Elmore County Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1910-1915, 1915-11-27
LIKE NICKEL STORY
Yankee Has Exciting Time in
British Navy.
Serves In Trenches and on Battle
ships, Captured by Germans and
Escapes-Brought Home
by -UncIe Sam.


Yonkers, N Y.-Wilfrid Doyle, the
nineteen-year-old son of Mr.. and Mrs.
Edward Doyle of 156 Valentine lane,
this city, is back at his home here
after seven months of adventure of the
kind that most boys dream about but
never experience. He has fought the
Turk in trenches knee deep in water
at the Dardanelles, he has been cap
tured by the Germans in Belgium and
he has stood watch many nights on
the deck of the superintendent
Queen Elizabeth while she patrolled
the North sea enforcing the blockade
against Germany.
The spring fever wearied young
Doyle of the simple pleasures of life
in Yonkers and he ran away from
home. He made his way to Boston,
where he obtained a place as horse
hostler on one of the transports en-
gagged in carrying horses to the war
zone. In Liverpool he left his ship and
enlisted in the British navy. He had
little trouble in getting into the serv-
ice, although an alien He told the
recruiting officer that he was an Irish
boy, and so he is, as his name proves.
His enlistment was for the duration of
the war, but after six months of effort
the state department of the United
States plucked him from the service
of King George at the behest of his
parents. A postal card he wrote to his
mother directly after landing in Liver
pool supplied the clue that led to his
discovery.
Gallipoli, Doyle says, is now sham
bles and ruin in the area over which
the Turks have been slowly driven
back by the allies Not so much as a
drop Of clean water may be obtained
there. The streams and wells have
been polluted by bodies and blood.
Doyle arrived at the Dardanelles in
May, soon after the attack ON the
Turks had begun. During one period
of heavy pressure he served for 4S
hours on land in the third line of
ii CIIIuCo. uC DlCll VI tAO ulllCu
forces suffered fearfully, he says, at
that time from the rains that flooded
the trenches and the intense heat that
made life almost unbearable.
While on this expedition Doyle saw
q Turkish girl sniper captured. A
group of sailors relieved from trench
duty were standing near haystack
One of them playfully thrust his bay
onet into the hay When he drew 1t
out it was covered with blood. The
sailors Immediately tore the stack
apart and discovered a young girl
armed with rifle in followed space
She had been on her knees at loop
hole when the bayonet point caught
her in the arm Beside her was found
a supply of food and IS identification
disks of the kind worn by all sailors
and soldiers in Britain's service. it
was the belief of her captors that she
had killed that many soldiers in the
trenches within range and had then
stolen out and cut their Identification
disks from their necks. Doyle re-
turned to his ship soon after the girl
was captured and he did not learn of
her fate.
On board the Queen Elizabeth Doyle
met Corporal Joseph Nicolson, the
only survivor of q regiment OF Royal
Scots which was annihilated on April
%. After leaving transport the SOL
diers were taken to the fighting front
on board tie Queen Elizabeth. An
hour after arriving, at two o'clock in
the afternoon, the regiment charged.
1t was not properly supported and was
annihilated. At five o'clock that af-
ternoon a survivor crawled back into
the trenches. He died later on the way
to England, at Malta. Nicolson was
found wounded IA hours later. He was
sent aboard the Queen Elizabeth for
hospital treatment and he and Doyle
became very friendly AS soon as he
had sufficiently recovered he was sent
back to England.
In July the Queen Elizabeth, with
others of the newer English battle
ships, was withdrawn from Turkish
waters and placed on patrol duty in
the North sea. While his ship was be-
ing overhauled Doyle served for
time on the battleship Drake. During
this period, with so others, he was
captured on the Belgian coast The
small landing party was surrounded by
q large number of Germans. They
were captured and marched a mile in
land to barhed wire stockade. That
night 20 Of them, including Doyle, es-
capped