A SOLDIER’S BLANKET

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 October 1940, Page 8

A SOLDIER’S BLANKET

SIR RALPH ABERCROMBY'S LAST ORDER. Let us think of Sir Ralph Abercromby. He was born in Scotland in 1734, and he shares with Sir John Moore the honour of helping to restore discipline and military glory to the British army. He saw military service in France and witnessed our humiliating failures in the Seven Years’ War. He was in the West Indies, and had the soldiers’ uniforms altered in suit the climate. He directed troops in Ireland, and gradually introduced a nevz spirit into the British army. In 1800 he arrived at Cadiz with 20,000 troops, afterwards landing a force in Aboukir Bay, a movement against Napoleon who was hoping to reach India. It was here that he met his end. A great soldier and a charming man, he always insisted on taking risks with his men, and rode at the head of a company which beat the French and drove them back. As he was riding, his horse was struck by a bullet. He was carried out of the fighting, and taken on board the flagship. “What is it you have placed under my head?” he asked when they laid him down. “Only a soldier’s blanket,” they said. “Take it back to him at once,” was the imperious command. It was his last order.