MARCHING IN!

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2845, 9 August 1916, Page 6

MARCHING IN!

SIXTEENTHS' BRAVE SPURT

MORE ABOUT A RECORD TRIP

Oh! the soldiers' feet seem lighter,

Marching in! And their steady eyes shino brighter,

Marching in! When the long route march is over, And the lights o'er Trentham hover, There's a welcome for the rover, Marching in!

This variant of tho words of Miss Ella Caspers's song, "Coming Home," is appropriate to the arrival of any of tho Now Zealand Infantry Reinforcements at Trentham, after route marching from Featherston; and it was especially so in tho caso of tho men of A. B. C. D. and J Companies of tho Sixteenth Reinforcements, who marched over the whole 27 miles of mountain road last Sunday. They held their heads high, and their inarching was almost perfect, though more than one face was drawn with weariness. An onlooker said:

"This is what they came right through for, this littlo bit of 'gallery,' This is the proud moment; thoy'vo done what no other draft' has done. By Jove, they've earned- it, and I'll bet they'ro tired."

And they wero. But that didn't prevent tliem marching in as gallantly as any, to the sound of cheering, with a swagger that belied their weariness.

Tho decision to come right through was made before Kaitoke was reached. There wero to bo sandwiches and, hot tea at Kaitoke, but the men will tell you, without any complaint in their tones, that there wasn't much hot tea; and they had only a dry ration with them to fall back on. Even, so, they-didn't go back on their decision to march right through, though they had the choice of doing so or of taking the train at Kaitoke. They wero out to do what had not been dono before, and a littlo hardship would not deter them. In his address to the Fifteenth Reinforcements, tho Chief of the Staff told the men that on activo service thoy would meet with hardship, that sometimes it would seem to them to be unnecessary hardship, but they must not grumble; it was all in tho. game. Tho Sixteenths are men of the right stuff,. and ■ they camo on past Kaitoke station and up the . hill towards Mangaroa, and ever beforo them was the picture of the camp gates at the end of _ the journey, and the pride of marching in. From Kaitoke to Upper Hutt the road was not good; in many places there were long stretches of loose metal tired them by its jarring insecurity of foothold. Yet thoy made good time. At Upper Hutt thoy expected to meet tho Trentham Camp Band. - Only a soldier who has marched knows how a band enlivens one on the march. - It . was a disappointment that the band was not waiting at tho township. But the decision to march in from Kaitoke was not known at Trentham instantly, and tlio band had two miles to march to 1 Upper Hutt. The column was' still marching with dogged determination when tlio band was met. At once the bandsmen, without pausing to get breath after their hurried march out, turned about and broke into a stirring Trentham tune.

The effect was'magical "The feet became much lighter" then, in truth; the last mile or so was stepped cut in good stylo until the straight road', leading from tho main road to Trentliam 1 camp, was 1 reached, "here, the troQps.wero halted, all gaps in their fours were filled up, so that tho medical officers, standing on nach side of the camp gates,' would have no blank 'files to interrupt their rapid, keen scrutiny of the healthy. faces, as the companies marched in. Tho order came, "Quick march 1" The band struck up tho marching tune' that is rarely heard now, "It's a Long Way to Tippcrafy," and. they were marching in, blithely, almost jauntily, into Trentham, the home camp, where they first began to be soldiers, where' they learned' .the value of discipline and tho comforts that come from the well-regulated camp life, though it had seemed like hardship when they y encountered it first. Not without good reason have the . Sixteenths been designated the strongest .draft that has crossed the hill; The desire to do something better than the draft that wont before them is encouraged in the men.' The Sixteenths have done so, and they showed their gameness, their real grit and stamina oh Sunday when they were marching in.