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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 20, 1918)
THE ; OREGON SUNDAY, JOURNAL!, PORTLAND. SUNDAY HORNING. JANUARY 0. 19X8. :V0VER -THE TOP" WITH "PATS'" TOO :MADE WAR'S BIG SLOGAN Light Infantry way. X think ha must have remembered ( artillery commenced another bombard- the unwritten law of the regiment ment which lasted until 1 :S0 o'clock. DARING GHARG E AT Of. 1200 Men Who Comprised Celebrated Canadian Regi ment, Only Four Are Left. "THE PRINCESS PATS". On Christmas Eve, 1914, a regiment of 1200 men, each a veteran of England's former colonial wan and almost every one wearing a decoration bestowed by the king for bravery under fire, inarched rnto the fighting zone to take over a front line trench in Flanders. ' Of that gallant 1 200 only four are left today, ioa their' feet." v As "The Princess Pats1 the regiment was known through all Great Britain. None could take place In its ranks unless he had seen service in some colonial war and "made his reputation" as a soldier. No private could hope to become a noncommissioned officer- unless he wpr$ the kind's medal for some especially brave feat. The Princess Patricia herself was the regiment's honorary coloneL and when the regiment sailed, at England's first call for Canada's assistance, the princess-colonel gave "her boys" a battle flag embroidered by her own hands. AT ; ST,, J U LI EN AND YPRES Jfere RankSNjWere Decimated, I g 'but High Ideall of Regiment S Inspired Other Recruits to Join '? ' - v By Sergeant Major W. J. Bramhall it Pilne Patricia' Canadian IJaht Infantry, i, writing nndr approval of Major C. B. Whit ii -Canadian illusion to tna Unitad th Britiab Btataa. T; Copyright!. ltlS. by J. Kaalay . I: On the evening of December 25. 114, ' t Princess Pats, lieutenant Colonel Jferquahar, D. S. C, commanding, ate Its Christmas dinner la billets at a little Flanders town called Westontre. -We Lad lust come over from Salisbury 'Plain, . (tt England, where we bad gone through the preparatory period demanded by . Cord Kitchener. "K. of K. had pro S Minced .us fit for the front long before my of the other regiments from ver- at as were passed, but this, of course. Ivas only fitting for the Prinoess Pats the readiest.' bravest, most dauntless liHnch of soldiers over enlisted under yi flag. W While we ate ur turkey and martna- ae underwent our baptism of Ire! Stray shells fell around u occa sionally, reminders of the " work we'd (tone i across-from Canada to do In the ham of our fair colonel Princess Pa- 1lcla. We hurried the dinner through. Of we were under orders to "get to Hark." A soldier hates to hurry through Mi extra good' dinner. , Perhaps that Was why wo were "mad from the of- Ifoer commanding down to the youngest : . Jiivate, when at last the orders came ( take over the first line trench. 1 tblnk the regiment never got over that luadness" of Christmas eve at having . W hurry through a dinner. , Anyway, as Prlneess Pats made up their minds feat night never to give up a trench ." lifter they'd taken one, and they never ' lfcVe. That's why there's only four of rn left. Its a record I doubt any other . Jxrltlsh regiment possesses. I J While we participated in a number of fcl-tions Incident to the taking over of I hew trench lines and oiir constant ad- -' Vance toward the Ypres sector, we did I It get Into serious contact with the f - permans until after the affair at Pop l , herrings, near the Tpres sector, wn en ive lost Colonel Farqubar, the first loss i among, the officers. Colonel Farquhar had been Intrusted with a great many 1 personal admonitions as to the care of ' rher boys" by the Princess Pat, and we i 'looked upon him as the personal re'pre ; tentative of the princess with the regi ment. That's why we especially loved I Ij 'Originals "Orer the Top" ; At Popherringe the term ."over .the I WP" originated. It was the Princess Pat WJio gave to the colloquialisms of the ' ttar sons this thrilling phrase, trans- ' tatlng as it does the determination of t L f very British, French and American soldier In France to get at the Germans i T it and to hand and clear the road to the j Jihlne. - . ':-';.'