights
later in another raid, when five machines came over
three times in one night, one bomb got three cars of
our train, but luckily one was the second munitions stores,
the other the cooking car, and the third in which men
were sleeping was the least damaged, three men being
badly injured.
Bergues was only nine kilometers or five and one-half
miles from Dunkerque, a fair sized seaport which was
one of our submarine bases, and a port into which much
cross channel shipping came. I often walked along
the canal bank on a Sunday morning when off duty,
got dinner in the city, and walked out another two
miles to a quiet little bathing and summer resort, Malo,
from the beach of which place we could see the white
cliflfs of Dover on a clear day.
It was an everyday sight here to see the French and
British seaplanes rising from the water on their practise
stunts, and landing again when coming in. I went
one day, and saw three FYench planes flying around and
doing a multitude of stunts in the air, such as circling
round the tower of the church, looping the loop and fly-
ing wrong side up. After a spell over the town, the three
struck out over the harbor, and coming back some ten
minutes later, I found they had been joined by a fourth.
They flew around in company twice or three times,
and passing out to sea again one of them swooped down
low over the harbor, and released three bombs in quick
succession, aimed evidently at the submarines and gun-
boats resting there. None of them were damaged,
24
F R /f N C E /f N n FLANDERS
however, but one bomb landed on the wharf and killed
nine people and wounded fourteen. The admiral's
chauffeur was sitting in the automobile waiting for the
admiral to come on shore, and one piece went clean
through the door, and passing along both his legs took
them off as if with a knife. I went over to the hospital
to help with the dressing of the wounded.
The plane which dropped the bombs "beat it" out to
sea, followed by the other three, where he was brought
down and both pilot and observer lost their lives. It
appears it was a French plane that had fallen into the
hands of the Germans, and the daring aviator had con-
ceived the idea of slipping in unnoticed and working
havoc with the shipping in the harbor.
On another occasion I was in Dunkerque on business
for the corps and an air raid took place which had rather
serious results for the town, as stores and houses were
destroyed.
One bomb fell right in front of a big department store
similar to M. R. A.'s of this city and the explosion made
a hole some fifteen feet deep, cutting through the water
and gas main both, and it was a curious sight to see a
jet of water and one of fire rising many feet in the air side
by side. The store, of course, was completely wrecked.
The middle of August found us bidding good-bye to
the hospitable people of Bergues, and on the move to
the little town of Bray Dunnes on the Belgian coast
border. We had used thousands of carloads of sand for
ballast on the work we had been doing so far, and our
steam shovel had made great inroads into the sand
dunes of this coast, and still more rails were required to
run the shovel closer to its work, and to allow more cars
being used to send the sand along.
We stayed here some three weeks, and much enjoyed
ourselves. It had been part of my duty all this time to
25
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
go with the Q.M.S. each morning to draw the daily
rations for our crowd, taking a three-ton motor lorry
for the purpose, and every third morning taking an
extra lorry for hay and oats and petrol. We had about
fifty head of horse of the C.A.S.C. attached to us at
this time. We drew our rations from the little station
yard at Castre, sometimes from the train, and some-
times the articles were dumped in piles on the ground,
when the lifting of bales of hay, sacks of oats and cases
of petrol became hard work for a man of small stature.
One rainy day I slipped on the wet yard with a heavy
case on my shoulder, and in seeking to regain my equili-
brium I displaced some internal organs which caused me
intense pain. I fainted twice after getting back to
camp, and late at night collapsed completely. Our own
doctor gave me two injections of morphine and took me
away to hospital in his own automobile to Malo, some
five miles away, where I was examined and strapped up
like an Egyptian mummy, and when I regained con-
sciousness in the morning I found myself in the most
pleasant surroundings imaginable. The hospital was
run by the Friends Ambulance Unit, men and women of
the Quaker persuasion who could not serve in the ranks
as soldiers, and thus cause suffering and death, but who
were willing to do what they could to save life and
alleviate suffering. One of the orderlies in my ward
was a son of the Rowntree cocoa firm.
Whilst there I saw much suffering caused by painful
wounds received in action on both land and sea, many
patients being brought in from our gunboat, torpedo
and other craft making Dunkerque their base.
26
ON THE MOVE
WHEN I rejoined my corps a month later, I found
them moved to a place on the French canal
system named St. Pierrebrook. By this time
the cry for more shells had reached England with such
persistence as to cause Lloyd George, now the British
premier, to come out from the realm of politics and enter
the business arena, and reorganize the whole munition
machinery then existing, so as to increase production,
to convert already existing machinery that was turning
out peace time merchandise into shell making plants.
At the same time. Sir Eric Geddes under the premier's
direction, was organizing a much quicker method of
getting the shells up to the front line. It was for this
purpose that we were sent to the latter place to
construct a large wharf on the canal, and a large
material yard a mile away in which was used fifty
miles of steel.
When our work was completed it was possible to tow
the deep-sea barges direct from the English rivers to the
French canal, without the delay of loading and unloading
to and from train and boat in England and to and from
barge at the French port of landing, thus saving two and
often three days in transit. Two months here saw the
job well and faithfully done, and we had the congratula-
tions of those in authority.
27
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
While this work had been carried out with half our
men and headquarters, and the help of a battalion of
labor troops given to us for the purpose (the 12th Royal
West Surrey's)-, our No. 2 company was engaged in a very
important piece of work, the construction of another large
material yard at Audreiuq in which was used many miles
of steel.
With increased railway facilities it was found that
the rolling stock in the hands of the French and Belgians
was not sufficient for the needs of this time, so our men
were set the task of building one thousand steel railway
cars to be used in transporting munitions from the canal
wharf already spoken of, to the various parts of the Brit-
ish line, and so well and quickly was the work done that
the building of another five hundred was decided upon.
I have seen many of these cars since, riddled like
pepper casters with enemy shot and shell and flying
splinters as they carried along food for the guns with
which to blast their way through the Somme defences
and the supposedly impregnable Hindenburg line. Whilst
working on this job, our fellows had a rather unpleasant
experience which happened as follows:
There had been stacked in the yard huge piles of shells
of different sizes, to the amount of some 20,000 tons,
and one night a solitary German plane returning from an
attack on Dunkerque with a couple of bombs to spare,
dropped them on the yard, and one of them fell on a
stack of big shells and started them going, and the whole
yard went up in explosion after explosion, that tore off
the roofs of the houses in town, broke all the windows,
and shattered many walls. Fortunately unlike Halifax
there were few deaths, but quite a few suffered wounds.
The incident furnished a lesson for those in authority,
as no more shells were stacked in such big piles, or so
close together again.
28
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
It was now the end of October, and preparation was
steadily going on for the spring offensive which began
again on the Somme in 1917, and we were warned to be
in readiness to move at any time. About the middle
of November we began to pack up our machinery and
materials, and the first week in December we got our
orders to move on to Pushvillers near Candus, where
we put in a week or two on maintenance, and then began
the line which took us over the Somme. There was
much heavy fighting going on at this time, and ground
was gained more by the yard than the mile. Our heavies
were pounding at the reinforced concrete defences around
Mailley Maillet, Serre and Pusieux, the woods of that sec-
tion, Saare wood, Trones wood, Delville wood, and others
were being searched with great diligence by our artillery
in positions around Souastre, Courcelles, Collin Camps, etc.
Christmas, 1916, came around and having heard where
the second division was, I asked for a two-day pass and
started out to find my boys; one had been drafted from the
115th to the 24th, and the other from the 140th to the 25th.
The first part of my journey was by train to Bethune,
but the train pulled up at a small station three miles outside
the town, and the PYench authorities refused to let the train
proceed , as the Germans were shelling Bethune. They gave
us the option of walking to our destination, or returning by
the same train. I had started out to see the boys and de-
cided to go on. Arriving in the town, I found the enemy was
searching the town with one gun at three-minute intervals.
Passing along one of the streets, I heard a most
unearthly shriek overhead, and the next moment a
terrible explosion followed, and the front of a three-story
house went sailing into the air carrying part of the furni-
ture with it. All the afternoon high explosive shells con-
tinued to fall in the town. Much damage was done and
there was some loss of life. Bethune was a pretty place
29
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
of about 60,000 inhabitants and was later on in the war
set on fire and pretty well burned up.
I continued my journey through New-le-Mines Hirsin
and on to Bully Grenay. Passing through real war land,
from Hirsin onward, the roads were packed with every con-
ceivable kind of transport, all going into or out of the line.
At this time of the year mud and slush were every-
where. No snow had yet fallen, but considerable rain
had descended, and the ditches were well filled and in
many places overflowing the roads, many of which had
been constructed as emergency roads, and had no solid
bottom. These were very soon veritable quagmires and
made walking very unpleasant, and it was no uncommon
sight to see motor lorries, automobiles, etc., which having
ventured too near the edge of the road had slithered into
the ditch. Along such roads as this I made my way for
fifteen kilometers, and it was pitch dark when I reached
the village of Fossend, where I found the eldest boy and
passed the night in his billet. After night fell, it became
difficult to get along, the traffic going every way filled
the roads, and the guns on both sides continually firing
shells overhead. The very lights and French rockets
that were being sent up all along the line contributed
to make one of the most hideous evenings I have ever
experienced, and when I reached my destination at 9.30,
after walking from two o'clock I assure you I felt good
and tired, and lost no time in getting to sleep on the bare
floor of an empty bedroom, that is empty of all furni-
ture. There were already fourteen sleeping there and I
made the fifteenth, but I have slept in worse places since.
