| Show tr t the thrill and the hell of the T benches Ten inches ches described 4 bh n american boy sergeant alexander mcclintock of lex ington ky and the canadian army amy hu has N 4 gripping tale that every american will read for he tells tell the blots unadorned wounded a distinguished conduct medal man he was wai Inva invalided Invalid lidea ed home but Is ii going out there apin again to fight for uncle sam and his hi allies allidi an inspiring interesting personal narrative full of the spirit and atmosphere of the SERGEANT Mo mcclintock CLINTOCK trenches xa no nol 1 lo in training by Serg sergeant estat Alt alexander xander mcclintock D C M overseas batt canadian gren guards copyright 1917 by the bell syndicate inc FOREWORD here is 3 a literary product which is at once an aarn admirable ira ble ez example of the force of simple realism in 14 the me description of things which are arc difficult of ordinate ordinal ordin aty y comprehension and ana a handbook and guide for cery soldier of our marinics sergeant mcclintock has mt written stories about the war lie ile has written the cicur u ar itself reducing it one night almost say bay to words word of one syllable yet vet bringing to the readers tine clearly and the vatious ao aspects pets of the great struggle hidden to all except the man who is actually a part of it hie bis contribution to the of the war must bo be classed clashed as one which shines with a new light it is fascinating j in its simpli simplicity efty vet thrilling in its convincing detail it leads one with and compelling interest from a conter comer bation in a hotel in fit A aw mo york through thy ough I 1 scenes cenes of strife and wood blood and thrilling conflict to ta the moment when the king and queen of england canto came to tho the bedside of a kentucky youth in a london hospital to thank him in the nante name of their nation for his services in the cause wo we have now come coine to recognize as that of world humanity sergeant Set Scy geant mcclintock receded the dis conat indal beffie leaving england for homo home on leave lie he is returning return ing to accept a commission in the canadian overseas forces the coopy is told in an own unadorned una domed way DON T lay jay claim to being much of I 1 a N writer riter and up till now t f have never felt the call to write anything about my experiences with ith the canadian troops in belgium and france because I 1 lime liae realized that a great many other men saw quite as much as I 1 did and could beat me telling about it of course I 1 belim belleek bel leed ed that my experience s as worth relating and I 1 thought that tho the matter published in the newspapers by professional writ era sort of missed the essentials and lacked the spirit of the ditches I 1 in a good many ays in spite or of its excellent literary style but I 1 dian didn t see any reason why it was waa up to me to make an effort as IL i u war ar histon lari until now now isow there Is a reason rei ison as I 1 look at it it I 1 bellevo believe I 1 can show the two or three millions of my fellow countrymen country countr men who will be out there before this war Is over oter what they are going to be up against and what they ought to prepare for personally and individually that is as far as I 1 am golu to po go in the way of excuse explanation or corn com boy for gods godi sake fake dont on call 1 M arr a Z harry here comes come the th genera ment call it what aou vilu the rest of my story la is a simple relation of facts and occurrences orren ces in the aider in wima ahn u they ame bame tu to M my V notice and happened to me it may stait oft off ft a little clovi slowly ly and jerkily just as we dl di 1 not knowing what was coming to us ua id like to odd add that it got quite hot enough to suit me later several times therefore as my effort la Is going to be to carry you right along with me in this account of tny jay dont be b impatient it if nothing very important seems to come coma off at first I 1 felt a uttie ennui caselt at the feet away but that was waa certainly oua one thing that annoy me later in the latter part of october 1915 1 I decided that the united states ought to be fighting along with england and france franca on account of the way bei bengium gium bad been treated if for no othi r reason As there seemed to be a considerable division of opinion on this point among the people at home I 1 came to the conclusion that any man who wag as free white and twenty one and felt as I 1 did ought to go over and get into it single handed on the side bide where his convictions lid him if there N w aan t some particular reason why he couldn coulden t there foro fore I 1 said euld goodby good by to my parents and friends ju in lexington and started for new york with aith the idea of sailing balling tor for france and joining the foreign legion of the fience army decide to go to canada A couple or of nights after I 1 got to new york I 1 full fell into in the knickerbocker bar with a chap who was in the enforcement re company of princess pats regiment of the canadian forces after my talk with him I 1 decided to go up to canada and look things over I 1 arrived at the windsor hotel in montreal at 8 in the morning a couple of das later and at 10 that morning I 1 was sworn avrom in as a private in the