LATE FIELD-MARSHAL HAIG

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 115, 13 February 1928, Page 10

LATE FIELD-MARSHAL HAIG

MEMORIAL SERVICE IN WELLINGTON IMPRESSIVE TRIBUTE TO HIS MEMORY A reverent congregation filled the Town Hall yesterday afternoon to pay their tribute of respect to the late FieldMarshal .Earl Haig, in whose memory a service of fitting simplicity was held. In front of the platform from which tire speakers delivered their addresses was placed a large wreath of laurel leaves' and Flanders poppies, made by disabled members’ of the British Legion, an organisation that was created by the late Earl.

■ A. parade of three hundred ex-service men,, including a number of South African campaigners, marched from the Returned Soldiers’ Club through the streets to the Town Hall. The parade was led by the Salvation Army Band, which- also assisted in the service. The congregation .was representative of all sections of the community, and among those present were several sisters who served in the Army Nursing Service during the late war. Arrangements were made for the service to be broadcast.

The Rev. T. F. Taylor presided, and associated with him on the platform were the Minister of Education (Hon. R. A. Wright), who represented the Government; the Mayor (Mr. G. A. Troup).; the General Officer Commanding the New Zealand Military Forces (Major-General R. Young) and his Staff Officer (Lieut-Colonel Smyth), Sir Joseph Ward, M.P.; Mr. R. McKeen, M.P.; Sir John Luke, M.P.; PaymasterCommander Fletcher, representing the New Zealand Naval Division; Major P. de Brandon, president of the South African Veterans’ . Association; Lieut.Colonel A. E. Avery; the consuls for United States, .of America, Belgium, China, France, and Italy, and city councillors and other representative citizens. Addresses were delivered by the Rev. J. R. Blanchard, of St. John’s Presbyterian Church, the vice-president of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association (Mr. W. Perry), and the Rev. T. F. Taylor. The service opened with the hymn “Onward, Christian Soldiers,” followed by a prayer by Mr. Taylor. “Abide With Me” was sung, and after the conclusion of the address by Mr. Taylor the congregation stood while the city organist, assisted by the Salvation Army Band, played the Dead March in “Saul;” followed by the sounding of the I '“Last Post’’, by Staff-Sergeant-Major L. 'Baker. Mr. J. H. Cook sang “Requiem,” the “Reveille” was sounded by Sergeant-Major Baker, and the service concluded with the “National Anthem.” The city organist (Mr. Bernard F. Page) played the accompaniments. The Haigs of Bermersyde. The Rev. J. R. Blanchard said that i on the coat of -'arms of the Haigs of Bermersyde was the text, “Tyde What May.” As far back as the thirteenth' century that quaint personage, Thomas the Rymer, had made the following prophetic utterance: “Tyde what may betyde, Haig shall be Haig of Bermersyde.’.’ . History had fulfilled the Rhymer’s prophecy. Of the hundreds of forts and castles. which once existed on the Scottish side of the border, and whose ruins still- excited wonder and curiosity,- 1 Bermersyde was the only one that was still inhabited as a memorial residence, and that by the family which were its original founders. For more than 300 years it was the centre of a locality where fierce fighting raged, the scene of almost never-ceasing conflict and rapine. Still it stood the possession and habitation of the family which originally founded it. This significantly symbolised the career of the latest Haig of Bermersyde, whose memory they had gathered to honour that day. “Tyde what may,” he stood from first to last in control, both of himself and his army. Before him, more often than not, was an enemy superior to him in numbers and equipment, around him an army so often sore beset and dead beat, behind him the intervention of politicians who did not understand, yet he maintained a straight course, in a manner high above anything mean or petty or malicious. The Great War cast aside or wore out many eminent- men. Yet “Tyde what may,” through four years of the fiercest fighting the British Army had ever been called upon to endure, the late Field Marshal Earl Haig bearing the heaviest burden a British soldier had ever been asked to bear, not only maintained his position but added fresh lustre to his name, and finished the war with an army whose prestige was higher than at any time in its brilliant history. He carried on with constant self-forgetfulness. His habit was to think of others first. Wrestling with plans of action which would give the maximum result for the victory of the cause, and at' the same time the minimum of risk to the lives of his men; riding at the head of his staff along the shell-swept road into close contact with the actual fighting line; going the rounds of his army ever leaving a stimulating impression of his placid, hopeful and undaunted personality, and a generous, genuine word of praise for the work his men were doing; pressing persistently in that critical March of 1918 for. the appointment of Foch to complete command of the British and French forces from “the Alps to the North Sea”; writing to his Government in an hour when fearful politicians threatened to stay a bold stroke which Foch had planned; caring not a jot for any criticism or reflection upon his own war work, but resenting it keenly and saying so when the beJittlement .of what the British Armv did in the war reflected upon his officers, non-commissioned officers and men; devoting time and energy after the war, when he might well have rested, to the welfare of disabled ex-service-men, the dependents of those who had fallen, and the uniting of ex-service-men in the Empire, among the Allied nations and in what were formerly enemv countries for the purpose of promoting and preserving peace and goodwill on the earth. Such was the late Field-Marshal Earl Haig, who ever put the Allied Cause first, his men as servants of that Cause second, and himself last. He did not leave the Cross emblazoned on the shield of the coat of arms of the Haigs of Bermfersvde. - “Tyde what may,*-* he took up the Cross daily, and denied himself. His Place in History. “We are here,” said Mr. W. Perry, “to pav a tribute of respect to the indomitable British leader and proved champion of the ex-service man, Earl Haig. The place that Earl Haig will take will be determined by the military expert and the historian, and _ let us hope that that verdict will be a just one, and will assign him a high place of honour among the Empire’s noble dead. - We ex-soldiers remember gratefully the work he did for the exservice men. Six years ago Earl Haig took it upon himself to mould into one bodv the various organisations of ex-service men in Great Britain, with the result that the British Legion was formed, this organisation being to Britain what the Returned . Soldiers Association is to rhe Dominion. Ihe Legion-has clone a great work under the presidency of Earl Haig, and numberless orphans and. widows have praised his name; - In'Canada-and South

