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Show The Wiirraing of a D.'C. M. " - paper Syndicate. OUR gun's crew as was its wont, was sittin on the straw in the corner of our billet, far from the rest of the section. The previous night we had been relieved from the fire trench, and were "resting" in rest billets. Our "day's rest" had been occupied oc-cupied in digging a bombing trench, this trench to be used for the purpose of breaking in would-be bombers. Hungry Foxcroft was slicing a. way at a huge loaf of bread, while on his knee he was balancing a piece of "issue" cheese. His jack -knife was pretty dull and the bread was hard, so every now and then he would pause in his cutting operation to take a large bite from the cheese. Curly Wallace whispered to me: "Three bob to a tanner, Yank, that he eats the cheese before lie finishes slicing slic-ing that "rooty." " I whispered back: 1 accpuiesced. (Curly won the fags.1 Scotch, and did you ever see, a Scotchman Scotch-man bet on anything unless it was a sure winner?" He answered in an undertone: "Well, let's make it a pack of fags. How about it. Yank?" 3 acquiesced. (Curley won the fags. Sailor Bill was sitting next to Curly, and had our mascot, Jim a sorry -looking unit between his knees, and was picking hard pieces of inud from its paws. Jim was' wagging his stump of a tail and was intently watching Hun -gry's operation on the bread. Kvery time Hungry reached for the cheese, Jim would follow the movement with his eyes, and his tail would wag faster. Hungry, noting this look, bit off a small piece of the cheese and flipped it in Jim's direction. direc-tion. Jim deftly caught it in his mouth, and then the fun began. Our mascot hated cheese. It was ludicrous to watch him spit it out and sneeze. Ikey Honney reached over, took the candle, and started searching in his pack, amidst a chorus of growls from us at his rudeness in thus depriving us of light. I was watching him closely and suspected what was coming. Sure enough, out came that harmonica and I knew it was up to me to start the ball of conversation .rolling before he began p laving, because, after he had once started nothing short of a German "five nine"' shellburst would stop him. So I slylv kicked Sailor Bill, who immediately got wise, and then I broke the ice with: ; "Sailor, I heard you say this afternoon, j while we were building that traverse, that it was your opinion that darn few medals were really won; that it was more or less an accident. Now, just because be-cause your D. C. M. came up with the rations, and, as you say, it was wished on you, there is no reason in my mind to class every winner of a medal as being 'accidentally lucky.' " This medal business was a sore point with Sailor Bill, and he came right back at me with: . . "Well, if any of you lubbers can tell me where a D. C. M. truly came aboard in a ship-shape manner that is, up the after gang-plank than I will strike my colors and lay up on a lee shove for dry dock;" Ikey Honnev had just taken a long, indrawn breath, and his cheeks were puffed out like a balloon, preparatory to blowing it into the harmonica which he had at Ms lips, but paused and. removing remov-ing the musical instrument of torture, he exploded: "Blime me, I know of a bloke who won a D. C. M., and it wasn't accidental or luckv, either. I was right out in front with him. Blime me, T sure had the wind up, but with French it was 'business as usual.' He just carried on." We all chirped in, "Come on, Ikey, let's have the story." "I will if you'll just let me play this one tune first," answered Ikey. He started in and was accompanied by a dismal, moaning howl from Jim. Ikey had been playing about a minute, when the orderly sergeant poked his head in iiic rin,n. rr (he hillM a nd said : "The captain says to stop thai infernal infer-nal noise." Highly insulted, Ikey stopped, with: "Some people ave no idea of music. ' We agreed with him. Somewhat mollified, he started: "Corporal French is the same bloke, who just returned from Blighty and joined the Third section yesterday." (Author's note The incident here related re-lated is a true happening. Corporal French, won the D. C. M. In the manner described by Honney. 1 will not attempt to give it in the cockney dialect). 