.' I ? HThose, of, course, were the eardays l t y the .war. I Each day brought new; sur ! irises to the British and the Canadians, :-vttt result of the long preparation for war on the part of the Germans. One I Morning, scarcely two hours after we ; had moved Into a front line trench after f a few days of rest behind the line, an officer came over from headquarters so ; , excited that he trembled as he reported 1 te our colonel that the airplanes had ' discovered piat the Germans were Snapping Wa heard of "sap ' tins"." which means burrowing up closs I though to the enemy trench to put in s : mine, explode it, and besides tearing ' . ' .tf&wn a hundred yards or. so of trench. Ctuse numerous fatalities. But' so far t too Germans had not sprung that de vice upon our lines. . wP-y soma means our Intelligence staff . . nad learned that the sappers had i worasa cioss to our trench, it was f?sred tat any minute might see the ilrth on tip, spread to the skline like bursting rocket, lifting with it hun dreds of our brave boys. The officer ; irom headquarters had rushed madly cross tho open behind the trench to tnaks, his report to Colonel Farquharr who never stayed behind the line,- but f talked up and down the trench with "never to givs. no- what you've rot," He turned to his staff officer and Issued an order in low tones. - Tho men stand ing near him knew what was coming. In aa Instant tho whole regiment knew. Every, man tightened bis belt, looked to bis ammunition, ..patted his rifle , and fixed his bayonet Off icera shook bands wun cacn other silently soma or them threw their arms around the neck of a chum, ' butt there was no word passed between them. Each officer took his place with his- men, their faces eager. though drawn, as they crouched to creep For the third time, then, they pounded us with artillery, bringing Into play light guns that rained shells wtth the patter, patter of a rainstorm. 8o Intense was this fire that every communication with headquarters - was .- completely ' cat ' off. One after the other conoomi and men tried to get through with messages to the headquarters staff telling the oondi tion the Pats were in. with little ammu nition left and no machine runs, yet with the whole force of the German attack to bear. As fast as they -went out these boys were killed. Amour them were MAKING TYPHOID VACCINE alons the trench to their proper com-1 men who were known to Lrd Roberts, i l ' I , ... . ' n-rf- m?Z5&SL, 1 jGZs&yjff iw? rv ' ri" if I inW. .. ( sT . U i" Sf JT if ? M 7 . I SBS . s) I Sergeant Major W, J. Bramhall, Prlneess Pat's Canadian Light Infantry. I 1 panies. It takes a paragraph or many mln- utes perhaps, to tell how the Pats pre-1 pared, but it really took them only a I minute or two. An officer standing near the. colonel set off a hand rocket and every man .leaped from the trench Into No Man's Land. The first to leave the trench was Colonel Farquhar himself. In the very teeth of the belching trench guns of the Germans, but a few yards away, the colonel straightened himself, waved his swagger stick and shouted: "Come on, Pats we're going over the top !" v The Pats . went over over the top but our brave colonel, first to start, was left behind dead ! The Germans Sot, him even while the regiment was responding with a mighty cheer to that new battle cry of the Pats : "Come on we're going over the topi" ! Trench Is Taken We took the German trench with a rush, after a fierce tussle hand-to-hand. The reektess charge was such a surprise and so spectacular to the Germans they were half stunned when we swooped down upon them that Is. ' those of us who got across No Man's Land. There were only 700 of the regiment left when we counted up. - Sergeant Major Koas, one of the most battle-scarred veterans of the 'regiment. vthose breast was covered with medals and orders won in the South African j campaign, was killed trying to carry the colonel's body Into the German trench In the footsteps of the regiment, so the colonel might at least follow his men. Sergeant Patterson, a gallant noncom missioned officer, won a lieutenancy In that dash for the conspicuous gallantry with which he carried wounded com rades out of the raking of the machine guns into