El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-06-16
(, ID. c. VI. 81 tn OVERSEAS B

for training in the same speciality,
was sent to Aldershott, and there, fol
three weeks. i hours a day, 1 threw
bombs. studied bombs. read about
bombs. took bombs to pieces 10 see
what made them tick and put them
together again. and did practically
everything else that you could dc
with a bomb except eat il.
An international Acquaintance.
Then 1 was ordered back alons
with the other men who had gained
Z this intimate acquaintance with the
entire bomb family. and We were put
to work teaching the entire battalion
! all that We had learned. - hen We
were not teaching. we were under
+ instruction ourselves by the men who
had taken special training IN other
! branches Also. at certain periods OF
the day We had physical training
: and rifle practice. Up to the time OF
our arrival in England. intensive
training had been merely fine
phrase with us During our stay
there. il was a definite and overpOW-
ering fact. Day and night we trained
and day and night IT rained. At nine
o'clock, We would fall into our hunks
in huts which held from half to a
whole platoon-from 80 to so men
and drop into exhausted sleep. only
to turn out at five a m. TO give a
sudden and exact imitation of what
we would do to the Germans II they
sueaked up on US before breakfast in
six inches OF mud Toward the last,
when we thought we had been driven
10 the limit they told US that We
were to have period Of real lnten-
SiVe training 10 harden us for actual
fighting They sent US four Imperial
drill sergeanrs from the British Gren-
adler guards. the senior foot regi-
ment of the British army, and the
one with which we were affiliated
The Drill Sergeant.
II would be quite unavsilinS for
me TO attempt to describe these drill
sergeants. The British drill sergeant
is an institution which can be under
stood only through personal and close
contact and is about as cordial as
loose electricity. II he thinks major
general is wrong. he'll tell him so on
the spot in the most emphatic way
but without ever violating a single
sacred tradition OF the service. The
sergeants. who took US in charge 10
put on the real polish to our training.
had all seen from 20 to % years Of
service They had all been through
the battles OF Mons and the Marine,
and they had all been wounded They
of them ordered all OF our commits
stoned officers, from the colonel
down. to turn out for rifle drill one
dav and put them through the man
ual Of arms while the soldiers Of the
battalion stood around, looking on
Gentlemen" said he, very polite
" in the midst Of the drill, when 1
see YOU handle your rifles I feel like
falling on my knees and thanking
God that we've got s navy
CaE for Volunteers.
On June End. after the third battle
OF Ypres. while Mcfarland and I were
sitting YEARLY on our hunks during
a strange hour in the afternoon when
nobody had thought Of anything for
us 10 do, a soldier came in with
message from headquarters which put
a sudden stop to the discussion we
were having about the possibility of
getting leave TO go up to London
The message was that the First. Sec
ond and Third divisions Of the Can
adams had lost 40 percent Of their
men in the third fight at Tpres and
that 800 volunteers were wanted from
each Of our battalions to fill up the
Forty percent said Mcfarland.
getting up quickly. Ny God, think
of it, Well, I'm off 10 tell EN- I'll
go"
told him I was with him, and we
started for headquarters. expecting
TO be received with applause and
pointed out as heroic examples. We
couldn't even get up to give in our
names. The whole battalion had gone
up ahead Of US. They heard about it
first That was the spirit Of the Can
1t was about this time that
A story went round concerning an
English colonel who had been called
upon to furnish volunteers from his
outfit to replace casualties He
backed his regiment up against
barrack wall and said:
Now, all who don't want 10 vol
unteer. step three PAGES 10 the rear"
In our battalion sergeants and
even officers offered TO go as pri-
Yates Mcfarland and I were not &C
cepted. our volunteers went at once,
strength by drafts from the Fifth
Canadian division. which was then
forming in England.
To Go Over the Sea.
In July. when we were being kept
on the rifle ranges most of the time,
ordered to hold ourselves in readiness
to 20 overseas. In the latter part of
the month we started. We sailed
from southampton TO Havre on a big
transport escorted all the way by
destroyers. As we landed. We got our
urst sight OF the harvest Of war a
big hospital on the quay was filled
with wounded men. We had "a hours
In what they called a rest camp
We slept on cobble stones in shacks
which were so utterly comfortless
that II would be an insult TO a Ken
tucky tnoroughbred to call them
Staples Ihen we were on the way
TO the Belgian town OF Poperinghe,
which is $50 miles from Hayre and
was, at that time, the rail head of
the Tpres salient. We made the trim
IN box cars which were marked in
French; Eight horses OF 20 men"
and We had to draw strays to decide /
who should lie down.
In The Front Trenches.
We got into Poperinghe at a m.
and the scouts had led US into the l
front trnches at . o'clock the ne~t
left of St Eloi and was known a.
The Island because il had no sun
port on either flank On the lei !
were the User Canal and the hint
which forms its bank On the right
were 300 yards of battered do2-1
twice and blown in again each time
by the German guns. For some rea-
son, which 1 never quite understood.
the Germans were able to drop what
seemed tolerably large proportion
Of the output Of the Krupp works on
this particular spot whenever they
wanted to. Our high command had
concluded that il was untenable. and
so we, on one side of il, and the
British. on the other. had to Just
keep IL secuted and protect our sep
arate flsnks. Another name they had
for that position was the Bird
Cage" That was because the first
fellows who moved into il made
themselves nice and comfy and nut
up wire nettings to prevent anyone
from tossing bombs in on them.
Thus. when the Germans stirred up
the spot with an accurate shower Of
'whiz-banEs" and -'coal-boxes" the
same being 10 Founders and six inch