Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-10-26

ular soldier, and If there Is a delicate
spot In the history Of his regiment he
is bound to hear of It from the men of
other units, and If any derogatory re-
marks are passed he feels himself hon.
or bound to fight the one who Is re-
sponsible for the remark
If you should chance to ask a Royal
Horse artilieryman what regiment he
belonged to he would Immediately
straighten up and answer you some
what after this fashion:
II belong to the Royal Horse artil-
1ery, the extreme right of the line
and the pride of the British army"
Then he would go on to tell when
his regiment was formed, what 1t had
accomplished, how many honprs 1t has,
how many Victoria crosses the men be-
longing to 1t have won, how many tt
tied officers belong to it, and SO on, al
most indefinitely.
Nearly all the regiments have nick
names, and these names are very pop
ular. The Royal Scots claim to be the
Oldest regiment In the British army.
SO they are popularity known as "Pon-
titus Pilates bodyguard." The Glouces-
ter regiment is the only one In the
British army entitled to wear cap
badges In the back as well as In the
front, and the reaso this privilege has
been granted them is that In some pre-
vious war the regiment became sur
rounded by the enemy, and, turning
back to back, they fought until relief
reached them.
Another regiment has the nickname
of the Cherry Pickers." In some war
Of long ago this regiment was ordered
to make a charge through a cherry or
chard, and while passing through they
forgot their duty and stopped to pick
the cherries. From that day to this
they have been known as the Cherry
Pickers," and the trousers of their dress
uniform are of cherry colored mate
rial.
There is a certain Scotch regiment
which for some reason had its kits
taken away and now has to wear
trousers made of the same kind of
plaid that the kits were made of. The
men are working like Trojans In this
war to win their kits back again, and
they will very probably be successful,
as they have done some wonderful
work.
Each regiment finds something to
boast about, and the men never miss an
opportunity. The Seventeenth Lancers
are known as the death or Glory
Boys" as their regimental badge is the
skull and crossed bones and death OF
Glory" is their motto.
The Royal Engineers have more Vic
tor1a crosses than any other regiment
In the British army, and it Is no won
der, for theirs is a very dangerous
work and affords plenty of opportu.
mites for men to distinguish them
selves. The first Victoria cross award.
ed In the present war was Won by O
driver Of In automobile, a member OF
the Army Service corps.
Two days later word came around
that the regiment was going to the
front within the week. By that time
I was covered with saddle sores and
was In agony the whole time. AL
though 1t requires nine months train
ing to turn out a full fedged cavalry
man, l decided to try to go with the
regiment somehow, and 1 didn't care
how l went Anything to get out Of
that riding school. So l went to 6
captain and told him the whole story
and l begged him to take me. He
was certainly mighty nice about 1t
and in the end he attached me to his
personal staff and took me that way.
Up to this time l hadn't thought
much about what was going to happen
when we reached the front, but wha,
we got Just before we sailed certainly
made me do some tall thinking. We
were issued identity disks first. These
are hung around the neck, and on then
are stamped the soldiers name, regi
mental number and his religion. Then
we were given our pay books and t6sI
to make u wills In the back of them
The chaplain next addressed us and
prayed owe us.
When this was all over l was sc
scared 1 was beginning to think thai
the riding school might have its adj
vantages. And all the way over OF
the transport l a feeling mighty
blue, and I was certain that I was
eve going to see England again, lei
alone the old U. s. A.
Crossing the channel, we landed al
Ostend at 4 o'clock In the morning or
the eighth day of October, 1914. We
had had nothing but bullybeef and