BLACK DAYS OF BATTLE.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 263, 29 July 1915, Page 3

BLACK DAYS OF BATTLE.

WAE'S TEREIBLE TOLL

CHAPLAIN'S THRILLING* STORY

The Rev. A. C. Lawry, convener of the Methodist military committee for Auckland district, has received from Chaplain-Major Luxford the following letter, written from the Dardanelles on May 22nd:—

"Since my last letter we have been incessantly under fire —not even an armistice to bury our dead. New Zealanders have frequently changed camp, but have not had half an hour's respite from the din and smoke of battle, and every day has increased our casualties. No man speaks definitely of reaching home; the common expression is 'lf I am fortunate enough to got back.' I am surprised to find that so few are suffering from nerves or exhaustion. I wish you would adopt some public method of letting the people of our sea-girt isles know this. As chaplain, it is part of my duty to send all the encouraging news I can. The endurance of our depleted ranks is wonderful. Complaining is unknown. On those bl'iclc days when one battalion of over 1,000 could ony get 150 to answer the roM-call, and another only 220. I don't think a single man sound in body would have gene back to New Zealand if he had been offered the chance. The feeling is we are here for work, and Ave shall! keep to it till the last. lam proud of the thrill of Empire that pervades our ranks. Before this reaches you the casualty list of killed, wounded, and missing wul be known. Probably 2,700 of our infantry brigade arc on the. honours list. Many of these are more or less slightly wounded, and

will return to action. Some are maimed for Jsfe, some are missing, which

may moan they are slain, and their bodies have not been recovered. Some

have been called to their Eternal Home. Never have New Zealanders gene through such an experience. We pray that, as the news filters through, the Saviour may minister His tenderest consolations to the sorrowing relatives and friends. Our losses have been the means of binding the survivors with a tie of sympathy and fellowship. I can truly say we are linked together in comradeship. "Although our food is good and ■>r.sntiful, Ave are on one of the greatest

and saddest battlefields of history, and the lads are enduring, fighting, suffering, dying with a courage that cannot be eclipsed. I have seen thousands o? Australians and New Zealanders suffering, but have not heard a complain-

in;; word'. I have seen wounded men refuse to be carried on a stretcher because they knew others more seriousV wounded who needed this means of umveyanee. If I ever reach home I will give definite instances. My heart has been touched at burials, when the dead have been wrapped in blanket or overcoat, and lain four and six in a grave, their comrades gathering the wild flowers that abound, and reverently throwing them into the graves, j musf not forget a reference to the officers and men of the British Navy who have etrried-our wounded to the hospita? ships. Jack Tar has a tender heart. I don't think a wounded man, from the time he left the receiving station til! he lias reached the hospital ship, has had an unnecessary jar. Let the publir* of New Zealand be assured, from one who has seen it all that their wounded, although away from the soothing touch' of loving relations, have been ministered to by kind and able doctors, by sympathetic comrades, and, above all. by the presence of a Heavenly Father's sustaining power."