Next day being Christmas Day, I saw the R. S. M.
early, and secured the boy's release for the day, and we
went in search of the younger boy, and found him in a
little town some three miles away. He, too, was granted
a day's leave, and together we had a real good time.
30
HUNS DRIVEN BACK
JANUARY and February, 1917, were marked by much
heavy fighting with but little gain, but one Sunday
morning in March after three days' heavy bombard-
ment of the enemy position by our artillery, we had
orders to stand to, as our forward positions had lost
touch with the enemy.
During the Saturday night there had been a very
heavy fog, and the enemy had taken advantage of it to
effect their retreat from a position that had become too
hot for them to hold. Our cavalry was sent out to
establish touch with him, and found he had retreated to
a depth of ten miles on a twenty-mile front, and on the
Monday morning we had orders to bring on the line as
quickly as possible, so that supplies might be brought
up with all possible speed.
Our corps had already carried the new line from
Puschvillers through Raineheval, Bertrancourt and Belle
Eglise to Acheux, where there was a large aerodrome,
and we became quite well acquainted with some of the
boys who were there. One in particular was a smart
little chap, and the following will give you one of his days:
A Picnic in France
You may talk about your picnics,
And your days down by the sea,
Of your shies at old Aunt Sally
And your marlocks with the girls;
31
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
Of your funny Punch and Judy,
And your crafty fortune teller,
Of your sport upon the skating rink.
And the ballroom's giddy whirls.
But now I want to tell you
Of a real prime piece of fun
A chap may have while
Serving at the front.
Just join the Royal Flying Corps,
They'll quickly teach you how
To do a real comic little stunt.
A pilot of the R. F. C.
Went on his daily round.
He had on board a bunch of little bombs,
He dropped them on a battery
Belonging to the Huns,
Then struck for home.
In fear of getting glommed.
With this he wasn't satisfied.
So started out again.
This time he met a squad of German planes.
He got well up above them.
Then he opened up his gun.
And got three from the squadron
For his pains.
The other two he shattered.
And as he felt quite fresh.
He looked around
In search of further spoil.
He spied a group of Fritzies
Amassing in the rear,
At sight of which his blood began to boil,
He fixed into his Lewis,
Another little drum.
And dropping from his dizzy height above
32
bi.
laoAiaiiiOaHT
• fi aie V
I'll Oil} 8«W
..Am
jdJ id
^ fToifjlI
w
iH
..a
■a
>o
a
I
■of
\o
T. .Q .1 ..I ba£ .l-fi^.'iom
'■ ' .^iiO nriot
The Official Dinner at the Union Club.
"I am a Canadian in mind and spirit"
was the ringing message of H. R. H. the
Prince of Wales in making his first dinner
address on his recent tour of Canada, given
by the Province of New Brunswick at the
Union Club, St. John, N. B. A flashlight
photograph taken by G. D, Davidson,
shows the distinguished guests at the head
of the table on this memorable occasion.
On the Prince's right are in order: Hon.
W. E. Foster, Premier of New Brunswick;
His Excellency The Duke of Devonshire,
Governor-General of Canada; Hon. Wm.
Pugs ley, Lieutenant-Governor of New
Brunswick; Sir Lionel Halsey, Chief-of-
Staff to His Royal Highness; Sir Douglas
Hazen, Chief Justice of New Brunswick.
On the Prince's left are Sir Robert L.
Borden, Premier of Canada; His Lordship
Bishop Richardson; Hon. Carl Milliken,
Governor of Maine, and Hon. H. A. Mc-
Keown, Chief Justice King's Bench Divi-
sion, New Brunswick Supreme Court.
In the foreground on the inner side of the
long tables are C. B. Lockhart, Collector
of Customs; A. B. Copp, M.P. for West-
morland, and L. P. D. Tilley, M.P.P., St.
John City.
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
He raked the gathering masses.
With the bullets that were in it,
Then sailed away as gentle as a dove.
Thus sailing low behind the lines
He spied a motor car,
And saw the ensign of the German staff.
He turned his gun upon it,
As he flew lower still
And on that car he put up quite a strafe.
He must now be getting homeward,
The light began to fade.
But still he had another drum in stock.
He spied just in the distance
A mass of gathering men,
And hailed them with a joyous German "hoch."
They gladly hailed him back again.
But soon they wished they hadn't.
When he opened up his gun
They had a shock.
Now that's the kind of picnic,
You get in Northern France,
More funny, too, than fooling with the girls,
Or sweating on the skating rink.
Or shying for cigars,
Or turning in the dance's giddy whirl.
From Acheux on to Collin Camps our line had ex-
tended, and we had reached the neighborhood of Euston
Dump, which many of the returned boys will remember
we occupied when the retreat of the spring of 1917 took
place. We had now to continue the line over the Serre
ridge, and along the valley on the other side.
Two days after the retreat I went over the whole
devastated area that had been evacuated, and it became
a wonder to me, a wonder that has by no means lessened
33
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
with the lapse of time, how any of the men lived through
or endured that awful bombardment. For a matter of
seven or eight miles as far as eye could see, not a thing
remained standing above the ground. Perhaps the
following lines will best describe the change that the
bombardment had brought about:
Two Pictures
A lovely stretch of country.
In the region of the Somme,
Made as nice a piece of scenery,
As ever you looked upon.
The beautiful green of the grasses.
The deeper green of the trees.
The sweet white cots of the peasants,
Where they hoped to spend years of ease.
The cows grazing out in the clover.
The corn waving gold in the field.
The sun shining golden upon it.
To bring forth a rich golden yield.
The blossoms so sweet in the orchard,
The apple, the cherry, the pear.
Seemed as fair as Eden to look upon.
No sign of destruction was there.
A dear little church where the peasants.
Went each Sabbath to worship and pray,
A cross with a Christ stretched upon it.
From the church, stood just o'er the way.
34
F R /I N C E AND FLANDERS
The war cloud loomed on the horizon,
No larger than any man's hand,
Then broke with a crash as of thunder,
Hun war lust enveloped the land.
And gone was that sweet stretch of country,
Tramped were the grasses so green,
Slain were the trees tall and stately,
The orchards no more there were seen.
Gone the sweet homes of the peasants.
Gone were the peasants as well,
And what seemed a piece out of heaven,
Was now like a comer of hell.
The church where the people had worshipped,
So quickly was razed to the ground,
And the fields where the com had been waving,
With corpses were strewn all around.
The cross and the Christ had gone down with the rest,
As shot and shell flew o'er the ground,
But the broken Christ still raised one hand in protest,
'Gainst the horrors that lay all around.
That was surely the strangest thing I have ever seen,
the broken figure of the Christ just as a shell had broken
it from the cmcifix, the legs broken off at the knees, and
one arm gone at the shoulder, the figure left standing in
the soft ground just as it fell, and the one hand as if
upraised in protest against all the horrors of the situation,
and horrors there certainly were! Thousands of shell-
holes were there so close together that they interlaced,
and it was difficult to find a footing on the edge to keep
from falling in. Littered all around were the severed
limbs of the combatants, heads, arms, legs and headless
35
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
trunks were to be seen among the equipment and accoutre-
ments of war, dead horses with cruel rents in their flanks
and breasts, legs and heads gone, and broken limbers and
guns, machine guns and rifles were strewed everywhere.
The rain had fallen two nights previously, and then
a severe frost had followed, and the rain in the shell holes
and craters had frozen over, and formed a glass-like surface
which could be seen through very distinctly. In one of
them was an English lad lying on his back dead, with his
face just under the ice, and grasped in his hand was the
Mills bomb he had been in the act of throwing when the
concussion from some big shell that had burst near had
killed him.
In another one farther on was a boy sitting quite
erect evidently killed by the same means; he had been
having a snack to eat, as there was a piece of biscuit on
his lap and an open tin of bully also.
Farther along still, in a crater, where there had either
been heavy fighting, or a shell had taken heavy toll of
some platoon, the water was thickly tinged with blood,
and like the rest of the holes thinly frozen over, and several
bodies lying there. Over this ground then we had to
take the line with the utmost dispatch, and so quickly
was this done with the labor troops allotted to us, that
inside of three weeks the first ration train pulled into
Achiet-le-grand, followed by a trainload of ammunition.
The destruction we saw as we passed from village and
town to village again is perhaps best described in the
following lines:
Scenes from the Somme
I tramped across the battlefield,
Of the Ancre and the Somme
And sad were the sights of carnage and blood.
My weary eyes gazed upon.
36
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
Our trenches all battered and broken,
By the shells from the enemy's guns,
Where our boys had sat tight through the winter,
Till the spring let them loose on the Huns.
When the order went round to get ready
For the advance which the Generals had planned,
A more eager bunch of young fellows.
You couldn't have found in the land.
For they knew that the guns so long waited,
Had reached them from over the main.
Well manned and munitioned to help them,
The lost land of France to regain.
So they leapt o'er the trench tops like heroes.
Nor halted when comrades did fall,
Till they swept back the Huns from their trenches and guns,
Then fog hid the land like a pall.
To say that the Huns were delighted,
Is but to state mildly the case,
For they couldn't stand up, though supported by Krupp,
They retreated all over the place.
And here is the mind of the Hun seen.
For as he went back on his tracks.
He blew up the houses and fouled all the wells,
And felled all the trees with the axe.
And many a once happy village,
A smouldering ruin now lies,
And many a family seek their lost home.
With the tears streaming out of their eyes.
37
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
But that's not the worst by a long shot,
For many a man seeks his babe,
And the wife that he kissed when he left her,
To find them both claimed by the grave.
A shell from the guns of the Germans,
Struck the house which they once called their home,
And the saving of years and the comfort once theirs
In a moment was shattered and gone.
