Y. M. C. A. BOOKLET.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 12, 4 June 1920, Page 2

Y. M. C. A. BOOKLET.

We have to acknowledge from Mr Berry, seeretary of the Invercargill Y.M. C.A., a splendid little booklet entitled "Buckshee." The booklet is being distributed free of cost to all who have any interest in the Y.M.C.A., and returned soldiers have every reason to appreciate its work. The title it&elf will recall to memory the "buckshee" bun and cup of tea which so many Diggers had reason to appreciate. There are many instances that booklet calls to my memory. Diggers will remember the l.M.C.A. on Hill 63, composed of an excavation on the sicte of the road and covered with sheets of iron. The guris were wheel to wheel in the wood and had quietened down after the Messin.es stunt, when at 9 minutes past three that morning they opened fire and there was just oue long line of fire, and then the mines which opened up around Ilill 60. We were ready for the attack on Messines, and with customary foresight the Y.M.C.A. copper wasmaking preparations to supply walking wounded and others who had to ti'averse this road. How well I remember that "Buckshee" cup of tea and a packet of biscuits as we crane back about 7 o'clock that evening. Diggers will ever remember Ypres. We had come up one afiernoon to the old German front lines where we stayed until evening. A lieutenant and thirteen men were just starting off for the line when a "Slippery Jim" practically disembowelled our lieutenant. Some of the men were kilied and others wounded. The next morning we buried those who were dead, and on leaving the graveside I notieed a little smoke coming from under the ground. Naturally enough I enquired and there, right under the ground, was a Y.M.C.A. I had the usual "buckshee" stunt, which in this case was also a few Player's cigarettes. That afternoon I had searched the lining of my coat, but no luck, so the Y.M.C.A. was a pleasant surprise. I was making towards where my abode was (which consisted of a piece of roofing iron supported by two sticks), when I met another Digger who seemed gloomy enough to expect the end of time. "Where the did you get that fag?" I hastily told him where the Y.M.C.A. was, and he too enjoyed the "buckshee" stunt. He was just coming away when a "Slippery Jim" bnrst right inside the Y.M.C.A., and naturally enough this was the end of the Y.M.C.A., and added a dee-per look of depression on the face of j my chum, who had cbeered up to some extent by getting a bit- of "packing" and a fag. The'se incidents are merely intended to draw attention to the fact that as far as tl\e grand work of the Y.M.C.A. on active service is concerried, "The half was never told." The booklet itself is very modest in its explanation of the work of the Y.M.C.A. but gives sufficient description to form some idea of the magnitude of its work and should he obtained by those interested, especially at the price asked, namely, the "buckshee stunt." Ifc is well got up, firmly bound, and the repxoductions are good.