The Manawatu Herald. Tuesday, September 7, 1915. OUR CHAPLAIN HEROES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1443, 7 September 1915, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Tuesday, September 7, 1915. OUR CHAPLAIN HEROES.

Thk chaplains who have accompanied our troops to Gallipoli have not shirked their duty in the face of deadly shrapnel and rifle lire. They, together with the brave ambulance boys, have succoured the wounded and worked like Trojans right in the thick of the fighting. They have voluntarily and cheerfully undertaken work in the firing line, altogether apart from the official duties assigned them. During the stress of battle they have not clustered behind a sheltering rock and poured out their petitions before the Mercy Seal, but they have been alongside their comrades, coralorting the wounded and toiling on errands of mercy, and suffering all the privations of the battlefield. They are heroes every one, and worthy disciples of the Great Master whom they serve. We have been privileged to read the cheery and comforting messages sent on behalf of local boys at the front to parents from the Rev Father Dore, who has taken a keen interest in their welfare independent of church or creed. And now the news comes to baud that he has been wounded. We sincerely hope not severely. The Rev Euxford (Methodist chaplain) has been wounded, and his leg amputated, and the latest casualty Is the death of Chaplain-Major William Grant, senior Presbyterian Chaplain with the New Zealand Main Expeditionary Force, who was killed on 28th August. The deceased was a native ot Ormondville, Hawke’s Bay, and was 56 years of age. He studied almost wholly in New Zealand for the ministry, completing his training in Scotland. Returning to the Dominion in 1889, he occupied the pulpit of St. John’s Church, Wellington, for some months during the absence of the Rev James Paterson in the Old Country. Afterwards, in that year, he was called to New Plymouth, where he remained for two years. From Taranaki he went to Deeston, Canterbury, and he was in charge of the Presbyterian congregation there for fourteen years, at the expiration of which period he removed to Gisborne, where he was stationed when the war broke out. He was the first of the three Presbyterian clergymen in Egypt logo to the Dardanelles. By his death the Presbyterian Church loses a zealous, able, and popular minister, Chaplain-Major Grant has left a widow and five children. Two of his sons are at the front.