"THE FIGHTING PADRE."

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16144, 23 February 1918, Page 5

"THE FIGHTING PADRE."

j CHAPLAIN McKl'-NZ!!".. M.C. After more than three years of .-trenuou- work. C liapiain Lieur.Colonel McKenzie. M.C.. known to every Australian An/.ac as the "lighting Padre." or "Fighting Mac."' ii-'is returned to Australia. He lei I with the Ist Australian Infantry Brigade on October 1014, and with the exception of a few >hort holidays. 1 e had been with then: continuously >.p j to the time of his departure from ' France. No man is better known j among the Australian soldiers at the j from a Sydney paper.). He h;;< I been with them in their trials -uul ■ tribulation since the" historic landing j at Gallipoli, cheering ilieni on th.rrj way, giving succour to the wounded, j providing creature comforts right \ up : at the front line, carrying letters from! home into tlie trenches, organising •.■oricerts and sports, and even with his own hanils laying to rest the bodies of men who fell on the battlefield. He won the Military Cross on Gallipoii, where his services to the troops >-ill never, says another writer, be torgotten. ]t fell to his lot to conduct the burial service of Brigadier-General H. X. MacLaurin, of the Ist Infantry Brigade, who was killed in action on April 28th, 1915, three days alter the landing. Owing to the heavy Turkish lire he had to conduct the ceremony on all lours. He was mentioned "or gallantry in General Sir C. C. Munro's .Mediterranean Expeditionary Forco despatches, anil in France was promoted from the 4th to the 3rd class and to be major. He had joined as a captain. •Till-: VALLEY OF THE SHADOW/' He secured the love and devotion of his men owing to his own willingness to undergo every hardship that they shared. His solemn services bel'oro battle will long be remembered by those who had the privilege of taking part in them. One such was he'd before Pozieres. and within 10 minutes he had 1000 men around him repeating the Shepherd's Psalnt: "Yea, though ] walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil." Such was the devotion in which he was held that when he walked, unannounced. into a ward at the Harefield Hospital the men rose in their beds and cheered him. He lias brought in wounded, and lias stayed to comfort his men under the most intense shell fire, remaining behind afterwards to collect as many as two sacks full of identity discs and pay-Hooks from the dead. LOVED AND VENERATED. Chaplain-Major Robert Henr.v. who has succeeded Chaplain McKenzie, writing to Salvation Army Headquarters in Sydney, says:— " 'The old padre's going' was the I ill rase on every lip. and that his departure is felt 'as a genuine personal loss by officers, n.e.o.'s, and men is only stating a truth badly. He has been loved and venerated, and men will continue to cherish his memory all through life. To me. such an outpouring of regard caused rejoicing, because of my comrade, and a feeling of insufficiency because of myself. "The paclre's last church parade was fully worthy of the occasion, and a great tribute to the man. The Brigadier had ridden several miles to be present, and officers whose duty frequently keeps them from such services, foimd' the old adage holds, 'Where there's a will there's a way.' The final address was listened to with strained attention. OFFICIAL FAREWELL. "Later in the week an opportunity was afforded by the C.O. for an official farewell. At this battalion parade the C.O. referred in appreciative terms to tho worth and work of tho departing padre, a work which "had extended beyond the hounds of an official chaplain's duty, and which had been of immense value to the whole A.I.F. in the field. Hiding up to LieutenantColonel McKenzie, the 0.C., shaking his hand, wished him in the name of the battalion good-bye and good luck. After acknowledging and replying to thi9 most unusual compliment and honour, the Lieutenant-Colonel, at the C.O.'s invitation, passed down the ranks, shaking hands with every man. Tho Salvation Army's first Australian chaplain has earned a name and fame which should cause a thrill of pride to everv Australian Salvationist." KNOWLEDGE OF. MEN. "4.J.8.," writing in the "Sydney Morning Herald," says that the great secret of Chaplain McKenzie's success with the forces is his knowledge of men. When he joined up lie had met all classes, and uobody was too "faf-gone" for him. Ho took a special interest in men who for various reasons had. been placed in the compound or military gaols. He was always out to meet them and give them a- helping hand. A man on being released in Egypt after serving a sentence which he thought should l never have been awarded him said, "That's the end of me. I'll never do another day's soldiering." But he had reckoned "without the padre, who took him in hand, made him an advance of cash, handed him a writing pad and a packet of cigerettes. "What could a chap do with suclt a man?" he Raid later the same day. "I'll give the game another fly." He did, and to-day is a lieutenant in the same unit. Like the majority of iScots, ho is fond of singing, and at any hour of the day, and under all sorts of conditions, he thought noticing of starting a concert. Possessed of cast-iron .physical powers, he neyer knew on Gallipoli or in France how tired tho majority became, and his sprightly appearance used to put men to shame. They would brace themselves up and make another big effort when they thought they were done. One night in a drenching storm of rain he carried bombs uiib>> across duck boards and quagmires. Nobody could live with him, and he had several times to stop and wait for the party be was assisting. He \ras a man of magnetic force, and he did not know liis true worth. Some me»n called him ''Madcap Mac." An Australian brigadier-general (at that time major) said of Chaplain McKenzie on Gallipoli: "He is the best worker, organiser, and friend the men have in a country like this. At Lone Pine last week he was worth another battalion to us." THE CHARGE AT LONE PINE. The men of the First -Brigade swear that he led the brigade at Lone Pine, waving an entrenching tool, and shouting at them in broad Scotch aocents. "I could not tell what he was saying," said one to the writer. "He was going faster than onv one of us. and yelling at the top of his voice. When we took the place our great concern was for the safety of Mac. At last we found him. He was carrying wounded men by tho score to places of safetv. At night we found him in charge of a ration party that had straved into the neighbourhood of the Turkish trenches. He is the finest man I ever set eyes tjpon.'-' WITHOUT FEAR OR FAVOUR. "He is recognised," writes an Anzac, "as an absolutely fearless man in the firing-line. I often heard it said— and I know it to be quite true—that he never favoured one section or creed more than another. Whether you were a Wesleyan. Presbyterian, Church of England, or' Roman Catholic, it mattered nothing to him as long as he could do you a good turn. As a matter of fact, words fail to show the veneration and esteem in which this noble "padre is held." HIS CAREER. Chaplain McKenzie is a Scotsman ""*1 .Hifrhlnjirin.,

tralia with his father and mother, who settled at Bundnberq, Queensland, nnd has engaged in farming pursuits there. .Speaking to one ot our representatives, Major New by. in charge of the ■Salvation Army work in Christchurch, >aiil: '-Colonel McKenzie joined the .Salvation Army at Bundabcrg. over thirty ye:-.rs ago. and has been an ofiiier oi the organisation for years, having risen right trom the bottom. As a lieutenant- lie was in charge of *;<nie ot the most, difficult districts, and acquitted himself s<> well that lie was lai.-ed to divisional rank, anil was stat'oiu'd in the Wimmeru district, one of the hardest fields in Australia. About ten years ago he came to Christchureh. and edited the 'War Cry' for about six years. • Whilst in this city. Colonel McKenzie inaugurated the Friday afternoon service in Cathedra! square, which, after he left the city, the Army was not able to carry on. From Christchurch. Colonel McKenzie went to MelIwunie. to conduct the 'War Cry' there; thence lie went to more divisional work, anil, just prior to the outbreak of war he was one of thJN Australian party which attended the Salvation Ariny International Congress Council. Three days after he returned to Australia he left as one of tho chaplains of the Main Body of the Australian Imperial Force. Ho is now. as the result of the Commissioner's request, returning to Australia to take up an appointment the nature of which is not known at present.''