Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-07-04
TOMMY ATKINS
FED Up" WITH WAR
Every Wounded Soldier Has
Fresh Tale of Horror
to Tell.
BUT HE is GOING BACK
Disguised Only With Men Who
Refuse to Return With
Him.
BUT HE is GOING BACK
BY w. 8RToN TE.vsoN.

u
Francis fed up with war. He ad-
mits this not only as an individual, but
in platoons and companies. in fact.
wherever he may be met about the
streets Of London or in its parks and
recreation places. Every wounded SOL
der who is convalescing in London has
a fresh tale OF horror to tell.
This does not mean that Tommy
Atkins Will not go back. 1t means
that he is Disguised with the strikers
who pass by the enrolling places with
averted eyes and refuse to go back
with him. 1t means that he feels that
the country does not appreciate his
sacrifice. The man who has been at
the front has become a soldier, quick
TO respond to discipline and with only
the Union Jack as his fetish, and he
cannot see why the thousands of able
men who daily walk the streets Of
London are permitted TO do So
private Of one OF the London regi-
ments which was first to leave for the
front was found sitting in Hyde Park
nursing a wounded thigh.
How is the hurt?" he was asked.
Far better. now he replied
Then YOU soon will be ready to re-
turn to the front. 1 suppose you are
anxious to get back into active SER
vice?'
He stared at the questioner. There
was nothing OF resentment in his gaze
1t seemed rather one Of pity, as he said:
You are a Yankee. take it.
don't know if you have ever been a
soldier. as l was long before this war
Aye, I'm ready to go back when I'm
sent. That's what I took the shilling
for. But when you say anxious,
guess YOU don't know what il Is over
there. had forty days OF the trenches
before / got this-and two days after
before they got me out. And while 1
lay wounded my head was jammed
against the back OF dead pal, and
the blood from my leg oozed down into
the face of another. who lay staring
at me all the time. as though l was
responsible for being only wounded
while he was dead. All the time I
vas wishing that IL was me instead
of him.
ITS like continual nightmare over
there. In South Africa we could see
who we were fighting. We had a tar
get for every shot. and could see and
take heart when we made a hit In
France we fought with shovels, and
we couldn't see anything to shoot at.
even when we knew that the enemy
was so near that head raised inches
above the wall of the trench during
the day would mean a dead body to
keep US company until the night"
Here the veteran was Joined by a
group of wounded and convalescent
all men of the same
corps or from the same section OF the
battle line-and as he continued his
tale of the horror OF forty-two-centi-
meter shells and howitzer fire, of
shrapnel and high power rifle bullets
they broke in continually with cries
Of assent, and when he ended:
I'm fed up with the whole bloody
business" the AYE, aye" of his audi
ence was unanimous
HARD TO SECURE
ADDITIONAL RECRUITS
The effort TO obtain additional re-
cruits goes on at almost every street
and recruiting offices have been
in every center One Of
the busiest is on the Strand, next door
10 Marconi House. Here a service tent
has been raised, and a detail OF troops
IS on duty during the entire day, but
the climax of the work comes during
The noon hours. when band plays dur
ng the intervals between speeches
made by officers and men from the front
urging Londoners to enlist
Generally there are women on the
platform waving the flags OF the allied
nations in time with the music or en-
ohasizing with the coIors the telling
points made by the orators.
These speakers do not spare their
hearers. The difference between the
nan who goes and the man who stays
S pointed out as the difference between
and cowardice. The danger of
INVASION is pointed out and the posi-
oility of German revel at which Eng
ish women will be the sacrifice is told.
out the response is slow and not en-
husastic.
At one of these meetings to-day,
where band. a fife and drum corps
md bugle band played martial and pa
riotic airs, where women stood waving
1ags and urging on the reluctant men.
where officers and men from the French
called for aid in the battle
which already has claimed as a sacrifice
seants circulated in the crowd asking
he men as individuals to enlist. there
we're only half dozen volunteers
md the crowd was a large one. although
many men FASTENED past with hardly
| glance.
II similar demonstration had taken
place in the United States-in New
York. for instance-or in Canada, haIfl
he crowd would have flocked TO the
lag.
London is lying snug in the security
II moro than 500 years of safety from
INVASION. There Is no memory here OIL
| time when 1t was necessary to defend
| London home from foreign attack.
The Zeppelin raids have so far been
l joke, 80 far as London Is concerned,
md, with the papers forbidden to pub
ish anything about them other than
he meagre official statement OF twenty
Or thirty words that is issued after
Zach OF the attacks, they are not likely
CONTINUED on Seventh Page.)