The Goderich Signal-Star, 1967-09-07, Page 10BY G. MacLeod Ross
REUNION IN STQCKTON
Every year for the past 4'
years a letter arrives late in
August with aLStockton on Tees
on In Stockton Or At The
letter always arrives and. L
am always more than happy to
respond.
There are some who would
argue .that there was an air,
near mystical about our an..
nual tryst. The, very fact that
You can hear again the wry
Durham wit in adversity of
Sapper Bellwood, as he leads
his Working party off in the
direction of Lower_ Star Post.
There may be some unbelievers
who, would try to convince you
posttriarlc. It is to announce the ;dor the few short hour, s wewere that . he never returned, That
annual dinner to be held by the endowed With. the eyes and ears izo trace of him was found But
tares Field Companies Royal we relinquished in 1916, 1917 • ' our reumion "belies all that,
Engineers, 'which were raised and 1918. As each year has been for I can shake him by the
mound Stockton in 1915. These ,clocked off, until now they num. hand again, There is Sergeant
companied. were formed from ber 47, we have become more.. Gadd, the mounted sergeant in
the- mower of the young "ap. and more conscious that ` we char a of 40 odd° hordes and,
prentices of a highly industrial. communicate in a medium pec. mudes., He worked for a travel.
Yid area on England's north uliar to ourselves.. To employ • ling circus before the war
east coast. Apart from their it. save with those our tom. caught up with him and what
natural loyalty, it was the shel. rades, would leave the better training could he have
ling of the Hartlepools by units listener staring uncomprehens. had? We were forever on the
of . the German fleet, which ibly; mute • and bored with our move - every sector of the Sal.
brought them flocking to join strange, articulations. lent- south to Thiepval north
Perhaps it .• becomes Clear, toasschaendaele.
• For manyyears the warning that this reumion is an occa. There sits good old Blumer,
letter has come from the Com. , sion which is both private and 4vho led- No. 3 Sectipn as a
parry Sergeant Major of the intimate. It is an occasion when' corporal -when I joined it as a
227th Field Company -C.S.M. that rare aura of comradeship very you1;g soldier, in Avelay
' Elliott. Latterly Lance Cor. is conjured up; a state of mut... Wood one tusty rainsoakedNow
poral D. V. Ormston has sign.' ual regard, of loyalty and of ember. A sawyer by trade, he
ed it. Its arrival is the 'signal service, which never fails to was a natural 'leader; almost
for me to be spirited away to pervade when we -exchange those fatherly to his men and to me
join ''the boys at their get -to. -glances --off •-oompassion•-once -for that rt atter. We were cast
zEtlfirPolt� " s' may- zecagii'O ``qz=merinezEt • is. -oar cwtslOti,'; ii*. ies9 •«.4.. (° �
once again, the fulbcompany is for a job, in an area which
present and 'correct, for with - resembled a lunar landscape,
our youthful eyes restored, how save only_ that this- was a bank
be missing? of the River Ancre and this
was Somme mud which had re.
ceived a hundred shells for each
rifle shot. It was cold and
slimly; ander;:ars) � atrieivpra
mised more rain than was fall.
ing.
In a moment ry..lulL.from. the.,..
orchestra of guns, we issued
forth into that sweet sickly
smell of death which attaches
to a_ charael_-_house. ,The job_
was-to-'tape-a line on which the--
troops could assemble for the
morrow's assault. It must be
oriented 'on the correct axis,
otherwise chaos and carnage
would 'result. It was not long
before the windy opposing gun.
ners spotted our fell design
to erupt 'with ear-splitting
cracks, which ' only served to
' churn the once impregnable
Schwaben Redoubt into a deep.
er agony. Under the .circum.
stances it was wise to seek
shelter forward rather than
rear ward and thus It was
that we arrived, rather, breath.
lessly, on' our front line", heed
by Sceales and his. hearties
of 'the 4/5th Black Watch.
Sceales, who invariably cut the
line to Brigade whenever act.
ion promised. He . preferred to
fight his battalion unimpeded
and unharrassed ' by the rear,
After all, • when, life is at a
premium, you don't want
queries as to the number of
• gum boots 'A" Company has.
Returning to the depths of
the Mirror dugout we turned to
succour a lone Highland soldier,
who knelt, as if in prayer,
supported on his rifle. We look,.
ed awn, astonished at his iso]:
ation and asked: Could death
kneel thus? A closer look. ° W e
found death could and did.
The scene moves north to
,e s at,, 1uxner_ sports a'
�' irtt-stripe--now. He - afid-I
return at dawn from soriie work -
was it Bodmin Copse or Tower
Hamlets? As 'we breasted a
rise, a sniping field gun, lay
on ' this , track exploded and
Blumer got- a shrapnel bullet
in_ the back sit - leg...Sust
flten°up-came Lt: X..., a re.
cent replacement, not renown.
'ed for, his valour. Blumer, who
-held him' N -in great contempt
said: "Well Mister X.,, I'll
sell'' you -my Blighty for five
. francs."
• The wase zteameras.: odor
Midden in those days, but what
matter? I have stored away my
own collection of positives
which will portray forever my
various comrades. Here is Cor
poral Franks, a carpenter, and
a very good one. "What doins'
in the ruins of Gordon House
Franks?" He was erecting shut-
tering for a concrete machine
gun post until, oneSunday morn.
ing when the weather was fine;
the Bosche completed the ruin.
