CHATS WITH SOLDIERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 July 1915, Page 4

CHATS WITH SOLDIERS.

J mSOXAL EXPERIENCES. WOUNDED IN ACTION. Wellington, July 15. Lieutenant J. W. Fletcher, who wa.t away as a sergeant-major of the Nc .v Zealand Permanent Stair, and who had been stationed at Helensville fur some time before leaving the Dominion l'or the front, received his commission a« well as two wounds at Gallipoli. He was shot through the left wrist at Gabu Tepe on May Bth, and at Cape llelles a second bullet entered the right thigh and passed through the hip. This bu»et, »lthotigli located, ims not yet been extracted.

"1 was hit in the famous Daisy Patch,'' said Lieutenant Fletcher. "We had to advance straight across open country, tlio Australians and New Zealunders being placed in the centre, and the Freii'li and English on either flank. As we advanced we met a hail of lead anil most of us who dropped found that the Turks took a special delight in endeavoring to finish us off altogether. The concealment of the Turkish trenches was very good. We did not see a single man --I did not, at any rate—and yet all the while there came that stream of lead. The Turks were under German otiicers, who are born leaders and cannot be beat. I saw them on other occasions driving the Turks, and it made a deep impression, Their handling of the ma-chine-guns is a credit to them, while .is_ for their snipers, well, they are splendid shots. On some occasions, we even found the snipers covered up as walking bushes and as for the Turkish artillery, however, it is absolutely rotten, or no chiM. I should say there was u marked superiority of our artillery over their's." Lieutenant Fletcher pays a high tribute to the New Zealanders. "The stretcher-bearers," he said, "were splendid, and ours and those of Australia would have been a credit to any country. As for the New Zcalanders a 9 a whoie, I have not the slightest hesitation in saying that they are the finest soldiering material in the world. Ihey are out on their own. I say that as an oxsergeant of the Gordon Highlanders, better man you could not wish to be and you can depend oil them. As evidence of this, I need quote only one instance. Three parties of our men were sent to reinforce a particularly strong section of the firing line. Only one of them got through." Lieutenant Fletcher wil join his wife and family at Mangaroa (Wairarapa) at present. He may go into hospital later.