Show EARS OF THE A M I 1 signal corps get little credit for most heroic work with shot and shell playing around him signaler coolly splices broken telegraph wires always at danger point by CHRIS HEALY international news service liverpool when the full story of the war Is written wo we shall know the exact part played by the skilled craftsmen of great britain appreciative hints are given here and there of the work of the collier in detect ing the mines and borim counte and of this work and that of the navy in building trenches but none of tho the war correspondents spon dents have told us of the bravery and skill of the telegraph section of the royal engineers whose work is jo to organize victory by making it possible tor for one line of this men to communicate muni cate with the other othiel by erecting and repairing wires in a phrase by acting as the ears ol of thu tho british arm army the signaler id seldom the hero 0 of f one of those great stories of aggressiveness which makes the name 0 t michael oleary he subject of a thousand stories adf an legen yet ills bis work nevert nevertheless helesa Is heroic to a degree an officer who has recently returned from the region round ypres cypres Fe stubert and la bassee tells me that the bravest feat ho he witnessed during his stay at the front was that of a telegraph signaler in tho the midst of a battle whose fortunes were turning now on the side of tho the germans and then on ours A shell came from the prussian side which blew in a trench and cut a telegraph line to pieces the next moment a signaler dashed through with a layer of wire in his hia hand his pincers between his teeth and quite an armory of other tools in his pockets then with shot and shell playing round him he began to relay the broken telegraph line fixed it up walked calmly mackto his hifa original spot wiped from his face the mud and dust with which it was covered relit delit his pipe and awaited his hia next job it was the coolest piece of work I 1 have ever seen said the officer ho he was a judge too tor for he had seen six victoria crosses earned although the signaler in this case did not get one here Is a sketch of tho daily routine of the signaler he rises while all the other soldiers are asleep and quietly makes his way to the place where the new trenches are to be made estimates the amount of material necessary thinks of the men he can spare from the work of repairing and then goes back to make all the preparations needed which must be completed before the shell signal Is given that the artillery attack has opened he waits with strained nerves so as to be at the heels of the rush of infantry which is to capture the ene mys trenches then as the last german is bayoneted or taken prisoner even before the work of 0 the red cross section has begun lie he starts laying the telephones and telegraph wires which are to keep the field commanders in touch with wilh one another night work is not only difficult but dangerous apart from the discomfort of trudging through plowed fields often after heavy rain has made them into huge quagmires falling into deep ponds made by a big shell and running the risk of being drowned where a cry tor for help may mean wholesale death for your own sector dodging the star shells which the enemy send up to take a view of things the signaler must dust always bear in mind that the lines must be laid or re repaired paired and his own lian is simply a means for that end it if he is killed after his work Is done then lie he can dle die happy knowing that he has saved the lives of men it if his work is unfinished then death has a now new terror a now agony this braces him up when a star shell lights the sky he promptly y faces his own ova trench with his back to the the pink patch on his face would not only make him a target tor for a but would also give away the position of his regiment so ho he stands still or else throws himself face downward running tho the risk of getting honorable wounds in the back by the timo time lie he has measured tiered tho the ground for the new lines given a look for tho the other lines in use and made a test or two it Is time lime to return to his dugout quarters cra rawl wl in for an hour or twos rest and perhaps just as he has fallen comfortably fort ably asleep be peremptorily awakened by the news that the eneny enemy has blown in one of our trenches ind and the wires must be repaired or reaid aid at once under no circumstances whatever the communications between the artillery and the infantry sections be interrupted for a moment for that might mean disaster to the whole army |