Africa numerous organisations for the furtherance of the interests of the exservice man existed, and Earl Haig went to these countries and welded each of them into one solid united organisation. He then formed the British Empire Service Legion for the combined organisations of the Empire. In season and out of season Earl Haig worked in the cause of the men who fought and those who served under him. He has now gone, to another land, and there will meet the Unknown Warrior, who typifies all the men that, fell. There he will enter into the presence of his Alaker, and will receive his eternal reward for his great and faithful service.”

The Rev. T. F. Taylor said that it was not possible to add very much to what had already been said. A multitude of words would be a futility. The late Earl was tried as no previous British commander had been tried, and upon him was a burden greater than that placed upon any previous British soldier. He stood tbe test bravely and nobly. We should thank God for such a man, and resolve to perpetuate his spirit.

A “CHRISTIAN SOLDIER’’ PRESBYTERIANS HONOUR HIS MEMORY. “The late Field-Marshal ever sought to maintain a closer walk with God,” said tlie Rev. J. R. Blanchard, at a service he conducted in memory of Earl Haig, at St. John’s Presbyterian Church yesterday morning. The church was crowded and a Union Jack draped the reading desk of the pulpit, while the pillars of the church had Flanders poppies entwined about them. It was mentioned by Air. Blanchard that 125,000,000 poppies had been distributed during the past six years by disabled members of the British Legion, and that the gross amount realised had amounted to £1,749,000. “The late Earl,” added Air. Blanchard, “was a Christian soldier, steadfast, loyal, courageous, self-forgetful, doggedly-de-termined in fighting what he saw to be wrong, and abundant in sympathy and gentleness for suffering humanity. These qualities, which he abundantly possessed and nobly exemplified, are the fruit and flower of a growth rooted in his inner life—the secret of which he himself disclosed.” At the conclusion of the service a Scottish lament, “The Land of the Leal,” was played by the organist, Mr. C. W..Kerry.