Ah, well, there's a time comes for reckoning.
And when the long looked for day comes,
*Twill be better by far for Gomorrah and Sodom,
Than it will for the land of the Huns.
38
USELESS DESTRUCTION
BAPAUME had literally been blown to pieces, and
Albert had suffered badly at the hands of the
destroyers; fine engineering works had all their
machinery deliberately smashed, the fine Basilica with
its huge monument of the Virgin and Child over the
front of the sacred edifice, had been rendered absolutely
ruinous, and the holy figure now leaned over the sidewalk
at an alarming angle, and was the source of much interest
to all troops passing through that place.
All the parts of the British front over which I have
travelled, from Nieuport on the coast down to Peronne,
the churches have been the first to suffer. Only one
building in Bapaume was left practically undamaged;
this was the Town Hall, and here the people gathered, to
celebrate the fact that the town had been recovered from
the hands of the enemy. The townspeople returning
from the distant towns and villages to which they had
fled, led by the mayor, held a meeting in the hall, and
just as the people had left the building a delayed action
mine went up, and many were injured by the falling
debris. This was three weeks after the Huns had left,
and the mine had been cunningly laid in anticipation of
some such gathering, or in hope of getting soldiers who
might have used the place as a billet. As we came to
rest in Achiet-le-grand, I could not prevent my mind from
39
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
turning back to the awful sights I had seen in the last
few weeks, and I sat down and wrote the following lines^
War
Oh, God of Heaven, how strange it seems,
To see the sun's bright morning rays.
To hear the birds on joyful wing.
Uplift to Thee their songs of praise,
And yet above and all around.
Is heard the sound of deadly gun.
And far and wide the battle ground.
Is strewn with dead, Ally and Hun.
Despite two thousand years of truth.
Which first streamed forth from Galilee,
That men to men o'er all the earth.
Should to each other brothers be
And one their elder brother. He
Should lead them up to God.
Oh, can it be that truth has failed.
Or we poor mortals did not heed.
But each for our own vantage strived.
Thus giving chance to lust and greed.
And other sins of devils sown.
To spring as tares among the wheat.
And now to fullest harvest grown
The reaper grim with eager feet.
To gather both the wheat and tares,
Doth stalk throughout a war swept land.
Oh, God, they fall, we see them lie.
Strewn out upon the battle plain.
Their severed limbs and gaping wounds.
Now cry to us for help in vain.
To Thee we leave the broken clay
Which to its mother dust must turn,
40
AM
«bl9i'^ '8i9bn*n
The military cemetery at Aubigny,
France, as described by Sapper
Brindle in this particular chapter.
Grave of Gunner Frank H. Ledford,
St. John, N. B., in the foreground.
1^
In Flanders' Fields
In Flanders' Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That marked our place; and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead; short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved and now we lie
In Flanders' fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you from falling hands we throw
The torch, be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders' fields.
— McCrab.
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
Their souls we know with Thee remain,
And while our hearts with anguish yearn,
For one last word with those we love
For one last grip of friendly hand.
We know that safe with Thee above
In that fair, glorious, heavenly land.
The saint, the sinner purified,
By blood of Thine from side to hand.
Once more shall stand before Thy throne,
And things we failed to understand,
Shall then to each be clearly shown.
During this time our No. 2 company had been building
a line which proved of much value to us as a corps, and to
many others as will be seen later on.
The line was known as the Authey valley line, and ran
from Doullens right through the valley by way of Fresch-
villers, Authieurl, Orville, Sarton, Coyneux and on to
Collin Camps, where a branch was also taken to
Hebuteme, when the powers that be decided not to
continue it any farther. Collins Camps itself was on the
line from Candus, and this line as before stated we con-
tinued along by Serre, Pusieux and to Achiet-le-grand.
Having by our advance, referred to in the foregoing
pages, caused the enemy to straighten out the big dent
that he had made previously in our line, there now
existed a most dangerous dent in his own line. The
ground, if marked out on the map, would have something
of an egg shaped formation, the narrower end had been
in our line; the wider end was now in his line, where he
now rested on the Arras, Croisselles, Bertincourt, Peronne
St. Quentin line, the object in holding up here evidently
being to give him a chance to get as much of his equip-
ment and stores as it was possible safely harbored behind
his Hindenburg line.
41
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
This ground had been made famous by the Battle
of Marlincourt, which is now the graveyard of the
9th Durhams; Courcellette, where the Canadian Scottish,
our own 26th, the 25th and the 22nd Battahon left so
many dead; in the attack on the Regina trench; Le
Transloy, Le Sars, Ligny Thilloy, Le Beurs, Murval,
Ginchy, Combles and other places including such towns
and villages as Neuville, Vitasse, St. Ledger and Ecoust,
Bullecourt, and Queant north of Bapaume. In line with
Bapaume and to the south Hermes, Bertincourt, Ruyal-
court, Ytres, Bus and Fins were being held stubbornly
by the enemy. New troops were being tried out at
these points.
The Canadians were now withdrawn from the Somme
and were holding the line north of Arras. Around
Ytres and Bus the Lancashire Brigade was being tested
in a very warm comer; they had been brought over from
Egypt and were now introduced to a different type of
warfare.
On one occasion they were treated to a particularly
heavy dose of gas sent over by shells which made no
explosion, but just corroded very quickly and released
the poisonous gas. They were joking about the number
of "dud" shells the enemy were sending over, when
after an hour or so the men began to drop in scores and
many of them died. At the same time, August 17, the
Australians were having their own time at Bullecourt
which was in No Man's land, and so heavy had been the
slaughter that for three whole weeks neither side could
go near the place. When the enemy finally withdrew,
our sanitary section went in and cleaned up.
42
PEACE AND PLENTY
I had received a letter from Charles Ledford, the secre-
tary of Marlborough Lodge Sons of England, telling me that
his son, Frank, had died of wounds, and also where he was
buried, with a request that I would try and see his grave.
Having a Sunday to spare I took my bicycle and rode
out to Aubigny some thirty miles distant from our camp.
Leaving the war zone behind I came to what might
be called the fringe of the war, for here was left behind
the destruction and desolation and ravages of war, and
I came upon a line of green verdure clad hills and vales,
where the flowers were blooming in garden and hedgerow,
where the com was waving in the field, and the happy
voices of the children rang over the meadows; such a
contrast to what I had seen in the last two years. I
found the cemetery at Aubigny in a fine location, and
beautifully kept by two soldier comrades who were unfit
for service up the line.
More than two thousand crosses were standing in
straight rows line after line, like men on parade; beneath
them lay the men who had given all they had to give in
freedom's cause.
Canada in Flanders
In a quiet graveyard sleeping,
Lie the men from old St. John,
With many a comrade near them,
From far Saskatchewan.
43
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
There are men from Manitoba,
And men from far B. C.
Alberta's sons, who manned the guns.
That nations might be free.
There are men from all around Quebec,
And from Ontario,
Who when the call of Empire came,
Neglected not to go.
There were men from Nova Scotia,
And rugged Newfoundland,
Who stemmed the tide of German pride.
Nor yielded their demand.
Men of the line, and men of the guns.
Men from the office and farmers' sons.
Men from the woods who delivered the goods,
For which the call was made.
Men who came early,
Men who came late.
There they lie in quiet state,
At peace in the rural shade.
There's Canada of the Northland,
There's Canada's sunny plains,
And Canada now in Flanders,
So long as earth remains.
There let them lie, under old Mount St. Eloi around
which so many of them fell, with Vimy Ridge standing
grim sentinel in the near distance.
August and September were very hot months this
year, and the boys marching to and from the line suffered
44
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
greatly in consequence. I remember seeing the 4th
Gloucesters march out from the left of Bullecourt, and
as they passed us they were dropping on the road like
sheep. I worked over one young lad for nearly an hour
before I got him straightened out; he was cramped in
every muscle.
In the last week of August I again got a two-day pass
and went to find my eldest boy, somewhere north of
Arras, and on my way I had rather an exciting time.
The enemy was singing his morning hymn of hate
accompanied by a bombardment of the town, and just
as I entered the outskirts a shell fell inside a house that
had been partly damaged by a previous shell. There
was one wall left standing and the explosion blew down
the remaining wall just as I passed on my bicycle. For-
tunately none of the flying bricks struck me. As I rode
up the approach to the bridge near the station, another
shell cut through both sides of the iron bridge, and on
passing over it on the other side, a third high explosive
brought down a three-story house right across the road,
and I had to go down the next street. Once through
the town everything was fairly quiet.
I located the 2nd Division camped under Mount St.
Eloi, and soon found the 24th and learned from the boys
the story of Vimy and the part played by the Canadians
in that famous event, particularly the glorious record of
the 22nd, 24th, 25th and 26th battalions, the latter
from New Brunswick.
Vimy
The word ran along the trenches,
It's over the top, boys, tonight.
We were not very far from Arras,
To mention the place isn't right.
45
FRANCE AND FLAN D E R S
Our gunners for days played the dickens,
With the trenches of Heine and Fritz,
Where rows upon rows of new wire,
Were very soon broken to bits.
The night was quite dark, but the morning
Gave promise of breaking up fine.
And just as my watch showed the time, 3.15,
We started for Fritz's front line.
The shells of the Boches burst full in our face.
Our guns roared out way behind,
From the planes overhead came the crashing of bombs,
We blew up the places we'd mined.
In that great pandemonium we crossed no man's land,
Led on by our own barrage fire,
Till in front of the trench we were ordered to take,
We were caught on the enemy's wire.
It seems that a stretch some 500 yards long.
