Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1917-08-24

could act us efficient re-cnforcementS.
That fight never stopped for forty-eight
hours. and the only places it didn't
Include were the church, aud the hos
pitfalls. I'll bet to this day that the
Belgians who run the estaminas in
Poperinghe will duck behind the bars
IL you just mention Canada and Aus
tralia in the same breath
But I'm bound to say that 1t was
good, clean lighting. Nobody fired a
shot, nobody pulled a bayonet. and no.
body got the wrong idea about any
thing. The Australian heavyweight
champion who landed on me went
right out In the street and saluted one
of our lteutenants. We had just one
satisfying reflection nfter the fight was
over-the Australian battalion that re-
lieved us fell heir to the countcrattack
which tho Germans sent across to even
up on our bombing raid.
Down to the Somme.
We began our march TO the Somme
by hike to st. Onar. the first Brit
ISL headquarters in E:iropc. Then we
stopped for week about twenty, miles
from Calais. where we underwent q
course of intensified training for open
fighting. The Infantry tactics, In
which we We're drilled, were very SINH.
lar to those of the United Suites army,
those Which, in fact. were originated
by the United States troops in the days
Of Indian fighting. we covered most
of the ground around Calais OH our
stomachs in open order. While 1t may
seem impertinent for me, mere non
com, to express an opinion about the
larger affairs of the campaign. think
may be excused for saying that the
war didn't Mt all take the course which
was expected and hoped for after the
allies expected TO break through the
German line. That is well known now.
While we were being trained near Ca
lais for open warfare n very large
force of cavalry was being assembled
and prepared for the same purpose. II
was never used.
That was last August, and the allies
haven't broken through yet Even
tually l believe they will break
through, but in my opinion men who
are drawn for service in the first
half million of OR new American
army will he veterans In Europe before
the big break comes which will wreck
the PrusSian hope of success In this
war. And If we Of the u. s. a. don't
throw in the weight to bent the Prus
Sims now they will not be beaten, and
N hn yt,fl
far distant when we will have to beat
them to save our homes and our ma.
ton. War is dreadful and inglorious
and ill smelling and cruel thing. But
If we hold hack now we will be In the
logical position of n man hcsitating tc
go to grips with drunken. savage
shrieking, spewing maniac who has al
but whipped his proper keepers and Is
going after the onlooker. However,
wish we had had two months more OF
weather on the Somme There might
have been different story to tell.
Simplified Medicine.
We got drafts of recruits before we
went to the Somme, and some of OUT
wounded men were sent back to Eng.
land, where we had left our safety
first battalion" That was really the
Fifty-irst battalion of the Fourth d.
vision of the Canadian forces, com.
posed Of the physically rejected, mel
recovering from wounds and men In.
jured in training. The Tommies, how.
ever, called it the safety first" or "Nfa.
jor Gilday's Light infantry" Major
Gilday was our battalion surgeon. Hs
was immensely popular, and he achiey.
ed great name for himself lie made
one realize what a great personal
force doctor can be and what an un.
necessary elaboration there is In the
civil practice of medicine.
Under Major Gilday's administration
no man In our battalion was sick IL he
could walk, and If he couldn't walk
there was reasonable suspicion that
he was drunk. The major simplifled
medicine down to IN exact science OF
two forms of treatment and two rem.
edies-"number mines" and whale oil.
Number mines" were pale oval pills,
which, If they had been eggs, would
have Elm about eight to an omelet
for six persons. They had an internal
effect which could only be defined as
dynamic. After our men had become
acquainted with them through personal
experience they stopped calling them
number mines" and called them
"whiz-bangs." There were only two
possibilities of error under Major Gill
days system of simplified medicine.
One was to take q whiz-bang for
trench feet and the other to use whale
Oil externally for some form of diges-
tionql hesitancy. And in either case
no permanent harm could result, while
the error was as simple of correction
as the command "about face" Bighty
was therefore not very popular with
our battalion, blighty being the trench
name for the hospital.
Two weeks and half after we left
Belgium we arrived at Albert, having
marched all the way. The sight which
met our eyes as we rounded the rock
| quarry hill outside of Albert was won