St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1916-07-12
LETTER FROM
N. H. GIBBONS
His Mother On Caledonia Street
Receives Interesting Narration Of
Battle of Ypres
WRITTEN IN HOSPITAL
EpistIe Narrates How He and AnOth-
er Wounded Soldier CrawIed Mile
and Half to Dressing Station
and of the Care and Treatment
He Has Received.

An interesting letter telling of the
terrific battles of Ypres and of the
battle in which he was wounded and
Of his subsequent care and treatment
at the hospital to which he was re-
moved has been received by Mrs. Ia
mar Gibbons on Caledonian street
from her son, n. H. Gibbons, in
France, with the British army. The
letter tells Of his part in the very
worst battle of the European war on
the western front with the exception
of the present offensive on the Somme.
Mr.. Gibbons, with another wound
ed comrade, crawled one and one-half
miles to the nearest dressing station
on hands and knees at all times in
view of the German trenches. The
letter, which is of unusual interest,
follows:
Private N. H. Gibbons, 432,453, 49th
Battalion, Canadian Contingent,
Wharncliffe War Hospital, Sheffield,
England, June 1S.
Dear Mother:
Will now write you a more detail
ed account of affairs as it is public.
l might say that the bombardment Of
Ypres was the worst yet on the Brit
ish front. The only other place where
it was similar was at Why Ridge,
near Loos. The fighting up to the
time was wounded was a case of us
being blown out of our trenches along
with a few mines that were going up.
These did not get any Of US as we
knew of the mines and got out Of
the trenches that were mined. I have
been in some bombardments before.
Was in one the 26th of March which
e.. 49,,
cording to general orders, but the
start of the third battle of Ypres was
the hardest yet.
We had just finished our time Gin
the trenches) and were in reserve in
the right half of the 7th Brigade,
that is our brigade. The battle COM
menced June End at 9 a. m. The fol-
lowing morning at daybreak we made
our first charge and were successful
in driving the Boches back. Then in
conjunction with other Canadian
troops started to drive them back
where they had blown up the mines
and drove part of the mback twice,
but were in danger of being cut off.
This was June Sd. The third time we
were successful and held what we
had gained. It was at the start of
the third drive that I got mine,
small wound in the back, another in
the left leg, between the knee and
thigh and a few scratches, the wound
in the leg being the most serious.
Along with one of the other lads we
took a chance of getting to the dress
ing station which was the hardest
lob for my leg was stiff by that time,
the other lads back was so sore he
could just move. We were in full
sight of the Boches for the whole dis
tance so on that account the fact OF
not being able to walk I went along
on my hands and one knee for about
one and one-half miles. 1t took three
hours to get to the dressing station,
where I had to wait a short time and
got into an ambulance and was sent
to the clearing station and from there
to the base hospital at Camiers where
they removed the metal from my leg
I had the best of care from the nurses
and the officers in charge. From
there I was sent to the hospital here
in Sheffield, England. I will be in
England for some time as the leg will
be some time healing up and 1t will be
a long time before L get my strength
back.
Ihave had visit from the ladies
of the Canadian hospital aid to see
If I wished for anything. There are
a number of Canadian and Australians
here, so the time does not pass too
badly. i
The doctors and nurses in charge
are all very nice with all the men
here, so you do not need to worry.
I could have written fuller ac-
count Of the start Of the battle but
since I got laid out we have taken
back the remainder Of the ground lost
owing to the mines, but do not care
10 have the censor hold this letter up /
rs it would the first. You can get
LII the news from the papers anyhow
Give my regards to all the people
there.