TRAVIS VC.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 9, Issue 520, 6 April 1920, Page 4

TRAVIS VC.

"KING OF NO MAN'S LAND."

There is a nalo of romance surrounding' the memory of Sergeant Richard Travis, V.C., D.C.M., M.M., whose marvellous deeds of daring in No Man's Land were the pride and the boast of his comrades of the Otago Battalion. Dick Travis left New Zealand with the Main Body, joining the mounteds, but as he could not see any prospect of fighting for that unit, he cleared away with the Australians, and later on joined up again with the New Zealand Division. Surely no hero was ever made a more unromantic looking figure than "Dick," with his bald head and his slovenly clothes. Do what they would the officers could not persuade him to tidy himself, much less put on the regulation outfit, and they had too much respect and admiration for him to try to enforce their wishes. Law and order were foreign to Dick's nature.

A Free Lance.

Everything he did was a defiance of custom. Others raided the enemy's trenches at night when darkness diminished the danger. He raided them in broad daylight; and took the most amazing risk s. If the O.C. wanted to know what force was opposed to him in the Hun lines, Dick was consulted, and, armed with only his two beloved automatic revolvers, he would set off to investigate, and return in an incredibly short space of time, bringing back a "squarehead." What could the officers do with a man like this? His methods completely baffled them, and so they ended by letting him do as he pleased, and become a law unto himself. On one occasion a group of "Tommy" officers visited the division, and Dick went past clad in his Balaclava and his most ragged clothes. The Imperial officers gasped, and asked the officers of the company why this man was allowed to go about in such a disreputable state, violating all rules and regulations. "Oh, that's Travis," was the reply, "he pleases himself." Dik had a wonderful instinct for picking out the tracks across No Man's Land that gave the greatest immunity from danger. He studied every hole and mound as an officer would a map, and when any new sector was taken over he simply gloried in this work. Having taken his bearings, he would set off alone "to raise the wind" on the Huns. But if his daring was superlative, his luck was .^mazing. A Narrow Escape.

On one-ofhis daylight stunts, in company «,vKh a few trusty comrades who were always ready to go anywhere and everywhere so long as Dick was with them, he was returning with a few prisoners, when two bullets intended for him each killed a prisoner immediately in front of him. He was never out of the line whilst his battalion was in it, and took part in everything that was on. He was given 14 days leave of absence on one occasion, but as there was a good deal of fighting taking place Dick refused leave. As a matter of fact, the officers were extremely loath to part with him, even for a few days, as his advice was invaluable on all occasions. "The Victoria Cross was conferred on Richard Charles Travis," so the official records say, "for most conspicuous bravery in destroying an impassable wire block. Regardless of all personal danger, Travis volunteered to clear the obstruction, and crawled out in broad daylight,- and destroyed the block with bombs. Later, perceiving that the attack was held up, Travis, with great gallantry, rushed the machine gun position, killed the Maxim gun crew, and then, singlehanded, killed an enemy officer and three men who rushed him. The success of the operation was almost entirely due to Travis, who was killed 20 hours later when going from post to post- giving encouragement to the men under intense bombardment.

Under teeming rain, across mudboggy and shell-torn fields, his heartbroken comrades carried him, and buried him in the village of Couin. The muffled reports of the rifles, followed by the sad notes of the "Last Post," were the last obsequies to this hero who, for over four years, had been the pride of his comrades and the despair of his enemies.