'We were holding a part of the lint up Fromelles way. and were about 200. vards from the Germans. This sure was a 'hot' section of the line. We were against the Prussians, and it was a case, at night, of keeping your ears and eyes open. No Man's Land was full of their patrons and ours, and many fights took place between them. "One night we would send over a trench-raiding party and the next night over would come Fritz. "There was a certain part of our trench nicknamed Death Alley, and the company which held it were sure to click it hard in casualties. In five nights 'in' I clicked for three reconnoitering patrols. "John French he was a lance corporal then was in charge of our section. This was before I went to machine gunners' school and transferred to this outfit. This French certainly was an artist when it came to scouting in No Man's Land. He knew every inch of the ground out in front, and was like a cat he could see in the dark. "On the night that he won his D. C. M. he had been out in front with a patrol pa-trol for two hours, and had just returned re-turned to the fire trench. A sentry down on the right of Death Alley reported a suspicious noise out in front, and our captain gave orders for another patrol to go out and investigate. "Corporal Hawkins was next on the list for the job, but, blime me, he sure had the wind up. and was shaking and trembling like a dish of jelly. "A new lef tenant, Newall by na me, had just come out of Blighty, and a pretty fine officer, too. Now, don't you chaps 'think because this chap was killed that I say he was a good officer, because, dead or alive, you would have to go a bloomin" long way lo get another an-other man like Newall. Bui. this young leftenant was all eagerness to gel out in front. You see, it was his first 1 ime over the top. He noticed that Hawkins was shaky, and so did French. French went up to the officer and said: " 'Sir, Corporal Hawkins has been feeling feel-ing queer for the last couple of days, and I certainly would deem it a favor if I couid go in his place.' "Now, don't think that Hawkins was a coward, because he was not. for the best of us are liable to get the -shakes' at times. You know. Hawkins was killed at La Bassee a couple of months ago killed while going over the top. "There were seven in this patrol Leftenant Lef-tenant Newall, Corporal French, myself and four more from B company. "About sixty yards from Fritz's trench an old ditch must have been the bed of a creek, but at that time was dry ran parallel with the ( Jerman barbed wire. Lining the edge of this ditch was a scrubby sort of hedge which made a fine hiding place for a patrol. Why Fritz had not sent out a, working party and done away with this screen was a mystery mys-tery to us. "French leading, followed by Leftenant Newail. myself third, and the rest trailing trail-ing behind, crawled through a sap under our barbed wire leading out to a listening listen-ing post in No Man's Land. We each had three bombs. Newall carried a revolver one of those Yankee Colts and his cane. Blime me, I believe that officer slept with that cane. He never went without it. The rest of us were armed with bombs and rifles, bayonets fixed. We had previously blackened our bay on -nets so they would not shine in the glare of a star shell. "Reaching the listening post, French told us to wait about five minutes until he returned from a little scouting trip of his own. When he left, we, with every nerve tense, listened for his coming com-ing back. We could almost hear each other's hearts pumping, but not a sound around the listening post. Suddenly a voice, about six feet on my right, whispered, whis-pered, 'All right, the way is clear; follow fol-low me and carry on.' "My blood froze in my veins. It was uncanny the way French approached us without being heard. "Then, with backs bending low, out of the listening post we went, in the direction direc-tion of the ditch in front of the German barbed wire. We reached the scrubby hedge and lay down, about six feet apart, to listen. French and the officer were on the right of our line. "About twenty minutes had elapsed, when, suddenly, directly in front of the German wire., we could see dark, shadowy shad-owy forms rise from the ground and move along the wire. Silhouetted against the skyline these forms looked like huge giants, and took on horrible shapes. My heart almost stopped beating. I counted sixty-two in all, as the last form faded into the blackness on my left. "A whisper came to my ears: 'Don't move or make a sound; a strong German raiding party is going across." U was French's voice. I did not hear him approach ap-proach me, nor leave. Yank he must have got