And nearly one hundred yards deep,
Had been missed by our guns 'ere we started to charge,
'Twas enough to make any man weep.
All the same we had to get through it,
For our chums on the left and the right.
Went on with a bound, never halting.
And got all the Germans in sight.
We hacked and we cut at the wire,
Till at length we found a way through,
Then after our chums in a hurry,
Till we reached the Boche's line too.
46
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
But, oh, we paid dear for the hold up,
For half our battalion was gone.
But we finished the job that they gave us,
And the ridge of old Vimy was won.
Our own railway line was now through Velu having
come by way of Bapaume and Tregnicourt wood, the
object being to get as far as possible in view of an event
to transpire later.
47
A STIRRING SIGHT AND
AFTER
STANDING on the bridge above Achiet-le-Grand
station, a bridge by the way that we had built, I
saw one of the finest sights a man can witness,
— two battalions of Scotch Highlanders marching up
the line after a three weeks' rest. The steady march of
the men, the swing of the kilt, and the skirl of the pipes
certainly quickened the flow of blood in a man's veins.
Two thousand and fifty of Britain's best men marched
by that day, in all the glory of their young manhood.
Three days later fifteen men got off the train at the same
station, and next day seven men and three pipers came
along, all that was left of the gallant two thousand and
fifty that swung by three days before on their way to
Passchendaele.
Passchendaele
They tell of Balaclava,
And the charge our heroes made
Upon the deadly Russian guns.
Our gallant light brigade.
We're told of how Lord Cardigan,
Went forth, last of his race.
And bravely led his gallant men,
Those murderous guns to face.
48
;oLiATTA.a
doidw aoilaiJr -o \o noil
.Moioa lo .loiJatxiOiJiq eriJ aaiwollol
ffjiw .not2£ooo aifit to \iM','\ iofir> -^HT
.a .'T . 9dj
■ • • ■ ^dT
aoqu
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.i-\lfi mddJ a99w:led bnr. looae
Iijn^T a/^1 ^i» .in<t^9T ,1., ... ........JA .3
a.0.1 .i9Jqaj1^ biabnaJ8
.BIOIOO Srfi
:.al iHT
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■xj 6fiJ 9raao narfT
nr Yisv saw Hoirfw
• niij ni ( 1 bail
-.1'
-tA ioanatbsiJ oi loloa UJndmijr^
Thb Prince Presenting Colors to 26th
Battauon.
One of the historic ceremonies performed
by H. R. H, The Prince of Wales when in
St. John, August 15, 1919, was the presenta-
tion of colors to the 26th Battalion which
appeared on Barrack Square under the
command of Lieut.-Col. W. R. Brown,
D.S.O. with bar. The photograph opposite
•was taken as the Prince was speaking of
the gallant record of the 26th. immediately
following the presentation of colors.
The color party on this occasion, with
Sergt. S. C. Wright, as pivotman, was under
the command of Major P. D. McAvity
with Lieutenants L. McC. Ritchie and
E. C. Armstrong as subalterns.
The colors were brought forward and laid
upon the drum pile by Mrs. J. Pope Barnes,
first vice-regent, and Mrs. J. H. Frink,
second vice-regent, and between them Mrs.
E. Atherton Smith, regent of the Royal
Standard Chapter, I.O.D.E., which provided
the colors.
The ladies placed the colors acroas each
other unsheathed with the King's on top.
Then came the ceremony of consecration
which was very impressive, the dedication
being pronounced by Rev. Capt. Kuhring.
At the finish of the ceremony Major Mc-
Avity lifted the colors from the drum pile
and handed them to the Prince, who in turn
presented them to the subalterns of the
color party, kneeling upon their right knee,
the King's color to Lieutenant Ritchie, the
regimentol color to Lieutenant Armstrong.
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
We read six hundred of them went,
Two hundred just, came back,
And horse and rider perished both,
In that terrible attack.
The last great war has furnished us,
With other deeds that tell.
How thousands others bravely charged,
And nobly fighting fell.
The Highlanders of Scotland,
Charged up old Passchendaele,
But few there were who e're returned.
To tell that awful tale.
I saw them march a thousand strong.
To storm that frowning height.
Just two days later they returned.
With fifteen men in sight.
Just fifteen tattered, wounded men,
Around their wounded chief.
Their daring, as I heard it told.
Was almost past belief.
They rested only long enough.
To fill their ranks once more.
Then up those heights they stormed again.
Like Highland men of yore.
As the darkness of approaching winter nights now
closed in, strange things were going on around us, of
which we did not know the portent. Divisions were
being brought out of the line, and others were taking their
places; night after night through the gathering darkness
49
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
men in thousands marched quietly up through Bapaume.
We noticed several strange things here, — that more
divisions went in than came out, that there was plenty
of transport and very little artillery, and later I saw a
great number of tanks being loaded at a small wayside
station, and then mysterious orders were issued, which
made it a crime to speak or ask questions of any columns
passing along the road.
We had some sort of vague idea that an attack on
Cambrai was preparing, and expected to hear the artillery
preparation start up any time. You may judge of our
surprise then when we had the news over the wire one
morning from our advance position that the tanks had
led a charge against the enemy and he had broken before
us, and our cavalry was riding for Cambrai. This was
great news, for it meant that the great Hindenburg line,
in which the Germans placed such faith, had been badly
bent, if not broken.
This news cabled to England set the joybells ringing
in London and made glad hearts all the world over.
Our joy was turned to sorrow two days later, for the
enemy had still enough reserves to turn the tables on us,
and recover almost all they had lost, not quite however,
and they had to pay dearly for what they got back.
There was an awful state of affairs around Havrin-
court wood, where there was an advance dressing station.
The 0. C. in charge was wondering whatever to do
with about two hundred stretcher cases lying out in the
open, and the shells falling around, when some of our
fellows came on the scene. He asked if there were no
means of getting the men away, as the ambulance cars
could not get up.
A telephone message reached headquarters from the
sergeant in charge of our party, and a string of box cars
was sent up from Bapaume, and every case was brought
50
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
down, not as easy as it sounds however, as one shell
shattered the end car, and another fell on the track ahead
of the engine, which plunged into the hole, and it took
over two hours to get the line clear again.
We maintained two trains a day until the situation
was cleared up. Our corps was warmly congratulated
for the part we played, and the Colonel was given the
D.S.O., whilst several other decorations were handed
out to the boys who took part. There was a detachment
of the 14th American Engineers working in this section
at the time, and they showed great gallantry by rushing
into the breach with pick and shovel and such arms as
they found Ijring around, and certainly helped much
to save the situation.
51
SAMMY PUTS ONE OVER
IN line with the concluding words of the preceding
chapter I want to relate a rather amusing incident to
show the resourcefulness of the American soldier.
Coming along the Bapaume road late one night in
Christmas week, I was accosted in the darkness by five
men, one in the uniform of an officer of the American
forces, which party turned out to be from another detach-
ment of the 14th A.E.F. The officer asked me if I could
direct him to a canteen. I told him it would be very
difficult to find one open at that hour of the night. They
informed me that the O.C. of the detachment was away
on leave, and he being in charge was anxious to give the
boys a good time, so wanted to get a few things to help
along.
I told him if he would come back to camp with me
I would do what I could to get our canteen man to open
up for him, so the whole party came along and bought
up quite a supply, including two bottles of whiskey and
one of wine.
When leaving our place, the young lieutenant very
kindly invited myself, our R.S.M. and the Q.M.S to
go over and dine with them on the Sunday. We ac-
cepted the invitation and needless to say showed up at
the appointed time, as some slight reference had been
made to turkey. Before we went in to dinner one of the
52
F R .i N C E /I N D FLANDERS
party said he had an apology to make to us before tak-
ing us in, as they had "taken us in" once already. After
the explanation, we went in to dinner and were introduced
to the young lieutenant, but shorn of all the glory sur-
rounding a couple of stars and lo, he stood revealed as
the detachment's cook.
The officers' uniform had been surreptitiously bor-
rowed from the doctor's quarters. The boys seemed
afraid that we would resent the way they had put one
over on us, but we showed them that Canadians can be
good sports, and so joined heartily in the laugh against
ourselves. After that incident there were frequent visits
exchanged between their camp and ours, and we found
them a fine bunch of boys. During the bright nights
around Christmas time we were having a hard time with
the aeroplanes and this continued through January and
February, 1918. The following lines describe a scene
that was all too common just then:
The End of A Perfect Day
The sun went down in a sea of blood.
On a beautiful day in May,
The moon shone out with her beams so bright
On the soldiers as they lay.
The bees had worked through the live long day,
And robbed the flowers of their best.
The com that had waved in a golden sheen,
Was now in the moonbeams dressed.
The birds of the day had sung their songs.
The linnet, the lark and the thrush.
The nightingale now took up the strain,
In the silent midnight hush.
53
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
A sound is heard in the distant sky,
Like the drone of a single bee,
The soldiers raise their drowsy heads,
But nothing do they see.
And back to sleep they sink again.
But nearer draws the sound.
The planes are coming, listen, boys,
The sentry's word goes round.
We scurry away as fast as we can,
To our shelters 'neath the trees.
But quick as we are, they are quicker still,
Their cargo to release.
The bombs drop down with a shriek and a roar,
As they tear up the old camp ground,
And the sun looks out on a field of blood,
When he starts his morning round.
An incident occurred during one of these air raids
which gave me a new light on the Chinese. I had always
looked upon the Oriental as being an individual void of
humor, but I had to revise my opinion. One night, very
cold it was, too, the enemy's raiders came over and used
the small bombs which we call grass cutters, on account
of the way they explode, making the shrapnel spread
very low and being used more particularly where troops
are encamped.
