The Lucknow Sentinel, 1979-11-07, Page 7Acres of Memory
BY D.A. CAMPBELL
It wasan hour before the'dawn. The second It was stili dark, but a thin streak of grey had
a battalion of the Caledonian Scottish, fresh from a brief emerged in the eastern sky. They carne out of the
leave in. Paris,. stood once more in the trenches, a line., burrows in .the earth and climbed up and onto the
of shadows against an earthen wall. They had open ground of no man's land. Passing through the
gaps which had previously been cut in the defensive
barbed wire, they walked with rifles at the trail. At
this point they conserved all their strength, until they
would be discovered by the enemy and forced to run
the gauntlet to the German positions.
They did not remain undiscovered for long, A star
shell lit the predawn sky. It reflected on the stagnant
water in the shell holes, flashed from bayonets and
revealed an extended line of dark.figures advancing
across the battlefield. This was the signal for the
rolling barrage. There were intermittent booms of
heavy guns in the rear, the ominous whistle of shells
experienced only one brief skirmish with the enemy -
one mad dash across the few hundred yards of shell
holes, mud and., tangled wire. They had suffered
casualties - a few dead and some wounded sufficiently
to be removed from the line. These were the lucky
ones. Here, men .waited in quiet desperation and
pondered on their fate. They held cigarettes in°cupped
hands and spoke in whispers to each other, about
things as far away from the present reality as.the mind
could concoct.. Mostly reflections of other fields where
grain reached to greet the warmth of a Tate June sun,
where cattle !owed in the meadows and the smell, of which exploded ahead of the advancingmen, and
fresh cut. hay was carried on the warm wind across the caused,. earth and shrapnel to be rl d in all
rolling land. Some talked about the dreams they had
built in Canada, which, when they returned, they had directions. Between the thunder of artipllery .and
been assured, would be fit for heroes to live in. Brave somewhere to the right, came the skid of the
words from politicians, spoke in the hallowed halls of
government, and written by men who knew nothing
about the reality of war, Patriotic journalism conveys
only the glorious exploits, but the truth is felt when
bagpipes. To some it was just another noise, but •to
Angus it was the blood stirring call of his ancestors.
He screamed at the top of his voice as if to compete
with the noise of the guns.
hands grasp the cold "butt of a rifle, just before the "Come on, let's go - double, dammit double!"
dawn which opens the gates of hell. Men ran in that' half bent body fashion, as if to -
The gaps in the ranks of the battalion were filledminimize the target they presented.. The enemy
with new -young faces, who looked to their more_ opened fire with small arms and machine guns.
Ahead, ' a young officer stopped and waved his,
revolver in the air, urging his men forward. He
paused too long and fell to the ground - the .victim of
well aimed fire 'power. .
Just ahead of Angus, the young lad who had spoken
to him about fear, charged' onwards. From time to
time he glanced back at the reassuring figure of his
sergeant. Men were fallingall around, and the
advancing. line the Caledonian Scottish wavered but
pondering on fear. There was a needfor..,.truth, but a still pressed on. The young lad reached the enemy
greater need for the only weapon against fear,,and barbed wire and became utterly confused - he had no
this, Angus knew, was discipline. The sergeant from idea how to get through it. This was the limit of -the
Redtrees tried to stare through the darkness at the lad young soldier's advance. Mortally wounded, his body
who looked to him for leadership. fell across the wire. He was never to know how much
"Ever body's scared, so they are. A man who says he helped his comrades - he was the bridge on which
'e ain't sared is either a liar or a lunatic. We just does they crossed in their final dash to the enemy trenches:
what we Wave ter do we does it by the book and we Encouraged by the success'of finally reaching their
`'gives it. to "em before they gives it to us." As if to objective, the Canadians resorted to a desperate
soften the blow, he said sharply.hand-to-hand struggle to gain the enemy position.
"You'stick by me lad, I'll show yer, so I will. There Angus fought for his life amongst the grey uniforms,
`ain't no Jerry born who can beat 'a MacCrimmon!" thrusting at every figure which appeared before him.
A captain came down the trench and spoke quietly, : He did not escape unscathed. A glancing, half parried
to Angus thrust from a German bayonet, sliced through the
"We havethe orders now, Sergeant. it is going to bottom part of . his tunic and cut into his abdomen.
be a surprise attack. There will be no shelling until .'Angus brought the butt of his rifle crashing into the
. we're over the top - then the artillery will put down a face of his enemy. .
rolling barrage. Let's hope we can catch them with When the lightay of dcarne to the battlefield, the
Caledonian Scottish were preparing to consolidate
their newly won position. The captain found Angus.
You spearheaded the attack, Sergeant: I've made
a note of it it won't be forgotten,believe me.. Now
we'd better get things organized. These prisoners
scabbards and the familiar clicksof bayonets being have to go to the rear - better get the stretcher bearers.
fastened to rifles. It seemed like an eternity before the out andsh.
''scuse me Sir - I'll do it, so I ill, but can yer give
attack'.tt ill blast of a: whistle signalled the start of the 'me a few minutes tet' get a dress' n` on mi belly - I'm
.
bleedin' some!., -F;
iis Ns ■ISI mu um N SIL r EN um u um g as No
conditioned comrades for consolation for their fears.
One such lad stood beside Angus, and seeing what
appeared to be a calm and com f3osed soldier asked.
"Sergeant, ain't you scared?"
Angus felt a soft pity for .the boy who should
perhaps still have been on the farm instead of in the
trenches. His total experience had been.a few weeks
foot slogging and his bayonet had been baptized,only
in a sack of straw. This was, however, no time for
their pants. down!"
A few minutes before the appointed time of the
attack, Angus told h,s men.
"Pass :the word along - fix bayonets!"
There was the sound of steel beiog drawn from
» ra
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I at THE ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION, WINGHAM
on THURSDY, NOV. 22r 1979.
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I PETE HU.. TABU
9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.i
r • ,:.
Management Seminar, Federal Business Development. Bank,
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I will attend the business management seminar
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Registration Fee of $30.00 includes luncheon
11111 IOW 101 WM NMI Mill MIN all all IMO Millv
Lackuow Sentinel . Wethieedey, November 7, 1979,-14p 7
r'
Noawaugsoo
John Strong reportstha news,
and tacks with jhe newsmaksra
Monday thru Friday et 12;0D noon.
(People
`Cush
/sOn..
uwners
ofsmaller
businesses...
weprovZde:
* Financialassistance
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* Management training
Information on government
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Cann be0you
See our Representative
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' EVERY TUESDAY
on: ' Next Visit: November 13th
!FEDERAL BUSINESS
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