The daily Alaskan., 1918-01-08

Al first 1t amused me greatly to hear the men talk about the regiments they belonged to, but later came to under stand that their regiments meant more to them than anything else. In peace time when q man joins the army he Is obliged to learn the history of the regi- | ment he joins from the day 1t was l formed to the present day. Tradition plays a grent part in the life of reg l ular soldier, and if theIe is delicate spot in the history Cf 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- sponSiblc for the remark.
 If you should chance to ask a Royal Horse artilleryman what regiment he belonged tO he would immediately straighteu up and answer you some what after this fashion:
 "I belong to the Royal Horse artil- | lery. 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 it had accomplished, how many honorS 1t has, how many Victoria crosses the men be- longing to it have won, how many ti. l tied officers belong to 1t, and so on, al most indefinitely.
 Nearly all the regiments have nick names, and tic-C names are very pop ular. The Royal Scots claim to be the oldest regiment in the British army, so they are popularly known as "Pon' tius Pilates bodyglard." The GlOuces. ter regiment is the only one fin the | British army entitled to wear cap ! badges in the back as well as in the front. and the reason this privilege has | been granted them is that in some pre-
 vlous 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 plckcrs." In some war
 of long ago this regiment was ordered l to make char.e through 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 I Pickers," and the trousers of their dress
 uniform are of cherry colored mate | rial.
 There Is Il certain Scotch regiment 1 which for some reason had Its kits | taken away and now has to wear | trousers male of the same kind of l plaid that the kilts were made of The
 men are working like Trojans in thls
 war to win their kilts back again, and
 they will very probably be successful, as they have done sDme wonderful | work.
 l 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 regimcntal badge Is the
 skull and crossed bones and Death or
 Glory" is their mcttO.
 The Royal Engineers have more Vic l toria crosses than any other regiment | In the British army. and it is no won
 der. for theirs is very dangerous ! WOrk and atTO.IS plenty of OppOrtu- | nities for men 10 distinguish them 1 selves. The first Victoria cross award
 ed in the present war was won by a driver of an automobile, member of
 the Army Service corps.
 Two days later word came around 1 that the regiment was going to the
 front within the week. By that time
 was covered with saddle sores and
 was in agony the whole time. AL
 though it requires nine months train- ing to turn out a full fledged cavalry
 man. I decided to try to go with the
 regiment somehow, and 1 didn't care
 how went. Anything to get out of
 that riding school So l went to @
 captain and told him the whole story,
 and I begged him to take me. He
 was certainly mighty nice about It,
 and in the end he attached me to his
 personal staff and took me that way. l Up to this time l hadn't thought
 much about what was going to happen
 when We reached the front, but what
 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 them | are stamped the soldiers name, regi' mental number and his religion. Then we were given our pay books and told to make our wills in the back of them The chaplain next addressed us and prayed over us.
 When this was all over l was SC scared I was beginning to think that
 the riding school might have its ad vantages. And all the way over or the transport I was feeling mighty
 blue, and l was certain that l was never going to see England again, lei alone the old [. s. A.
 Crossing the channel, we landed al III ( ,io {r, tho T,oOrDinC- ar