Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-01-21
YOUTHFUL SOLDIER
IS |NVAL|DED HOME
Private We'll, Sixteen Years Old,
Wears Gold Stripe on
Sleeve
TELLS OF HIS EXPERIENCES
Detailed as Brigade Runner, He
Carries Messages Day
and Night.
TELLS OF HIS EXPERIENCES

LONDON. January 2O.-Th4 War
Office press bureau has JUS, made
public the story Of England's sixteen
ycar-old soldier. Private We'll OF the
Welsh Fusiliers. who has been in
validcd back here from the French
front
Private w. We'll. OF the Royal
Welsh Fusilters. a, the age Of six
teen. is back in London wearing Il
thin gold stripe his left sleeve.
which tells that he has been wounded
in :he war Like many other we'll
built. sturdy british lads. he deceived
the enlistment officers az To his age.
calling himself nineteen. when he was
only fftecn. and year ago he joined
the Fusiicrs and was trained az a
snipe scout, At the end Of last sum
mcr he waa drafted TO a battalion In
France, and in due course reached the
trenches. This is his story:
In the trenches We We're fairly Sc
cure. exccp, for she'll fire, but in the
morning the Hun must have had an
mixing that we were there, for lie
treated TO TWO hours continuous
Smelling. but IL was Of no avail. We
were here two days bc:or. we moved
and then had :, few casualties from
shells. four men from \ Company and
two from Il bciu;, Killed. The trenches
At were captured f.om the Hun
aud the dugou,s were .uuvrcls forty
feet deep. Some had beds for officers
and hunks for the men. Thcy had
evidently thought 20 stay there for
some duration.
~ was detailed as brigade run
nor. or messenger. a some what warm
Job. when tho battalion went Up to
IL.
{ WAS Liable to lie called upon to go
or night
GETS LOST WHILE
CARRYING: MESSAGE
ono night | N..s called upon 10
80 To tho front limo with "a message
ard, owing to the darkness. and my
own stupidity. suppose, lost my way
ana got Separated from I, companion
wandering ou IN The hope OF meeting
some ono. cveutuai.y landed In the
opcn during pretty lively Smelling
period
You may imaSinc my predicamen,
alone ia tho dark. stumbling over OBJ
atacies such - narbcd wire. shell holes
and dead bodies. hope never 20 be
ia a liho case again. VI las, sighted
some French troops, and Was SGT on
the right was
ON Angus, - some bat,aiioms went
over and t"ok their objective. but il
turned on. 90 ne 81 dummy trench ard
the cncmy's real front line was 9co
Yards behind this. Hc-cnforccments
were brought up. and during the en-
suing nshtinG We had temporarily TO
withdraw
"a, 10 o'c!ovii Of the nigh, o. Au-
-ust Il was aroua-d for a message
for the officer in charge OF the nights
operations. ana i too" me three hours
to traverse distance Of about a mile
In ono spo, coal box" dropped
among working pa~ty and killed
seven men. and. though was a dis
lance :tway. was Knocked nat An
other she'll dropped on u shelter under
which group Of stretcher- bearers
were orouchinS. II killed tho lot: they
were blown TO pieces.
Reaching the end OF my journey.
| had to wait for seven hours for an
anawcr. Whore | waited saw the
wounded pass: ono officer was terribly
injured received my answer and
left the front line for the last time
After had delivered my message I
had barely walked ten yards before
was hit by shrapncl bullet"