Two of these had been dropped on the camp of a
bunch of Chinese who were attached to us for labor, and
had wounded quite a few of them. Those who were
uninjured went to an infantry camp in the next field and
begged a supply of Mills bombs, with which they visited
a prisoner's cage, and slowly taking the pins from the
54
FRAN C E AND FLANDERS
bombs, fired them in among the prisoners, and with
them fired the following question:
"You like um, plomb? Eh, you like um plomb?" and
with this exclamation fired another bomb.
It seemed very comical at the time, but I grant you it
was much more amusing to us who looked on than to the
prisoners,many of whom had to be hurried away to hospital.
About the end of February I got my Christmas parcel,
and I wish some of you could have seen some of the
parcels when they reached us. Perhaps the following
lines will give the reader some idea of the way the care
and forethought of the senders was counter-balanced
by the handling the parcels got en route.
Our Parcel
There was me and the tailor, Bill Langton, and Jones, -
We all bunked together, somewhere on the Somme,
We took equal shares of all that came to us.
And never disputed, and never looked glum.
Whatever the cook felt like handing out to us,
From bully beef, biscuits to porridge and jam,
We all shared alike, and then on each pay-night.
We went to the tuck shop our stomachs to cram.
Our parcels from home were always divided,
With absolute fairness, so no one could kick,
But one day a parcel was brought to our dugout.
Which, when it was opened, just turned us all sick.
There was chocolate and matches, a clear breach of rule
there,
Tobacco and cigarettes and cake, sure enough,
But we couldn't separate any one of the contents.
They were so stuck together, now, wasn't that tough?
55
FRANCE A N D FLANDERS
Of course there's no doubt that in making a journey,
From Canada to France things do get knocked about,
But one thing you find in a true British soldier,
However hard hit he ne'er makes a shout.
We were surely disappointed, that goes without saying,
And couldn't think what in the world we could do.
Till Jones made a kind of inspired suggestion.
That he give it to the cook to make into a stew.
The cookie was in when I went over with it,
He was in a bad temper, so spoke rather rash,
Said he, "There's no cook in the whole British army,
Can beat the post office at making a hash."
Dming all this time we had not been long enough in
one place to be able to construct a dugout for ourselves
till just now, and we certainly felt all the more secure
from the raider for its possession, but it gave rise to many
funny remarks at the expense of the boys.
One night the enemy came over and we made a bee
line for the friendly shades of the dugout, but just as
the last man was descending the steps a bomb fell only
a few yards away, and losing his hold of the sides the
man rolled down the steps and landed all in a heap in
the midst of his chums. During the lull between this
and their next visit to us an hour later, I was able to
write the following lines:
Our Dugout
The moon hath raised her light on high,
And many stars are in the sky.
The German planes are drawing nigh,
Our dugout.
56
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
The first alarm has just been heard,
And every man from bed has stirred,
We do see life, upon my word,
In a dugout.
My chums and I have been down here.
It seems to me for nigh a year.
And now the bombs are falling near,
Our dugout.
The first big bomb has just dropped down,
And spread destruction all around.
We're twenty feet below the ground.
In a dugout.
It's freezing keen as mustard here.
There isn't much to raise a cheer.
But we'll live through it, never fear.
In our dugout.
You folks at home are snug in bed,
The fellows here are seeing red,
And heaping wrath on Fritz's head,
FYom our dugout.
Of course the lads are not to blame,
It really does seem quite a shame;
Why are we here in heaven's name,
In a dugout?
This can't go on for very long.
One day will come the victor's song,
And then we'll gladly say "so long."
Unto our dugout.
57
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
Each succeeding day now became one of intense
excitement, as the reports brought in daily by our air
scouts and photographers showed us that division after
division was being rushed over from the Russian front, to
be hurled against us in some attack that was being
planned.
In spite of this knowledge, however, as the days of
February merged into March and no attack was made
upon us, we began to think that perhaps the attack after
all would come from our side.
ss
THE PUSH
ON the morning of March 21st, 1918, such a bom-
bardment broke upon us as I have never heard.
As early as 5.30 in the morning the shells were
falling in the camp, and they continued all day, through
the night and into the next day, when we heard from our
advanced parties around Velu that our infantry line had
been broken through.
Our colonel received the following order from G.H.Q.:
"Keep the line open, save the big guns, and all men and
material possible, then blow up the track, bridges and
roads in the face of the enemy."
Our colonel who had jurisdiction over the whole rail-
way system from Arras to Peronne, now formed the corps
into a demolition corps, instead of railway construction,
and in the next few weeks we handled enough Aminol,
gun cotton, and other explosives, to have blown the whole
of France skyward. Every track was mined here and
there, at short distances, as were the bridges and roads,
and as the enemy continued his advance, our despatch
riders were kept busy, rushing orders to one part or
another, for the destruction of a section of the track or
some bridge.
We got down all the big guns, that is the guns firing
from the railway and requiring a locomotive to move
them, without mishap; one of these, however, had a
59
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
narrow escape from falling into enemy hands. Owing to
shell fire, the lines had spread in one place, and the gun
trolley threatened to leave the track. With the aid of
planking the gun and its tender were got over the difficult
place, and rolled away to safety, but only as the enemy
was within revolver shot.
On the third day of the battle, one of our corporals
came in on the rail motor in an extreme state of ex-
haustion. One of our lieutenants, himself and a bunch
of men had been with one of the guns, and had just
succeeded in snatching it from the clutches of the enemy.
He brought in the intelligence that the last bridge beyond
Bapaume had been blown up.
Headquarters camp was now too hot to hold us, and
we were instructed to pack up at once; this was not so
easily done as said, as we had a vast quantity of railway
tools and stores, contained in two bow huts, but with
the shells coming in every minute, we started to pack
our stores and equipment into six cars, three box cars,
and three open trucks. Our three lorries were also loaded
with camp equipment, such as we could save, and at
11 30 on the morning of the third day of the push, we
pulled out of our siding into Achiet-le-Grand yard.
This yard was at the time receiving the close atten-
tion of the enemy, as it was the junction for Arras,
Bapaume, and Albert.
We had only to smash up that point, and the whole
system was out of commission. Fortunately the three
hospitals had been evacuated the previous day; the shells
fell thick and fast around there. As our cars stood in
the siding I saw a fifteen-inch shell go right through the
church army hut, and another into the ration yard.
After awhile we got away on our first stage of the retire-
ment, our destination being Beauzart. We had to
double back from Achiet-le-Grand to Miramont or
60
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
Irles junction, and here we came in the range of
fire again.
The explosive shells were bursting quite near the
track, throwing the mud and stones against the sides
and over the tops of the cars. Reaching Beauzart about
six o'clock at night, we had to run the gauntlet of a couple
of German planes, which gave us very unnecessary atten-
tion from our point of view; we drew into a cutting just
outside the town, and an hour later we heard the crashing
of bombs falling into the town, and much damage was done.
Our intention had been to stop here, but as the enemy
advance had not been held up, we went on to Acheux,
and there we held up for a day and a night, when we had
orders to retire still farther, as the advance still con-
tinued. Passing through Collin Camps we continued along
the line we had built until we reached the Authie valley
line, down which we passed to the little town of Authie,
where we pitched camp. It was very sad work, I assure
you, going over that line again and in the wrong direc-
tion, to say nothing of the hardship of packing and un-
packing our heavy cumbersome material; it was very
saddening to feel that we were being driven nearer and
nearer the coast, and that the Huns were drawing all
the time nearer to Amiens — the key to Paris.
While headquarters were thus retiring step by step,
the days were going very hard. With the boys of the
line the fifth army under Cough had failed to stand,
and the third and fourth armies had to retire, and also
open out to keep the Huns from widening the breach
by their method of infiltration, that is finding a place
in the line weakly held and sending large bodies of men
against it, using fresh troops who dash through the breach,
and establish a bulge in the line.
Our various sections were out all along the line;
from Arras to a point opposite Peronne, they had retired
61
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
with the artillery, and had blown up the line at Velu,
Bapaume, and Albert yards, and station and the bridge
at Albert. A despatch rider was now sent out with orders
to destroy the yard and station at Achiet-le-Grand. This
was done, and the water towers we had erected were
sent flying in the air, and our men called in. We had
now a long train of some sixty cars including living
cars, as our companies had now joined headquarters.
Our No. 2 company had a hard time getting in, their
cars being riddled like pepper castors by shrapnel. We
had our camp all fixed at Authie, our cars on the line, and
the large dining marquee and the cook houses just across
the river, and we felt we should be able to rest here.
About eight o'clock at night, however, we had orders
to move out again, and we had only forty minutes given
us to pack. As the engine came along to hitch on to us
the shrapnel was breaking over the hills.
This time we pulled up at Authieul some hours later,
absolutely played out, for we had now been setting up
and pulling down again for five successive days. I
confess to a feeling of deep dejection as we came to rest
at the foot of the beautiful valley, and I wondered for
a while if after all the sacrifice we were not going to lose
out in the great struggle.
I had noticed on my way down that the river banks
were strewn with primroses, daffodils, and cowslips, and
somehow the promise of spring in a land of devastation
and war had its effect upon my saddened spirit, and I
began to look at the situation with a more optimistic eye.
I called to mind the concrete defences we had broken
down in 1917, just a year before.
