V.C. and Bar and a Dog
SCOTTISH terrier, which had been part and parcel of my Christchurch household for some years, fell ill. He had cancer of the ear. Veterinary surgeons could do very little about it. "Come with us," said some friends from the country. "We know a chap, who, if he can’t do anything himself for the dog, will soon put you on to somebody who can. But it means a drive out to Lincoln College. First of all, though, we'll have to pick up the chap at 32 Gloucester Street." We picked up the chap. "Oh yes, I'll see what can be done; glad to," he said.
"As a matter of fact I don’t know much about these little dogs. I am more used to the bigger types myself." He looked at the Scottie I was carrying, and stroked him. "Poor little tyke’s not too good, I gather." The Scottie’s name was-Hamish. (This is his photograph here.) The chap fondled him, called him by his name and received the usual look of appreciation a dog gives for sympathy when in trouble. In spite of his professed preference for dogs of a larger type, he talked to Hamish in the way dog-lovers do. At the college the chap introduced us to a veterinary surgeon. "Clever man, this,’ he had explained on the way out. "Tf he can’t fix the dog, nobody can." "Yes, I see what the trouble is," said the surgeon, "but it’s beyond me." He suggested ways of relieving the pain, however, "Sorry," said the chap from 32 Gloucester Street, "but you see ‘how it is. Pity you’ve had such a waste of time. I wish an operation could have been performed." We dropped the chap at his home. "Let’s know how he gets on," was his parting remark. Eventually the dog had to be destroyed, but I was very grateful to the man who had gone to so much trouble for an animal that wasn’t his. It is part of human nature, when a man becomes world-famous, for anybody who has met him for a moment, or had the scantiest dealings with him, to claim personal knowledge, if not a long-standing friendship. I claim the former, for the "chap" was the man who three years later became known the world over as Captain C. H. Upham,
V.C. and Bar. .
SANDRA
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 329, 12 October 1945, Page 13
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395V.C. and Bar and a Dog New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 329, 12 October 1945, Page 13
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