The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1915-11-02
YOUTH AT FRONT
TELLS OF the WAR
Sixteen -Year-0ld English Lad
Is a Correspondent.
NOW AT TIE DAROAAELLES

John Gerard isaiy Tells Of Seeing Men
Blown to Bits Under Terrible Turkish
Fire When Attempting toIand on the
GailipoIi Peninsula - Wounded Are
Cheerful.
John Gerard Healy, sixteen years
old, of Liverpool. probably Is the
youngest war correspondent In the
world. Healy at the beginning Of the
war tried to enlist in the British army,
then the navy, and In both cases was
rejected on account of his health and
physique. Finally he succeeded In en-.
listing in the admiralty transport serv-
ice for the term Of the war. He writes:
"We left Liverpool in transport ,as
transatlantic liner she used to be
pretty well known on the American
side of the AtlanticD and passed
through a line Of patrol boats until
we safely reached Plymouth. where
we took aboard a few regiments of
soldiers, who were destined for the
Dardanelles.
my work was not Of very heroic
nature, certainly not of the kind I was
accustomed to in the Office where
was studying the easiest way of being
an architect.
Il was pantry boy, had to do a lot Of
slushy work, and, in the intervals, wait
upon big crowd of beefy, quarrel
some. good natured lads who repre-
sented nearly every trade in England
and Wales.
Finally we came in sight of the ia
nous Acha Baba. the chief obstacle
between the allies and the taking of
COnstantinOple. We could see our men
In the trenches. curious little yellow
brown antlike creatures. who ran in
and out of the heaps of sand Just as
have seen ants running about in a
wood.
when looked through powerful
glass l could see them clearer, but no
cleaner. They were stripped to the
waist, grimy with dirt. sometimes with
dirty bandages around their heads.
; But they looked very cheerful.
"We hadn't time to stay here. We
had to drop lot of men at the other
side of the peninsula and pass Embros
on the way, the chief naval base of
the Dardanelles. The sight was won
derful. A huge fleet of cruisers and
battleships, around which swarmed a
host OF gray, ugly but businesslike de-
strOyers, were outside the harbor. In
the harbor itself were two or three
sunken ships with masts protruding
from the water, ships which had been
hulled and, then beached for safety.
First Glimpse Of War.
"a few minutes later was given
my first real glimpse of war-the real,
red article. The mine sweepers pre-
ceded US, then followed cluster Of
transports Of all sorts and sizes. each
packed with men who were eager to
leap ashore and try conclusions with
Brother Turk. And as we looked we
saw but one mine sweeper. At almost
the same moment as we had looked at
her she had struck mine, then host
of fragments. some of them stained
with mems blood, for the whole of her
crew was blown to pieces, were hurled
through the air. l scrambled, with one
or two other fellows, for piece Of her
as souvenir. shall keep my frag-
ment. which is about four inches
square, until l die
"In the meantime the second mine
sweeper picked up another mine. calm
ly exploded 1t, then we quietly passed
over the spot where ten men had been
blown to atoms just as il 1t were Il
regular part of the days duties. felt
sick. afraid. 1t hadn't seemed much
when :he shells dropped In the water
round us or screamed over our heads.
but the thought of the missing ship
and the men who wouldn't have a
proper grave and headstone-it was
dreadful. 1t was a good job that
had plenty of work to keep me from
thinking too much. or might have be-
come very i'll
A Hundred Men Blown to Bits.
1--WE now landed 100 South Wales
men. Germans intrenched in that rock
turned to cheer u.s. and we cheered
them. Then Il high explosive shell fell
on them and blew them all to bits. 1t
was awful. A minute before they had
been strong, lusty men: the next they
were mass of helpless. writhing
wounded mixed with mass of dend.
Shells We're now flying all around us.
and We could see men dropping like
flies on the beach. What damage our
guns were doing I could not say. for
the shells were flying overhead. falling
on the summit of the hill and then lost
In a cloud of dust and fragments Of
rock which made the hill invisible. If
there were any Turks and Germans In
trenched III that rock they would have
needed to be deeply dug in to be safe
when we got back to Cape Hellas
We found l.600 wounded Austriana
New Zealanders and Ghurkas waiting
to be taken TO Lemnos. Oh, that vOy-