I reminded myself of the sixty-foot dugouts in which
the enemy had sheltered from our bombardments, and
remembered that we had systematically destroyed these
as we went along. I also called to mind that most of
62
F R y1 N C E AND FLANDERS
the trenches had been filled in, and the enemy whom we
had driven out of all his defenses, would now have to
hold as best he could a tract of ground which contained
no defense at all, and surely if we could drive him out a
year ago with all the advantages on his side, I felt sure
if we could only bring him up, we should have no diffi-
culty in driving him out, when we could take up the
advance again. I felt sure, somehow, he would not
be able to drive us beyond the Serre ridge, and in this
my surmise proved to be correct.
It will be remembered by those who read my letters
which were published on March 28, 1918, that I advised
the people of St. John not to be too much downcast by
the bad news they were receiving at that time, as things
were not so bad as they looked. Later events proved
that the enemy's greatest success had been his biggest
failure. When he started that offensive he had eighty-
four divisions in our sector, and some twenty-four others
in reserve. When the push ended, his reserves had melted
away, and his fighting divisions were badly used up also.
It would be idle to deny that we lost heavily ourselves,
and it is of no use to go into the question of why the
Fifth army failed to hold. Some have said that there
were too many untried troops in that army, but it only
needs to be pointed out that the Fifth army was re-
placed by a part of the 300,000 boys who were sent out
to replace those who had been killed and captured, and
that in the subsequent advance made, these very boys
gloriously emulated their elders, in pushing back the
Huns through to Mons. Particularly is this true of the
19th British division and the Welsh Brigade.
We had two awful nights at Authieul for the raiders
were over all the time, their object being to get the
junction and yard at Doullens which was heavily con-
gested with traffic. Doullens is a junction of the lines
63
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
to Arras, through Gombrometz and Beaumetz, on the
left to Achiet-le-Grand and Bapaume in the centre, and
to Candus and Albert on the right.
The 26th of March was a lovely day and we had
cheering news that the push was slowing up, but we
had not yet succeeded in checking them altogether.
This night they came over on a raid, and did much damage
with the bombs, but we had the satisfaction of bringing
down two of their planes.
Silent Night, Peaceful Night
The witching hour of midnight finds the camp in peaceful
sleep.
The stars are shining brightly in the sky.
The knights of modem culture are out upon the prowl,
I hear the planes just now a-drawing nigh.
We scatter to our shelter, for bravery doesn't count.
When things like bombs are falling all around,
It's not a pleasant sight to see when Fritz has gone from
here.
The human litter strewn all o'er the ground.
Some weeks ago he came along, and when he went back
home.
He left men minus feet and hands and some will ne'er
see home.
We gathered up some ten or so all blown to little bits,
Now can you wonder if at times we kind of hate old
Fritz.
64
-ntW-asiH*! .eaiJjA eiH gvta J.ria mhoI
.fAd- ,Yol 'aaaiajt .w
' . . 'A
[a
lb
lO
f-.j; --'
•,' '0
.3' — -^
t^ T H
■x'. . - .^ .„ • ■>-■••»*:
>'';?' ', " .TlVK )i>
I .fitjrncJ
-J
I . :';m
John Bull and His Allies, Prize- Win-
ning Float, Soldiers' Joy Day,
August 14, 1919.
John Bull and our Allies was the name
given to the float of the Sons of England
lodges which took part in the soldiers' joy
day parade August 14, 1919, and which
was awarded the first prize as the most
original float. Preceding the float as it
appeared on the march were five mounted
men uniformed as lancers and representing
Great Britain, Belgium, France, United
States and Japan. This party was led by
Lieutenant Logan, also mounted, and was
composed of the following returned men:
S. M. Raynor, Corporal Chapman, Pte.
H. T. Sibley, Pte. F. T. Wood. The float
carried a party as follows: Edward Harding,
"John Bull"; J. W. Cook, "Canada";
George Leaver, "Australia"; J. Mills,
"India"; S. M. Tremaine, "South Africa";
Little Misses Willa Carloss and Bernice
Smith, "Red Cross Nurses"; Master Arthur
S. Lewis, "Sailor Boy," and H, Smith and
C. H. Nixon, "Man-o'-War's Men." C.
Ledford had "The British Bull-dog" safely
on leash. The turnout was in charge of
Chairman S. E. Logan and Bro. Ricketts as
marshal. W. Brindle, author of this book,
is seen in the picture opposite, standing
at the rear in uniform with hands crossed.
h R /{ N C E AND FLANDERS
It isn't nice to see a plane come hurtling to the ground,
Or see the German pilot bum while you stand helpless
round,
But I'm sure you cannot blame us, if when these things
occur,
We're kind o' glad there's one more plane whose wheels
have ceased to whir.
Those whirring wheels, oh, how they get upon our nerves
these days
How easily could we dispense with their engaging ways.
If only they'd commercialise this wonderful invention.
We'd welcome then much more than now their very
kind attention.
Perhaps when war lust leaves the earth, and men once
more are brothers.
We shall not fear the German bombs which murder
babes and mothers.
The peace which has been promised long, will sure by
then have started.
And nations war will learn no more, so let's not get
downhearted.
This glorious peace is sure to come, 'tis by the prophets
stated,
That spears to pruning hooks must turn, the swords
with ploughshares mated.
The lion with the lamb shall lie, the wolf with kid shall
tether,
A little child shall lead them and all live in peace
together.
It was thought to be safer to send all our big tools
and equipment such as steam shovels and pile drivers to
65
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
the base, and so with the stores cars, headquarters and
company office cars, and living cars, we started in two log
strings for Doullens and through to the coast, bringing
up on the 29th of March at Dans Carmmiers, near
Etaples. I was sent down in charge of the H.Q. cars, and
when we reached our destination we found several othw
engineer units, both Canadians and British, had sought
shelter in the same place.
We lay in this yard for eight days, and were then
recalled to Freshvillers two miles beyond Doullens.
66
TH E HUNS' WO RST
DANS Carmmiers, by the way, is a yard which was
put in by our No. 2 company and is twelve tracks
wide. The week after we left, what I consider the
most dastardly act of the war was perpetrated just a few
miles down the line at Etaples. I refer to the bombing
of the hospitals the second week in April, 1918.
Just a few days previous, I was through the Canadian
and American hospitals, and one or two of the British
looking for friends from all three countries whom I knew
were in the trouble zone at the time of the push.
I was struck with wonder at the marvellous way
these hospitals had been fitted, everything as clean as
could possibly be made, and the appliances for the
wounded were amazing. Here was a case of an abdominal
wound, with the bed raised at the foot so the head of
the patient would be downward. Over other beds were
ropes and pulleys suspended from the ceiling, for the
support of bad leg wounds, and after the experiences of
the last two weeks it will be readily understood that
every hospital tent and hut was full, every bed occupied.
It was over such a scene as this that the German
bombers hovered on that awful night and dropped their
murderous missiles, and not satisfied with that, when all
the bombs were used, these inhuman creatures came low
and used their machine guns on the struggling mass of
dead and wounded men and nurses.
67
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
The next morning revealed an awful sight, doctors,
nurses and patients in an indescribable mass of ruined
tents, huts and hospital equipment, with more than
seven hundred casualties. The excuse given for this
dastardly deed was that they were after the railway
line, and if we were foolish enough to place our hospitals
so near the railway, the fault was ours. Now let me say
how futile was this excuse, for between the nearest set
of rails and the nearest hut was at least three hundred
yards, and again if it was necessary to break the line,
would it not have been just as easy a mile to the right
or left of the hospital, which was plainly marked in the
usual way, by a big red cross upon a white ground.
On the 6th of April, 1918, we rejoined our corps with
the stores and equipment at Freshvillers, just beyond
Doullens in the Authey valley, and from here began the
preparation of the work, which took us for the second
time over the Somme and Ancre, but this time the
road led. through Cambrai and on to Mons.
We had four rather quiet, but very anxious, months
here, with the exception of numerous visits from the air
raiders, and occasional shelling by a long range gun.
It must not be gathered from this that we were kept
idle, not by any means. King George, Clemenceau,
Haig, Foch and many other important personages had
attended a council at Doullens to discuss the seriousness
of the situation, and the result was the adoption of a
plan which brought success to the Allied arms.
A line of precaution was now adopted which would
have been much more valuable had it been taken sooner.
When the enemy started his push in March, we had not
a second line on which our infantry could retire, as the
trenches of 1917 had been so filled in by the action of the
weather and the passing over them of men and material,
as to be unfit for further use. We now began feverishly
68
F R .1 N C E AND FLANDERS
to dig a fresh line of trenches, in fear of a further attempt
by the enemy when he had sufficiently rested his forces.
Every available battalion was set digging. I have seen
such troops as the Guard Division digging away at a
trench system which stretched from Arras to below
Aveluy wood.
Our special duty was to take charge of enormous
stocks of explosives and to mine roads, bridges and
tracks in all the Somme area, which was now open to us
in readiness for any advance which the enemy might
determine to make. The long railway trestle bridge at
Doullens over which trains from the base to Arras,
Bapaume, and Albert, had perforce to travel, had some-
thing over 120 charges put in place for an immediate
explosion should the enemy suddenly appear.
All the motor and troop roads leading to the same
sections of the front were mined, and obstructions of
various kinds placed on the roadside, ready to be drawn
across the road in case of need, whilst machine guns
were placed at frequent intervals, to mow down any
armoured motor cars which might appear as an advance
force.