Look at the burly, :silent..
. have slider Missed. It matters
not where I may be at • the
time; China, India, Germany,
America or even Canada,- the could any
•
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Johnson, our shoeing smith. He,
has not forgotten the salutary
lesson dealt him not by horse
or mule, but by Billy/the black
.and white ghat we transported
everywhere for three years.
Billy ate anything; but was es:
pecially fond of cigarette butts,
One day Johnson in his mirth.
less humour gave hima lighted
stub. Billy never forgot. On.one .
of our numerous hurried flits
to a muddier pasture and just
before Billy was loaded on a
pontoon wagon, he caught John.
son unawares. Honor -was sat.
isfied.
Here is a --group at .Aveley
Wood as I joined the Company.
Maekesy, a Joburg mining en.
ginger. Meares, a muck
shifter of international repute.
Seale from Winnipeg. Macrae
from the Buenos Aires Pact.
fico railway and West, out for
the _second time, minus a
breastbone he lost in 1914. Fight.
ing now with a silver plate
over his heart. Yolr can see
what a . heterogeneous lot war
had summoned to her work.
was flying. I cpuld write
the character --of each 'one of
• them in a single word*, so well
do I know them all. '
• Now it is time to hint to
the present 'generation, include
ing the Hippies 'and the
marchers and all the great
" company ' of rabble rousers,
what comradeship means, for I
suppose it transcends any other
emotion to which the soldier
is- • heir. I remember you all.
I recall., what your value, what
your love was. We were lucky
to find you ever in the pink
against white -ribbed fear.
The lights are dimmed. An.
other reunion closes, yet the
memory lingers still. Did the
'stockton Examiner' report that
18 of you were present in 1967?
What rot! They are out of their
minds. For, as for me„ no sign
of time's nor death's astonish.
ment could erase the: joy of
meeting everyone of you again
- all, as ever, in the pink.
There's Cherrington again. I,
suppose he will be saying it
again -and again -until. the _ day
This--stroftr' ' ,-'w 'en -aught- ourselYes both on
poral Dean precedes, rifle atthe. same bank of the Ancre.
the ready as we tape a jump. , "What time in the morning,
ing off trench for July 31st Sir?"
1917, Illumination is courtesy "Yea, how they set them. °
•
• the Verey light Comapny and its selves in battle -array
German affiliate. Suddenly Dean I shall remember to ' my
shouts::-f'Haltt!! and -follows -it .
HEARING AI
SERVICE CENTRE
Thursday,- Sept:. 14
1to3p.m.
CAMPBEWS
Phone for FREE Hone Appo ntment
Service 'to a1 makes of Hearing Aids.
E. R. THEDE HEARING AID SRVJCE,
FIRST and SECOND
with a shot. Simultaneously 'a
cry: "Don't shoot! Irish!" and
the ghostlike hooded figure falls
to the mud..•_Next day I apo1...-
ogised to the C.O. of the Irish
o
for w
ending hisofficer in the
arm, and on the principle that
•��.-.,atta�k._�s. _�h� hestW.fCirm.�f �;de�:�,:��..
fence, I recommended Dean for
his alertness.
Do I bore you ? . There are
many others to greet 'tonight.
Cherrington, the tram driver
turned mess servant; forever
asking "And what time in the
morning, Sir?" Dunn, the bar.
ber, as obsequious as' a funeral
director. The self-effacing
Newton, leading Maisie,. 'my
skewbald mare. Sergeant Stott
of No. 4 section, always at
his best when lots of 'stuff'
s
__Personals_ ,ru:rr
Mrs. Amelia McKay, Ottawa,
and Mrs. Marjorie Ivy and Mr.
•I"vy- are,-visiting--thetr-hrothens-,.
Robert and Murray Hether-
ington, Goderich.
* * * N
Walter J. Chisholm, daughter
Sandra and bon Mike, of Sault
Ste. Marie, Ontario, spent• a
holiday with Mrsas• Catharine •
Chisholm the past week. '
* * *•
Charles McDonald of Cooks.
ville, Ontario, "spent a few days
with Mr. and Mrs. Doug Mc-
Neil
c.Neil -and Mr. and Mrs. Cliff
McNeil and family.
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a
Maybe we can't please all the people
all the time ..
Butwe keep trying!
We keep trying to please all the people all the time and
• that we believe is why our business has grown over the
last 10. years. Yes, this is our . . .
TENTH ANN.1VERSA:R
We ere proud -of the fact that we have served Dederick and
district for the past 10 years and we hope to go right on servicing
for another decade.
A decade is a long time and in that time we have made many
friends 'and we take this opportunity to thank you for your
continued patronage.
Remember, if we don't please you the first time you can ..be jolly
well sure 0 you let us know about it you will be pleased by
the time we are done. If you have a^•srnall or large job coming up,
see the firm that tries to please all. the people all the time, Im-
possible/ Perhaps, but it owe makes you try harder)
GODERICK 10..„ECTRIC
ELECTRICAL CCNTRACTORS
DERRY DENOMMY, Proprietor •
• INDUSTRIAL
• COMMERCIAL
DOMESTJCAL e MARINE
V Y