his training with the Indians on your great plains of America! "I could hear a slight scraping noise on my right and left. Pretty soon the whole reconnoitering patrol was lying in a circle, Jieads in. French had, in his noiseless way, given orders for them to close in on me and await instructions. "Leftenant Nc wall's voice, in a "very low whisper, came to us: " 'Boys, the men in our trenches have received orders not to fire on account of our reconnoitering patrol being out in front. A strong German raiding party has just circled our left, and is making for our trench. It's up to us to send word back. We can't all go. because we might make too much noise and warn the German party, so it's up to one of us to carry the news back to the trench that the raiding party is on its way. With this information it will he quite easy for our boys to wipe them out. But it's up to the rest of us to stick out here, and if we go west we have done our duty in a noble cause. Corporal French, you had better take the news back, because you are too valuable a man to sacrifice.' "French, under his breath, answered: " 'Sir, I've been out since Mons. and this is the first time that I've ever been insulted by an officer. If this patrol is going to click it. I'm going to click it, too. If we come out of this you can try me for disobedience of orders, but here I stick, and I'll be damned i: I so in, of: cer or no oUKcr.' "Newall. in ;i voice husky with emotion, emo-tion, answered : "'French, its men like you that make it possible for 'our little inland'' to with stand the world. You are a true Briton, and I'm proud of you." "I was hoping that he would detail me to go bLfk, but he didn't. Henciersim was picked for the job. Wh-.n 1 b-ndcrson left, Newall shook hands all around. 1 iclt queer and lonely. "You see, fellows, It w.is this way: Henderson wis to tell the men ln the trench that we had returned - and that it was all rishl for thorn to t urn loose on the raiding party with their riile and machine-gun tire, without us clicking their lire. I-eftenant Newall sure was a lad, not 'arf. he weren't. "That next twenty minutes of waiting was hell. Then, from out of tiie blackness, black-ness, over toward our trench, rang that old familiar ' 'Alt. who goes there?" We hugged the ground. YVc knew what was coming. Then, a voliey from our trench, and four ' typewriters i, machine guns ) turned loose. Hullets cracked rishi. over our heads. One hit the ground about a foot from me, rieocheie i, and went moaning and sighing over the German lines. "L-ef tenant Newall sobbed under his breath: " "God, we're in direct line of our own fire! The trench-raiding partv must have circled us. "Our boys in our trench sure were doing do-ing themselves proud. The bullets were cracking and biting the ground all around us. "In between our trench and our party curses rang out in German as the boches clicked the fire from the English trench. Star shells were shooting into the air and dropping in No Man's Land- It was a great, but terrible sight which met our eyes. Fritz's raiding party was sure being be-ing wiped out. "Ten or (1 fteen dark forms, the remnants rem-nants of the German raiding party, dashed past us in the direction of the German trench. We hugged the ground. It was our only chance. 'e knew that it would only be a few seconds before Fritz turned loose. Tf we had legged it for our trench we would have been wiped out by our own fire. You see, our boys thought we were safely in. "Then up went Fritz's star lights, turning night into day, and hell cut loose. Their bullets were snipping twigs from the hedge over our heads. "Suddenly the fellow on my left. Mao-Cauley Mao-Cauley by name, emitted a . muffled groan, and started kicking the ground ; then silence. Me had gone west. A bullet bul-let through the napper. I suppose. There were now five of us left. "Suddenly Ueftenant Newall, in a faint, choking voice, exclaimed : " "They've got me, French; it's through the lung.' a nd then fainter 'you're in command. See that .' T 1 is voice died away. Pretty soon he started moaning moan-ing landly. The Germans must have heard those moans, because they immediately imme-diately turned their fire on us. French called to me: " 'Honney, come here, my lad, our officer offi-cer has clicked it.' "I crawled over to him. He was sitting sit-ting on the ground with the lef tenant's head resting in his lap, and was getting out his first-aid packet. I told him to get low or he