The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1919-01-11

earned the title, The Counting Dan
gers for their charge to capture the
wells held by the Turks They pour
ed across a strip of land that took a
terrible toll, but cleaned up the
Turks. And these same Rangers
few days later captured Hill 60, one
of the most desperate engagements in
the closing days of the campaign.
The Irish were not through yet.
After all the pounding they got there
the 10th Division was sent to aid the
Serbian Army, Gen. Sarrail, the man
who beat the Crown Prince at Yer
dun, said the Irish performed in the
Serbian mountain passes one of the
most striking feats of the whole war.
! Fighting rear guard action
against an enemy of 10 to l they
stopped the onslaught so successfully
| that the entire French and British
forces escaped without losing wagon
or gun.
THE story of how the London Irish
played football across No Mans Land
in the advance upon Loos is one of
the wonderful stories of the big war.
In making charge a football was
dropped by one of the men and, fol-
lowing the command, On the ball,
London Irish away they started,
kicking it one to another as coolly as
if in a regular game, with bullets
thinning the ranks as they advanced.
ut was finally kicked into the Ger,
man trench with a chorus shouting
Goal, and after it poured the men
They continued from the first to the
second line trenches through gas, ma
chine, rife and shell fire and Won
that. They then helped clear Loos.
"For two days the London Irish re
sisted terrific counter charges anG
held fast till relieved. The Genera
in command addressed the remnant
: of them on their return, telling then
their fight was one Of the grandest il
the war; and it had helped save al
entire army corps.
"Guillemont and Guinchy are two
names added to the standards of thu
: Irish regiments of both North ant
South. The first place was captured
against heavy odds. Then there wa
' a lull for a few days.
"Guinchy was believed by the Gel
t mans to be too strong to be captured
But battalions from all the Irish reg
e ments were put into action and tn
S result was victory once more. We
S the cost was high for the Irish
o ut was merely history repeating i
n self there. for year before when tn
d Germans had taken Guinchy from tn
l. Coldstreams our men from the Iris
r Guards recaptured it. The Coli
streams had made a brave attempt t
It retake it, but they were forced bac1
r SO the Irish Guards swept throug
]. them and wiped the Germans gu
S That was the time Mike O'Leary wo
r. his Y. G. O'Leary had been promote
p major the last | heard from him.
J. One could go on and tell lot MOI
It stories like those named, which wei
episodes of the first couple of year
d For examples Of how the Irish al
vt mixed into other regiments, one fine
g number Of such men winning hol
1t ors for units outside Ireland. Hel
e are some Victoria Cross men:
d Kenny of the Gordon Highlander
d is a Drogheda man. Toombs of
Liverpool regiment is Downs ma
ID Gallery of the Lancasters, Dryer
20 the Surveys, Rochfort of the Sco
1t Guards, Dease, City of London Reg
Is nent, the first officer 10 win a eros
g in the war; Moutray Read of tn
Nortl1amptonshires; Wheeler, It
j. HarianA Lancers; Butler, Gold Goa!
e Regiment, Africa; Brooke, anothe
o. Gordon Highlander; Hogan of tn
1t Manchesters, Kennedy of the Lane
n shires, Lynn of the same regiment, a
h 1rishmen, won their honors in tn
II early days, and their ranks have bee
increased largely since.
h unfortunately, trouble in Irelan
1T brought about chaos, but men are e1
K listing still. And we have had man
8, young Irishmen enlisting here Tn
d figures given out recently from Was
E. ington showing that more Irish lad
had enlisted than other aliens, thong
p exempt from the draft, proves the
n want to fight, that they are fghtin
IS "One has to have a knowledge
y conditions abroad to read .betwee
" the lines what is going on there
le What the Irish should do is t
e learn about what has been done b
their brothers across the ocean; the
e brethren who crossed the seas frol