"THE FINEST SHOT IN THE WORLD."

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1454, 2 October 1915, Page 2

"THE FINEST SHOT IN THE WORLD."

Captain Wallingford, who, as stated in our last issue, has had to retire on account of a strained heart, was lent to the New Zealand Defence Force as musketry instructor, and was in the Dominion when the war broke out, and left with the main body for the Dardanelles, where he was in command of the machine gunnery. He was the finest shot in the

British Army. The British Array claims that he is the greatest shot in the world. A member of his company who came back in the Tahiti, with a wound which almost proved mortal, relates with pride some of Captain Wallingford's exploits. In a letter home, it may be remembered, this officer wrote that alter several weeks at the front that day was the first on which he had not killed a Turk. This man left the front on June 27th, and he claims that Captain Wallingford’s tally up to that time with the rille alone, leaving out of account altogether the terrible machine-gun, was over 700 Turks, As a marksman he is a wizard. One incident this soldier related. “Do you see that bush there?” said Captain Wallingford one day, pointing to a harmless looking bush about sixty yards away. "Well, watch it.” They watched, and saw that it moved very slowly. “I think we’ll give him a chance,” said Captain Wallingford, which meant that instead of using his rifle he would use a revolver. He drew bis revolver, and fired quick as a flash. The animated bush collapsed, and the Turk that it hid tolled over quite dead On another occasion Captain Wallingford played one of his practical jokes on the Turks in opposing trenches. “I think we’ll make the beggars waste some ammunition presently,” he said. Then be passed the word that when he shouted an order the company was to fire “five rounds rapid,” and then stop. As the narrator tells : “We fired our five rounds rapid in five seconds or so, and they kept on firing for an hour and a quarter, expecting us to attack. We stayed • snugly in our trench, of course. I guess we’ve got more ammunition than they have.” This joke was practiced very often with good effect in the first months, but now the Turk is more wary, and probably ammunition is more scarce.