Levin Men at the Front

Horowhenua Chronicle, 22 October 1915, Page 2

Levin Men at the Front

iJUU i 11U-IJ. WWX* 1. Vo. .•iis .liiuieViu, oi xieai.ueiiea, ;o ui le«pi ail liiteiLSiing letter uuin jier iiugu .uuaew.i) uno is I'div ill me Convalescent Lamp ai />eiloun. lie was wounded in Liie assault on miL (.Dardanelles;, being iiijure;i 0y a ispiuLter ironi a bullet that new olf the rillo-barrel ol one oi his mates during the attach oil the liiil. Alter describing a marvellous escape lie i.ad lrom death ill the trenches, Corporal Andrews gives a sketch ol the lurks' ways in action. "Tho beggars always charge half-heartedly/' he writes, "and will never stand up to the bayonet, though they are brave otherwise. Their officers especially are cool customers. One ol them (a German) stood up and liad a look at us—l might says he is pretty cool now, though 1" . . "They kicked me out of tho hospital at Cairo in about a weeK, That is tho worst of being healthy and not 'kidding.' 'lhere were dozens stopping there with a linger hurt or something like that; but the doctor said to me 'Well, old sport, how's you leg doing now?' and 1 replied in the same strain 'Oh, she's right as a uank.' There were only two of the main body remaining in our section before I left, and now I'm not left. 1' think the other chap must be killed, because nobody got out the trench he was in, so far ae I -know. All my great 'pals' are killed; most of them were killed alongside of ine. - That is what makes a chap feol bad. I believe I would have sooner been killed myself than have seen some of those magnificent fellows killed. One by one they went, their places being taken by follows I didn't take to . . . I am afraid Kitchener's new army is not a patch on the colonials; but tho censor will have a go at this if I say much oil that line!

. . . . The first Turks Ave fought were big, tall, bony beggars—giants, same of them—but the last were short, rtuud little beggars, and much fairer. L think it shows they are getting into xheir second and third lines of defence.

Did you ever strike young George France P He was sent back to Levin, wounded, a month or two ago. Another chap, Sergeant Douglas, is going back from oour camp to W'aikanae. Tliey* arc both jolly good chaps. Goorgo France, was shot through the shoulder while fighting in some scrub. At tlio same time I got a bullet through my ear, and another cut my eyebrow and nearly stunned me . . . The Maoris, turned out first-class fighters, .and took half-a-dozen trenches in quick time with the bayonet." The letter concludes with an intimation that Corporal AnclroAvs has been Invalided to England.