canadian grenadier guards eighty seventh overseas battalion lieutenant colonel P F 8 meighen commanding they were just getting under way making soldiers out of the troops I 1 enlisted with and discipline v w as quite lax they at once gai e me a week a leave to como come down to new york and settle up some personal aff aliB and I 1 over stayed tt it five days all that my company commander said to me when nhen I 1 got back was that I 1 seemed to have up canadian habits ver aco quickly at a review one da in our training camp can I 1 heard a major say I 1 1303 bo a H for god a sale sake ion t call we me barr or spit in the ranks here tomes cornea the general I 1 we found out eventually that there was a reason for the slackness of discipline the trouble was nas that men would enlist to get a da with out working for it and would mould desert as soon as uny any one made it unpleasant for them our officers knew what they were vere about Conditt conditions uns changed instantly ve me wont on pline tightened up on us like a tie rope on a colt coit NN vie e trained in a sort of enay easy way in canada from nov 4 to the fol lowing april 1 we I e had a good deal of trouble keeping our battalion up to strength and I 1 was nas sent out several times with other I 1 noncoms non coms cu a re crul crusting ting detail while we ne were mere la in the training camp nt st johns I 1 ui ide the acquaintance of ofa a 3 oung canadian who became my pal ile he ani ang campbell Me larland nephew of george abelar land the tha actor who iho Is so well ell known on the amedean Ameil can musical stage lie he was waa a sergeant NN when hen I 1 first knew him he was one of the most delightful and amusing young fellows fellix s you could imagine the war changed him entirely tie became extremely quiet and seemed to be borne down with the sense of the terrible things which ho he ba baw lie he never lout lost the good fellowship which was inherent in him and waa as always ready to do anything to oblige me but he be farmed the habit of sitting alone and for hours houra at a titue time just juat think ing it seemed as if he had bad a premont noni tion about himself though he never showed fear and neer spoke of the ilin girs wo we were viere going into as the other fellows did lie ile was killed in the somme action in which I 1 was wounded I 1 also algo had been made a sergeant on account of the fact that I 1 had been at school in the Air ginta military in statute eliat Is I 1 I 1 was mum an acting sergeant it waa explained to nie me that my appointment would have to be confirmed in england and then recon after three mouths months service in prance under the regulations of the canadian forces a pr after final confirmation in hla his grade graae can be to lo tate make only bv a general gen erfil court martial though he can escape a court martial vi when heu confronted with charges by reverting to the ranks at lis his own request fort two hundred of us ua sailed balled for england evaland on the empress of britain 1 sister bister ship sap to the empress of ireland which was waa sunk in the st lawrence tho steamer was of course I 1 tiry crowded and uncomfortable and thal eight day da trip a ross N w as most un pleasant we ted tripe to eat until we were ere sick of the sight of it A reported one eight me men and twenty two breakfasts a abi bl sett bent 11 there were tx tw 0 other troop abata in our couvy tho the baltic ard ara the I 1 metagama Me A baltish cruiser escorted us until we were miles off the boust coust of ireland then each cach ship picked up a do destroyer which had bad come out to ni mt et her ir at that time thus a notice N was as posted in tho the pur Bera office informing us that we were in the war zone and that the ship would not stop for or any till g een or a ainu overboard ahat day a soldier fell off the ilo Alleta gaina in it hla his pocket and the ship acer evou even 11 aliey hey left him w here tie he had no chance in the world to spend hla his money make blake a Ili bieak eak through rny my training in the V M 31 1 1 I was able to read semaphore signals and I 1 caught the message from tie the destroyer whim bidi escorted ortel tin iw it read each ship for herself now stake make a break I 1 we beat the other steamers of our convoy eight hours in getting to the dock in liverpool and according accor dlug to what seemed to be the regular system of our operations at that time we were the lat last to k the majority of our fellow a had never been in england before and they looked on our travels at that time its aa a rue hue lark everybody cheered and laughed i when len they dusted off one of those little to trains and brought it up to take us away in it after we were mere a board aboard of it we proceeded proceed 4 at thi the rate or of about four miles an hour and our regular reRi ilar company humorist no company oni pany complete without one suggested that hat the were afraid it if they went ment any faster they might run off the island before they could stop atop U e were ere taken to Bram camp in hampshire twelve miles from the aldershof aldershot Alder ahot shot school of command tho the next dai v we e were given I 1 king 8 leave eight days with free transportation ain heip in the british ables it la IH the lin a i table liable eu custom stoin to rive give