would click it. I-Io answered : " 'Since when does a bloomin' lance corporal cor-poral take orders from a bloody private? You tell the rest of the boys, if they've not as yet gone west, to leg it back to our trench at the double and get a stretcher, and you go wjth them. This lad of ours has got to get medical attention, at-tention, and damned quick, too. if we want to stop this Meeding.' "Just then a German star shell landed about ten feet from us, and. in its white, ghostly light. I could see French sil t ing like a bloomin' statue, his hands covered with blood, trying to make a tourniquet out of a bandage and his bayonet. "I told the rest lo get in and get the stretcher. They needed no second urglag, 'and soon From h was left there alone, 5M-i 5M-i rng on the -round, holding his dying of-I of-I fiver's head m his lap. A .pretty picture. : I call it. Me sure was a man. was j French uith the bullets cracking over-! over-! head and kicking up the dirt around him." I Just then Happy butted in with: "Were you one of the men who went j in for the stretcher?" Ikey answered: "None of your damned hi..;iness. If you blokes want to hear this story through, don't interrupt." Happy ot;chs:ifed no answer. "A bout ten minutes after t he fellows left for the stretcher, French got a bullet throuph the left arm." Sailor Full interrupted here: "How do you know it was ten minutes?" min-utes?" Ikey Mushed and answered: "French told me. when he got back to the trenvh. You see. he carried the officer offi-cer back through that fire because tha stretcher-bearers took too long In coming out." I asked Ikey how Oorporal French, being be-ing wounded himself, could carry Leftenant Leften-ant Newall in. because I knew Leftenant Newa 11 to be a six -fooler and no lie lit - ' weight. You see, he had at one rime bpen in command of my platoon at the training train-ing depot in Fngland. Ikey answered: " vYell. you blokes give ire the proper pip. and you can all bloomin' go to 'ell," and he shut up like a clam. Hungry' Foxcroft got up and silent'v withdrew from our circle . In about ten minutes he returned, followed by a t,V!. fa ir -haired corporal, who wore a little strip of gold braid on the left sleeve of his tunic, denoting that he bad been once wounded, and also wore a little blue and red ribbon on the left breast of his tunic, the field insignia of the Distinguished Conduct Medal. Hungry, in triumph, brought him into our circle and handed him a fag. which he lighted in the flame from the candle on the mess tin. and thenU-lungrv introduced intro-duced him to us: "Boys. I want you to meet Corporal French." He shook hands all around. Ikey got red and was trying to eas out of the candle light, when Sailor Bill grabbed him by the tunic and held htm. Then Hungry Foxcroft carried on: "French. I'm going to ask von a mightc personal question, and I know you'll answer it. How in heil did you, hit in the left arm, bring Leftenant Newall back from that reconnoitering patrol ?" French grew a little red. and answered: "'Well, you see. boys, it was this wa.v. Honney and T stuck out there with him, and, taking the slings from our rifles, Honney made a sort of rop which he put around my shoulder and under the arm of the leftenant. and Honney, getting get-ting the leftenant by the legs, we managed man-aged to get him into the trench. You know. 1 got a D. C. M. out of the affair, because i was the corporal in charge. Damned unfair. I call it. because thev only banded Honney the Military Medal, but if the true facts were known he was The bloke who deserved not a D. C. M.. but a V. C. fVictoria Cross)." We all turned in Monney's direction. Bill, in his interest, had released his hold on I-lonney's tunic and Honney had disappeared. dis-appeared. Happy asked French if the leftenant had died in No Man's Land. French, with tears in his eyes, answered: an-swered: "No. hut the poor lad went weM after we got him to the first-aid dressing station, sta-tion, and next day we buried him in ths little cemetery a t Fromelles. He sure done his bit. all right, blime uie, ;md here I am, bloomin' well swankin' with a ribbon rib-bon on my chest." A dead silence fell on the crowd. Fach one of us was nd miring tiie modest y of those two real men, French and Houne . 'But such Is the way in the F.ngh.ih army the man who wins the medal always al-ways says that the other fellow deserved de-served it. And Germany is still wondering hv it cannot smash through the Fngiish lines. |