Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1917-07-19

ty men-and drop into exhausted sleep,
only to turn out at 5 a. IN. to give q
sudden and exact imitation of what
we would do to the Germans if they
sneaked TAP on us before breakfast III
six inches Of mud. Toward the last,
when we thought we had been driven
to the limit, they told us that we We're
to have period of real, Intensive train
ing to harden us for actual fighting.
They sent us four imperial drill SER
geants from the British grenadier
guards, the senior foot regiment of the
British army and the one with which
we We're affiliated.
1t would be quite unavailing for me
to attempt to describe these drill ser
geants. The British drill sergeant is
an institution which can he understood
only through personal and close con
tact and is about as cordial as loose
electricity. If he thinks major gen.
eral is wrong he'll tell him SO on the
spot i'll the most emphatic way, but
without ever violating single sacred
tradition Of the service. The sergeants
who took us in charge to put ON the
real polish to our training had all seen
from twenty to twenty-five years of
service. They had all been through
the battles Of Mons and the Marne,
and they had all been wounded They
were perfect examples of a type. One
of them oroered all Of our commission
ed officers, from the colonel down, to
turn out for rifle drill one day and put
them through the manual of arms
while the soldiers Of the battalion stood
around looking on.
Gentlemen" said he very politely
| in the midst of the drill, when SEQ
you handle your rifles feel like fall.
ing on my knees and thanking God
that we've got navy"
A Call For Volunteers.
On June 2, after the third battle of
| Ypres, while Mcfarland and were
sitting YEARLY on our hunks during
a strange hour In the afternoon when
nobody had thought Of anything for
us to do soldier came i'll with a
message from headquarters which put
a sudden stop to the discussion we
We're having about the possibility of
getting leave to go up to London. The
message was that the First. Second
and Third divisions of the Canadians
had lost 40 per cent of their men in the
third fight at Ypres and that 300 volun.
teers We're wanted from each of our
battalions to fill up the gaps
Forty per cent said Mcfarland,
getting up quickly. "My God, think OF
It! Well, I'm off to tell 'em I'll 60"
told him 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 1t first That
was the spirit of the Canadians. 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 to volun-
teer step three PAGES to the rear"
In our battalion sergeants and even
officers offered to 60 as privates. Nc
Farland and l were not accepted; our
volunteers went at once, and we We're
REINFORCED up to strength by drafts
from the Fifth Canadian division
which was then forming i'll England.
In July, when we were being kept
on the rifle ranges most of the time
all leave was stopped and we Were
ordered to hold ourselves in readiness
to go overseas. In the latter part OF
the month we started. We sailed from
Southampton to Havre on big trans
port, escorted all the way by destroy
ers. AS we landed we got our first
sight OF the harvest of war A big hos
pital on the quay was filed Will
wounded men. We had twenty foul
hours in what they called "res
camp" We slept on cobblestones IL
shacks which We're SO utterly comfort
less that it would be an insult to !,
Kentucky Thoroughbred to call then
stables. Then we were Oh the way t,
the Belgian town of Pol,eringhe, whicl
is $50 miles from Havre and was ii
that time the rail bead of the Ypre.
salient. We made the trip in box car
which were marked in French, "Eigh
horses or forty men," and we had t,
draw straws to decide who should lii
down.
In the Front Trenches.
!. We got into Poperinghe Mt a. III
and the scouts had led us into tn
. front trenches at 2 the next morning
Our position was to the left of ST. Elo
and was known as 1.-The island" be
cause 1t had no support on either flank
On the left were the User canal an,
the bluff which forms its bank o.
the right We're 300 yards of battere
down trenches, which had been rebuilt
twice and blown in again each tim
| by the German guns For some rei
| son. which l never quite understood
the Germans were able to drop wha
seemed tolerably large proportion @
the output of the Krupp works on thi