DANNEVIRKE BOY'S ESCAPE.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 26 June 1917, Page 4

DANNEVIRKE BOY'S ESCAPE.

MIRACULOUSLY SAVED BY A 'jj POUCH. . Some pieces of shattered metal car- j tridge cases, at present exhibited in. i Mr. W. Mason's pharmacy window, Dannevirke, are all that rcmafts W 15 bullets that struck Private Walter | Davey in a soft spot.. This gallant young soldier, a son of Mr and Mrs. J. Davey, well-known Dannevirke people, residing in Miller's Road, left NewZealand with the Bth Reinforcements, and after spending some time in Egypt, crossed over to France, where he participated with his brother, Private Leslie Davey, in the big "push" on the Somme. Private Walter Davey was in a raid when a shower of bullets struck him, but fortunately hit his pouch, and thus saved him from death. He secured 11 of the missiles, and forwarded a deadly sample to his parents. His escape was a mirculous one. Of 49 New Zealanders who %vent into the raid, onlyPrivate Walter Davey came out unscathed. Private Leslie Davey was severely | wounded in the hip, and for nine* ! months has been an inmate of Hornchurch Hospital, in Essex. We are indebted to Mr. J. T. Daveyv of Taihape, for a few further partieul- I ars of these two gallant New Zealand- \ ers. These two lads are both first-class ' shots and were for a long time engaged sniping Walter Davey has been engaged bricklaying at the front since the Somme battle, building chimneys I and ovens (the latter an invention of ■ his own) for the troops, but is again back in the firing line. Both brothers were soon selected on arrval at the front as snipers on account of their j splendid marksmanship. Previous leaving for the front the Davey boys were- 1 well-known footballers in the Danne-f virke district.