"I HAVE PROMOTED YOU."

Taranaki Daily News, 27 November 1915, Page 12 (Supplement)

"I HAVE PROMOTED YOU."

THE KING'S SURPRISE FOR AN" AUSTRALIAN. The Toronto correspondent ol tnv Daily Express writes:— Dr. A. K. Haywood, of the Toronto Ceneral Hospital, who has just returned from the front, where he was decorated with the Military Cross for his services to the Canadian wounded at Ypres, tells an interesting story of the King's visit to a military .hospital last month, and his delightful surprise for one of the patients.

The scene of the incident was a hospital thirty miles from London. The patients included an Australian, who had lived with a bullet in his brain, although his injury had deprived him of the pow*r of speech and paralysed one side of his body.

When three ot his officers were shot down the Australian climbed out of his trench and carried two of them to safety. He was making a third trip when in the head.

The man was taken to England, and surgeons performed a daring, skilful and intricate operation. The bullet was removed from his brain and he recovered his speech. THE "SHOW PATIENT.' What followed in thus described by the representative of the Toronto Evening Telegram, who met Dr. Haywood on his arrival at Quebec: — "A bearded man, whose face seemed strangely familiar, passed through the wards. Surgeons who 'eared for nobody' attended him with marked deference. They pointed with pride to their 'show patient,' the man who carried a bullet in his brain for weeks, and lived to tell the tale. "The distinguished stranger bent over the cot. 'I wish you a speedy recovery, lieutenant,' he said. " 'l'm—not—a lieutenant—l'm—a private,' said the hero. "'You were,' said the stranger, 'but I have promoted you.' "That evening, when the new lieutenant was stronger, they-told him the truth. "'That was the King who promoted you. He came in on an hour's notice, with a command that the routine of the hospital should liot be varied in tb.9 slightest.'"