The daily Alaskan., 1918-01-29
CHAPTER XII.
Last Day at the Front.

TEE last engagement of any i'm
 purtance that 1 was in was the
 big attack at I.oos in September. In a big attack like this no one knows but the commanders just where the real thrust is coming. Several attacks are made, and for all we knew ours might be the real one, or the real one might be twenty miles away from us.
 It happened that at the time Of the last attack we Were almost sure that the big drive was coming through Us. We were ordered 10 Ee ready to move at moments notice, and all prep aratiOns were made for big shift. When the attack cane We thought that We were on our way at last, md every body was counting chickens.
 There certainly was some terrible fighting, and if ali We were supposed to do was to keep thc Germans inter- ested on our iron; We were very sue cessful. Several things in this engage ment deserve mention, and among the first is the famous charge of the Lon don Irish.
 They had not been heard of very much up to tEis time. bu, don't think there are many whJ don't know Of them now. The received orders to take certain trenches ut a certain time, and on the face of it thc thing looked impossible. Thr odds were all against them. and they knew il. but there was nothing for it but 10 obey their orders.
 Nearly all tLe regiments have foot balls with waich J1cy amuSe them selves while ill rest camp, and when they 20 into action thcSe footballs are taken right along with them. When tbe whistle blew for the London Irish to charge they threw their footballs over the parapct and made their charge dribbling the footballs ill front of them. Tt was the most reckless. daredevil thing I ever saw, and it accomplished fhe impossible for them. As l said, by all rights the entire regiment should have been wiped out, as the odds were against them and they were running right into a death trap. The fact that they went at it in such Il devil may care way is to jokc and play with footballs in the very face of certain death broke the Germans nerve, and they gave way with practically no re sistunce at all Instead of the regi ment being wiped out, as it should have been, the men took the trenches with losses of under 100. It was wonderful
 have referred to the work of our aeroplanes in various parts of this sto- ", but l think that nOncOmbataEts sometimes fail to realize what an i'm portant and effective part the Royal Flying corps iS playing in this war AerOplanes themselves are still pretty dangerous modes of lOcomotiOn. and when 1t comes to running other risks for the sake of gaining information or doing material damage il needs man who does not know what the slightest uualm of fear is and who is cool and ready for action in the case of emer. gency to make q good military aviatot.
 We have several aviators In our squadrons who have made big names for themselves. Among them are Cap tain Strange. D. S. O.; Lieutenant Hawker, V. C., D. S. O., NJ. C., and also Robert Lorraine, the popular &C., tor, who is commonly known as the "actor-airman."
 These three in particular have dis tinguished themselves on our little front. Captain Strange has a lame foot, but he has done s -re Of the finest work of the war. In three days he de- stroyed three stations or big rail cen