HEROISM IN GALLIPOLI

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2515, 17 July 1915, Page 6

HEROISM IN GALLIPOLI

A -NEW; ZEALAND .CHAPLAIN'S 1 1 LETTER; ; 'A striking tribute to tlie.fine conduct jf the New .Zealanders in Gallipoli is ■paid'by the Rev. J. Av Luxford,- senior Methodist -diaplain, : 'iii a letter to "tho .Rev. AV. Serpell. Writing on May 22,' Mr. Luxford says: —. j; :f . . ; Since my last letter we h'aye been incessantly under fire," iiot'even an armisftice to bury our dead,'.':, New Zealanders ihave frequently changed camp, • • but (havo not .had half an hour's respite' i-from :the.din and smoke of- battle, and -.every day has increased our casualties. I'Ko man speaks definitely of reaching•ihonie, tlio common expression is "If I ''am fortuna'to enough to get back." I ■ftm surprised to find that .so few are '•suffering from nerves or exhaustion. I h\ ! isli, you would' adopt some-"' public method of letting tho peoplo of cur seagirt.isles'.know. this;",-As chaplain it is ,part 'of niy duty to ■ send -all the encouraging news I can.' The endurance of oui-_ depleted ranks is wonderful,' complaining is unknown-. On those,black : 'days when one battalion of over 1000 ; could only get 150 to answer the rollcall, and-another only 220. • I don't jthink a single man sound in body would jhavo gone'back'to' New Zealand if'he Jiad been offered the; chance. Tlio feel•ing is, wo are here for the'work and :we shall keep to it; till the ,last. -:: lam /proud of the /thrill'-.of Empire that-,per-';vades our ranks; - Before-this 'you the casualty list^ofikilled;,.wounded," 'arid missing will be!'kndwri. :. Probably ,2700 of our, infantry brigaHo',are" on the honours list. Maiiy of'these;are..more 'or' -'wbuiided'' and will re!tum to action; soino aro maimed for «ifc; somo are missing, which may mean ■t'liey are slain and their .bodies havo not' r'teen recovered; some have been, called ';to; their; Eternal Homo. Never have ■New Zealanders" gono through such", an experience. Wo pray that as the news (filters through, the Saviour may niini'ister His tenderest consolations to tlio (.sorrowing relatives' and friends. Our flosses have been tho mean? of binding tlio survivors with a tie of sympathy .'and fellowship. I can truly say we aro linked together in comradeship. I will take this opportunity of saying that wo hope the,.niaii ..who. twitted.. lis when 4raiiiing in Egypt-iritli being. "Massey's picnickers" has realised his err or' in making that ungenerous remark. : Although our food is good and plentiful we aro on one of tho greatest and. maddest battlefields of history, and tho aa'ds aro enduring, fighting, suffering, jWyiiig with a courago that cannot be Veclipsed. I have seen thousands of {Australians and New Zealanders suffer.1 jing, but havo not heard a complaining Kvord. I have seen wo.unded men reSfiise to bo carried on a stretcher because they knew of others moro seriously' wounded who needed this • means of conveyance. If I ever reach homo I will '•'givo definite instances. /My heart has been touched "at burials when tli.e dead havo' been wrapped . 'in a blanket'or overcoat, and lain four and six in a grave, and tho comrades ; gathering the wild flowers that abound, land reverently throwing them into the 'graves. I must not forget a referenco !to the officers and men of the British I Navy who have carried our wounded to !'the hospital ships. Jack Tar has a 'tender heart. I-don't think a wounded man from the . time .her left the receiving station till he has reached the hos'pital ship has had an unnecessary jar. Let tho public of New Zealand be assured from one who has seen it all, that their wounded, although away from the soothing touch of loving relations have been ministered to by kind and able doctors, by sympathetic'- comrades.' ''and above all, by the presence of a Heaven-; ly-Fatber's sustaining powon.