May was a moonlight month and we rarely got a
night's sleep, for as sure as nine o'clock came around
the distant drone of the Gnome engine could be heard,
to be followed very soon after, by the crashing of the
first bomb, and from that time on, to three or four o'clock
in the morning, they would all the time be going and
coming. I shall never forget the first week in May,
1918, the night of the 6th I think it was, when the planes
came over a little earlier that night and for nearly an
hour cruised around without dropping anything. I felt
sure they were trying to locate some particular object,
and so it proved, for presently an arc light was dropped
from the foremost plane, and it lit up the whole valley,
69
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
and in the clear light one plane dropped a bomb in the
field next the Canadian hospital, and the next one dropped
right through the roof, and crashing through to the base-
ment which was the operating theatre, set fire to the
ether stored there, and in a few minutes the whole place
was in a blaze. A second bomb also went through the
building and two others fell, one on each side.
At the moment when the first bomb fell there w«-e
sleeping on the top floor eight sergeants who had been
on duty all day; on the middle floor were some wounded
men in their cots, while on the bottom floor in the operat-
ing theatre were the operating crew, consisting of two
doctors, four nurses and some few orderlies, and two
cases were on the table. The whole outfit were killed
outright and burned up in the debris, and there was an
awful sight next morning when thirty-two charred bodies
were taken out and buried next day in the little cemet^y
just outside the town.
The building was in the shape of a letter L, one long
side and one shorter side. The bombs fell through the
shorter side, and tore it away from the joining of the
long end, leaving a gaping hole in the end of each floor
where the sides had joined. The hospital was quite
full at the time, and though the nurses knew that their
companions in the other wards had been killed, to their
everlasting honor be it said, not one of these Canadian
girls left her post.
Heroes and Heroines
Another day has reached its close.
The sun in the west sinks down.
The day nurse drinks her cup of tea,
E're she makes her closing round.
70
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
How are you, No. 1? asks she,
As she gave a cheery smile.
To the Tommy whose leg was plaster cast.
As she stood by his cot a while.
And No. 2, what's wrong with you?
Not comfortable quite?
She deftly shook his pillows up,
And, smiling, said good night.
And one by one the twenty cots,
Of twenty wounded men,
A visit had from Sister Grace,
She said good night again.
Then Sister May took up the task.
Which Sister Grace laid down,
And made the round of twenty cots.
Before the night closed round.
Now No. 9 a fracture had,
And No. 10 a splintered break.
And No. 12 a piece of shell
Left poison in its wake.
And No. 4 an eye had lost,
And No. 3 a piece of shrap.
Took off his leg above the laiee,
He couldn't get a nap.
The shades of night now closed around,
Those twenty wounded men.
And many more in other wards,
Were wrestling with their pain.
71
FRANCE AND F L A N D E R S
The silent hour of midnight came,
And found them most asleep,
The watchful sisters, round the ward,
Like timid mice did creep.
They felt secure, beneath the cross,
So plainly printed on
The roof of every single hut.
In red, white ground upon.
A sound was heard which chilled the blood
Of every person there.
The sound was made by falling bombs,
A-crashing through the air.
"Keep quiet, boys," the nurses said,
"And don't excited get.
We'll have you in the dugout,
They won't be here just yet."
Alas! a bomb crashed through the roof.
Those timid sisters then.
Stood by the sick, and fully proved,
God gave them hearts of men.
And morning light an awful sight
Reveals to mortal eye.
The nurses, doctors, patients all.
In blazing ruin lie.
What awful reckoning must be faced,
Now this great war is won,
By men who do such deeds as these,
Oh, cruel kultured Hun!
72
MARKING TIME
THE week after the dastardly affair mentioned in
the last chapter for which no excuse of any kind
could be offered ( as the hospital was as far
removed from the railway as is Fort Howe from the
Union Depot), we had three battalions of the U. S.
infantry march into DouUens, and they brought into the
war an entirely new spirit, which was very helpful to
our tired and weary troops, after the experiences which
they had just passed.
The 101st, 2nd and 3rd were followed a few weeks
later by the 105th, 6th and 7th, and they did some of
the craziest things imaginable. Fancy a staid and
stately British military band and in war time, marching
through the streets of any city with blacked faces and
dressed like a bunch of silly kids on Hallo'een night, yet
these American bands went through this performance
night after night, and finished up on the square with a
minstrel concert to the immense amusement of the in-
habitants, who if they could not understand the words
spoken or sung, could appreciate the comic attitudes
struck by the players.
We saw two complete divisions of British infantry
march out of here to the help of the Italians, as they
struggled to drive the enemy back across the Piave, and
we greatly wondered if we could possibly spare them,
but we had later to see still another division go to the
73
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
help of the French in the Champagne, where the enemy
was making another drive which proved as barren of
results as did their drives against us and the Italians.
Through the months of June and July the three lines
running from Doullens to Arras, Bapaume and Albert
were kept in perfect repair, though several times broken
by enemy shells, and material for the proposed advance
was gathered together ready for the time when it should
be needed
In the meantime the first of July found the Canadians
just as ready to celebrate as if there had been no war on
at all.
74
CANADIANS AT PLAY
AND WORK
IT had been planned to hold big sports on Dominion
Day, 1918, and for this purpose a big piece of ground
had been selected, covering several acres situated be-
tween St. Pol and Arras, at a place named Tinques, called
Tanks by our boys, as being near enough anyway.
On the morning of the First, every road certainly
led to "Tanks." The 1st, 3rd and 4th divisions were
out of the line preparing for something I shall speak of
later on. The 2nd division came out that very morning,
and for hours before the appointed time for the beginning
of events, motor lorries, box cars, horse rigs, motor bikes
and push bikes filled the roads approaching the ground,
which had been splendidly fitted up for the occasion.
Two massive Canadian arches stood, one at each
entrance, tremendous grandstands were dotted here
and there around the big course where events took place,
to accommodate thousands. Big marquees were every-
where for the sale of drinks, candies and food, while
the Y. M. C. A. had a big tent where free drinks were
supplied right through the day.
Bandstands were also erected at several points, and
music was seldom missing as band after band took up
or changed positions throughout the day.
A sight to be long remembered was that of the march
past of the massed band of pipers, the skirl of the pipes,
75
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
the multi-colored tartan, the lilt of the sporan and the
swing of the kilt, and the row upon row of splendid man-
hood made as inspiring a picture as one could wish to see.
Base ball and foot ball games, with running and
jumping, boxing, etc., made up a fine day's entertainment
for the more than 20,000 Canadians who gathered there,
under the very guns of the enemy, and in a spot where
two or three bombing planes could have done awful
destruction.
Nothing so untoward, however, happened to mar the
day's sport, and many of the boys who excelled on that
field won greater glory on another field some few weeks
later.
The first weeks of August found much movement of
troops in the region of the Somme. The Canadians
were brought down from around Arras, and placed on
the Amiens front, the 51st Scottish division was brought
into the line farther to the right and the 37th with some
Americans filled in the line between, with the Welsh
Brigade and the Guards division.
On the 8th of August the long looked for day arrived
and just as I felt sure it would be, the Huns could not
stand before our attack. The Canadians broke the
German line at Amiens, thus beginning the movement
which rolled them up like a scroll.
We had some of the crack British cavalry billeted
in the same village where we were, and on my talk-
ing with a few men of the Scotch Greys, 17th Lancers,
and Household cavalry, they spoke in glowing terms
of the way the Canadians stormed the line at Amiens;
they said they never saw anything to equal it by any
infantry they had ever seen.
It was a case of hammer and tongs with our corps
now, the infantry moved along so quickly we had all our
work cut out to keep pace with them. On the 15th of
76
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
August our headquarters moved up to Biefvillers, a
point beyond where we were in March when we were
pushed back. In less than two weeks we were at Havrin-
court, our heavies being in the wood. I shall for a long
time remember how our cars rocked like a ship at sea,
with the firing of the guns in the bombardment before
our boys took Cambrai.
Three days after Cambrai was taken we moved up
to Marcoing, and a few days later through Bourlon to
Marquion. From the last named place we went to
Sauchy Cauchy, and the same week moved up to Aniche.
September found us in Somain, where we remained for
three weeks. In their retirement the Huns as usual had
done all the mischief possible. Cambrai was the first
big town we struck on the new advance which I had not
previously seen, several smaller places we passed were
badly destroyed. One piece of work we did at the Nord
Canal just outside Havrincourt should be mentioned.
The canal had been drained around here by the Germans,
revealing a well-laid brick bottom and sides. The road
above this, going around by the slag heap, was in sight
of the enemy, so we cut a road into the canal at a certain
point and ran along the canal bottom with motor and
horse transport, etc., and came out again on a ramp
about a mile further along.
The railway had been badly broken up by the re-
treating enemy, and there were several bridges to be
replaced. The Canadian cavalry operating with the
cavalry brigade, got into a tight comer on the outskirts
of Rumilly, and we saw several horses and raiders in
the canal as we went by.
Cambrai was badly smashed in places, but by far the
greater destruction was to furniture, houseful after house-
ful of beautiful and most exquisitively carved furniture
was mutilated in every conceivable way.
77
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
Many pianos of great value were destroyed, and some
few had been left intact, with small bombs or other ex-
plosives attached to lid or key, and those foolish enough
to raise the lid or strike the keys paid the penalty in
missing hands, or disfigured faces. Sauchy Cauchy was in
an awful condition; houses and furniture in indescribable
heaps, but the thing that struck me most was the task
our boys must have had to take it. The town stood on a
high eminence, and it was surrounded on three sides with
the greatest depth of barbed wire I have ever seen.
At the foot of the hill, a mile and a half from the town,
ran the canal about two hundred yards across, and its
bank held by numerous machine guns. The bridges were
all blown and several attempts were made by our boys
before they got across, but courage and patience suc-
ceeded, and at last the other bank was won, and our
splendid fellows found their way through the wire and
gained the town, but not before the despoilers had
wrecked everything.