this sort of haie hac to all colonial troops immell atel upon their arrival in england Ho however in our ease case ireland was barred just at that time ireland was no place for a newly arched canadian looking olIng lo for sport aft r that the really began to make sold lais s of us vie ile thought our training 11 ID canada had bad amounted to something thin e found out that we me might as veil haie been playing croquet ro after that thy they really began to make mak soldiers of Us U a learned more the first week of our actual training in england than we did from november Noi oi ember to april in canada I 1 make this statement without fear that any officer or man of the canadian forces alive today will dis agree with N ith me and I 1 submit it for the thoughtful consideration of the gentlemen who ho believe that our own armies can be prepared for service here tit it home in this war every man has got to be a specialist ile lies a got to know one thing better than anybody else except who ho have had bad intense int enslie e in instruction tion in the some ea me branch and besides that lies hes got to we hae effective general knon knowledge ledge of all the specialties in which blell hla his fellow soldiers have been particularly trained I 1 cau can illustrate this thlu immediately upon our return from first loae leme in england we were divided into sections for training in eight specialties they were bombing pulping aul plug ping scouting machine gun fight tug lug signaling trench mortar operation bayonet fighting and bt stretcher blaring bearing I 1 was waa sel selected eted for special training tram tag in bombing probably because I 1 was isas sup sul posed as an american and a babe baseball ball player to be expert in throwing nith ith the other mert mea picked tor for training in the same came specialty I 1 wm was sent to at drabot d tho tha for three caa teelie hours it a day I 1 bonina studied bombs read about bombs took bombs to pieces to see bee what made them tick and put them together again and did practically eer thing elje die that you could do with a bomb except eat it then I 1 was back along with nith the other men who had bad gained this in I 1 ate acquaintance with the entile bomb family and we ue m eie put to is ork teaching the entire battalion all that we had learned I 1 hen we ine v were ere not teaching we were under instruction ourselves by the acu mt n who nho had talen taken special training in other branches also alao at certain pei t an of the daj A we e I 1 had physical training find and rifle tice up to the thue of our ariliah in rugland intensive training had bad been menly a one fine phrase w lib ith us during our stay there it was N as a and overpowering fact da and night we trained and day aull and night it rained at 0 we ue would mould fall into our bunks lu in huts buts which held from a hall half to a whole platoon from thirty to six alx ty men benana and drop into exhausted sleep only to turn out at 5 a na to give a sudden and exact of what we vie would do to thu the t it they sneaked up on us beame brenk breakfast fast in six inches of mud toward the last when 0 wo o thought we had bad been driven to t is ie limit thes the tolli us u that me e were to la han 0 a period of real int intension ensiN e train tan ing to hardin us for actual fighting vie teiei sent us four biml crial drill tier ser gants frow from the british oLie nadier guards the senior foot regiment of the british army and the one with abich we were affiliated it would be quite bulte unavailing for me to attempt to describe these drill ser geanes the british drill sergeant Is in an institution which can be understood only through personal and close cloge con tact and Is about as aa cordial as an I 1 loose e electricity if he a major gen era Is wrong hell tell him so on the spot in the most emphatic nay but without eier eer violating a single sacred tradition of the service the sergeants who took ua on la in charge to put on the real polish to our training had all seen been from twenty to tw ti euty enty five years yeara of service they had bad all been through the battles of mona and the blame and they had bad all boon been wounded they were perfect examples of a type one ona of them ordered all of our commissioned officers from the colonel down to turn out for rifle drill one oine day and put them through the manual of orma arms while the soldiers of the battalion stood around looking on gentlemen said he be very politely in the midst of the drill when I 1 see you handle our rifles I 1 feel like falling on my knees and a ad thanking god that weve got a nary A call for volunteers on june 2 after the third battle of cypres ypres while mcfarland and I 1 were sitting wearily on our bunks during a strange hour in tho the afternoon when nobody had thought of anything for us ua to do a soldier came in with nith a message from headquarters which put a sudden stop to the di we were having about the possibility of getting leave to go up to london the message was that the first second and third divisions of the canadians bad lost 40 per cent of their men inen in the third fight at cypres ypres and that volun teera were wanted from each of our battalions to fill up the gaps forty per cent said bald mcfarland getting up quickly my god think oi of it |