I went into one big chateau, and the beautiful up-
holstered furniture was smashed and cut, the splendid
concert grand piano had the front knocked in and over-
turned, and the bathroom tap had been turned on, and
flooded the splendid apartments. Ecourt St. Quentin
on the other side of the canal was in the same condition,
as also was Paluel, a little farther on. Anisch, our next
stop, was the first place we struck where the inhabitants
had been allowed to remain behind.
We were only here a few days, and when we reached
Somain, our next stop, the people all turned out to meet
us, and made us right welcome. We found the children
very shy of us at fiist, but we were not surprised when
we were informed that the Germans had told them that
we were a race of savages who would eat them up. They
soon found out the difference, however, for as our boys
78
F R yf N C E AND FLANDERS
were billeted in the homes, there were lots of pennies
and candies for the children.
Beauvrages, near Valenciennes, was our next stop,
and here again we were received with open arms. There
was a Welsh lady here, who had married a French pro-
fessor of languages in England. She had been visiting
her husband's parents when the war broke out, and she had
been compelled to stay there all the time of the occupation.
This lady told us how the Huns had swaggered into
their houses, and ordered them to give up their beds
and rooms, and sleep anywhere they could, while the
soldiers occupied the sleeping accommodations, and that
they had been compelled to wait on them hand and foot.
We were also told how the Huns seized all the best food,
while the German substitutes were handed out to the
people. I was shown a photo of the lady as she was
before the war, and her condition when we saw her bore
eloquent testimony to the way she must have suffered.
I spoke on several occasions with the grandson of
the mayor, a boy eleven years old, and he told me how
he had been made to work in the field from early mom
until late at night, with very little food, and his appear-
ance certainly bore out his story. During the three weeks
we were there, we certainly saw that he lacked for nothing.
It was my duty to go into Valenciennes every morning
for rations, and Anzin through which we passed was
badly broken up, the bridges over the Nord canal were
all blown, as was the large railway station just on the
opposite bank.
Our boys had had a time getting across the canal
here, as they had been held up by machine guns. Some
of them had evidently tried to swim across and been shot in
the water. We took out five poor fellows and buried them.
It was now November, and our boys were pushing
ahead for Mons. There was talk of an armistice being
79
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
signed; but meanwhile the Canadians pressed on. Shall
I ever forget the 12th of November, 1918. I guess not,
for the armistice was signed on the previous day, and
at ten o'clock hostilities ceased. Mons was given up, and
refugees and our prisoners as well as the French were
liberated and began the march toward our armies and
Valenciennes. On the early morning of the 12th there
entered the latter place thousands of weary, emaciated,
footsore soldiers and civilians, who had tramped all
through the night, and the previous day, and a truly
pitiable plight some of them were in.
For the next three weeks the sad procession con-
tinued, aged people, young mothers with their babies;
here a mother with a baby in her arms and a couple of
little tots dragging at her skirts, all her worldly posses-
sions done up in a large sized handkerchief.
The square of Valenciennes for weeks was piled up
with the luggage of the refugees. The weather in Novem-
ber was bitter cold, and heavy frosts at night made it
doubly hard for all on the road. The women and children
had been stripped of every woolen garment in their
possession before they left the hands of their captors.
The soldier prisoners, both French and British, were
dressed any old way, a German cap, British jacket and
French pants with two boots made up a full suit. It
mattered not if the boots were pairs or not; quite often
I have seen men with a German long boot on one foot,
and a British ankle boot on the other. We of the trans-
port had orders to give every possible assistance to the
refugees on the roads, and we needed no reminder of
that order, for times out of number we had the old lorry
packed as tight as she would hold.
On the last stretch of the road, we had seven bridges
to build or repair, and these were completed and the
line open to Mons in three weeks' time, and as a reward
80
to
.9bBrn kii"ijini.t.,jiq lie lUi// •ilit.-iufios
John's chief "Civic Center" deco-
rated TO GREET THE PRINCE.
The Imperial Theatre, shown in the
picture opposite, was the rallying poiiit of
many patriotic demonstrations during the
war. This theatre was used largely for
recruiting meetings and in the interest of
many causes. Through the courtesy and
kindness of Mr. Walter H. Golding, manager
of the theatre, this building was always
available for such gatherings and it was
most fitting that His Royal Highness
should pause in front of the Imperial
Theatre to receive the greeting of the
orphan children stationed at this point.
Mr. Golding was also personally responsible
for much of the success of the dual celebra-
tion in St. John in August, 1919, having
charge of the publicity and assisting
generally with all preparations made.
FRANCE .1 N D FLANDERS
we were given two days' leave in Brussels, and it is cer-
tainly "some" city. Mons was a very busy place, and
seemed to be the centre for shopping purposes of a vast
number of smaller places. I expected Mons to show some
of the signs of war which so plainly marked the hundreds
of other places I had seen, but from appearances, there
might not have been a war within a thousand miles of
the town.
Brussels was the city par excellence, however. We
got there two days after King Albert and Queen Elizabeth
had ridden in at the head of their troops. The whole
city was one mass of floral arches, and flower decked
statues and monuments, but the one which easily took
precedence was the noble monument the Belgian people
have raised to that truly noble woman, Nurse Cavell.
There it stood in the Grand Plaza on the spot where she
was foully murdered.
December was now upon us, and I was eagerly looking
for my annual pass, which was due the first week in
January, and I was figuring on a visit to Paris, but I
received a" cable from home which put this out of my
mind entirely. The cable briefly stated that my eldest
girl, aged twenty-three, and my second boy, aged twenty-
five, who had been discharged from the army unfit for
foreign service, had died within a day of each other of
influenza, and a letter following stated that the three
remaining girls and mother were also held in the grip
of this dreadful disease.
I had but one thought now, to get back home with
all speed, and as I had been away from home three years
and a half and was over age, I felt quite justified in
asking for leave to Canada in place of my usual pass
to England, so I put in an application which was granted.
My two boys were in England expecting to be sent home,
the youngest one had been there since his wound at
81
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
Vimy in April, 1917. The older one was recovering from
his second wound received in the push of August.
I left my unit on December 22, and reached England
after a very weary journey of five days, on the night of
Christmas. We landed at Southampton, and proceeded
to Witley, just seven miles from the Longmoor camp
where we did our training in England.
There were thousands of Canadians here all on the
way home, and eagerly expecting removal to Rhyl, the
last calling place before the boat at Liverpool. I was
held there a month and it surely was the longest month
of them all. However the move came at last and after
a long train journey Rhyl was reached, but here were
thousands of others waiting transportation, some whose
sailing had been several times cancelled. I was kept
waiting here for three weeks and eventually sailed for
home on February 14, 1919, and landed at Halifax on
the 24th.
It was surely good to be home again after such an
absence, and very pleasant to find I had not been for-
gotten by my many friends in St. .Fohn during my absence,
as was evidenced by the many telephone calls all through
the day following my arrival.
Well, Dear Readers, I have had a great experience
and I have the satisfaction of knowing that as far as it
was in me, I did my bit for the dear old Empire in the
hour of her need.
I, along with all who went overseas too, am now home
again. Let us not forget that we fought, bled, and
suffered for a land that was worthy of it all, let us not
forget to be worthy of the land we call home, our dear
Dominion; let us strive now we are here, to fight as hard
for our civil, provincial, and national honor, as we did
for our national safety. We have beaten to her knees
the enemy who sought to subjugate us to her rule but
82
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
failed. There are other enemies still for us to face, the
enemies within our Dominion, the paid agitator who would
seek to disrupt the Empire, and upset all recognized
authority. Of him beware, he may come in the guise
of a friend, but he is an enemy all the same. With our
thoughts fixed on the comrades, who having made the
supreme sacrifice, now sleep behind on Flanders fields,
let us set our faces steadfastly toward the goal of a sober,
clean and pure life, as we did set our faces toward Vimy,
Passchendaele and Cambrai, determined to win out in
the higher struggle as we did in the more material one.
Well, peace is now signed, the war is over, let us pray
that no such thing will e'er darken the pages of history
again. Indeed it would seem almost impossible that
this could ever be, seeing that the whole civilized world
has been concerned in it, and surely those who were found
on the right side shall have their reward.
Their Reward is Sure
Oh, broken Belgium, bleeding, torn,
Oh, France, well nigh bled white,
Oh, Britain, who has lost her sons.
And still maintains the fight.
Oh, Serbia slain, yet raised again
Your armies fighting stand,
Roumania, your task is hard
With foes on every hand.
And Italy, brave Italy,
Though almost tricked to shame,
Thou'rt standing still and still shall stand,
Defending freedom's name.
And Greece, who once was known to fame.
For all the world to see,
83
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
Still lends her influence and help
For those who would be free.
While Russia who in ancient days,
Stood out above the rest
Lies scattered like a flock of sheep,
Of shepherd dispossessed.
America whose hearts were clean,
From any lust of war,
Now feels compelled to send her sons.
To fight in lands afar.
The little men from far Japan,
And men from China, too.
And many independent states.
Are pledged to see it through.
Oh, what shall be your prize reward,
When all the fighting's done.
The thought that on the battlefields.
Where this great war was won,
Lies the resting place of all your sons.
Their dust together mingling.
Shall knit the nations into one,
And one great purpose kindling.
The east and west in common cause,
Shall face the task together.
And drive all war lords from their midst.
Then peace shall reign forever.
This your reward to live in those,
Whom you may leave behind,
Bequeathing to posterity
One aim, one heart, one mind.
Thus gathered from the ends of earth.
Where they long years have wandered.
The sons of men shall home return,
And never more be squandered.
84
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