the captured trench to safety. It was not an Important action, and had little bearing upon the situation in that zone, except to teach the Germans a lesson and increase the morale of the British and Canadians. But Colonel Farquhar's. phrase, "Over the top," echoed down the line to Verdun and back home, where it has become the war cry of all the armies in the field. Lieutenant Colonel Buller succeeded to the command of the regiment. True their commander in the Boer war. by their first names, endeared to him by some astounding feat of bravery. Many of them already had won the Victoria cross. At last Corporal Ooodwjn. who had won his medal at Mafeking. got throuph. He fell to the ground at the foot of the sentries outside headquarters. Jin could only gasp his message : "The Pats are going fast hurry up," when he died. In an Instant word was rushed for the King's Royal Rifled and the. King's Own Shropeshlre Light Infantry, crack regi ments that had not yet gone Into action, to go to our assistance. We heard them singing Tipperary" above the sound of the shells and the whang of the ma chine guns as they came down the road. They brought ammunition and such machine guns as they had succeeded in lugging across the field, and took over th rlrht rf nn, trvnrti allnwincr uhut was left of us to concentrate at the left, t We set the machine guns up Just in time to face with them another German at tack. We kept the machine guns going until every man in the three regiments who could manipulate one of them had been killed at the gun stock. As long aswe had ammunition for our rifles and the hand grenades the re-enforcing regi ments had brought us we kept heart i and our faces to the enemy. We held them off until nightfall, when the fire from the German artillery slackenel, and the Germans gave up for tho day their 12-hour attempt to dislodge us. Then when we had rested a bit we took count of the 'regiment. Only 147, bat Tbty Held Twenty-one officers and 780 noncom missioned officers and men had faced the first German attack that morning. When we called 4he roll that evening only four officers and 143 noncommis sioned officers and men responded. But the Pats had the trench that was what counted After Ypres Marshal French reviewed what was left of the Canadian division only 4000 men of the original 40,000. When the flag that was embroidered by the Princess Pat went by, with less than a company left to march behind it, Mar shal French and his generals, with them l i rt iv I l- ' ... . '. ? a V f - a , Tii ., mi iiniiiiimfi-WT-u--nrn " t r- r wrm i in n i lit' ..- . V '. ; sf .. '" llr . " Ii' -ir- " ftT vA'. : v.a ...V ' li t M . . ; . jCt.v s RAILROAU PROJECTS IN OREGON SEEKING FEDERAL APPROVAL " Grants Pass, Burns and Florence Commercial Clubs Address Director General McAdoo. Filling ampuls with finished vaccine to th tvi of th eninneia of th T.t immortal Joffre, took off their caps he took his lace at the head of his When the review was over a staff of men whenever there was any dangerous 1 fi.";?r came down from headquarters work to do. 'If he had remained . t a iuraa.su iu iuajw nwiiuion udun, The army medical school at Wash ington was turning out 3000 quarts ot typhoid vaccine a month at the time the national army was collecting in the various cantonments. The cost of th..-i monthly output in the material alone, not to mention labor, equipment and over head, is Jt 50,000. Its commercial value U five or six times this amount. Miliary regulations- require that all typhoid vaccine supplied the army, navy and marine corps must be rnado at tho army medical school. Four men. specialists In this branch of science and super-careful in clVanllnees and accuracy, do the bulk of the work. Kvery step of the manufacture is J guarded with the utmost care. Lieutenant Big Soled Fellow n t at s at si He Boasts Biggest Feet m Army Washington. l. C. Jan. 15. Three propositions for the construction of railroads In Orwoti have now teen pre sented to Ilrvtor oral of lUu'roads McAdoo. Ti: latent hro'ieht to his t tentlon is one cricitiatniK with the Grants I'aas Chatnlx-r of Commerce. transmitted through l.-.irohMiittil- lfaaley. The construction njuse.ted under 111 plan is for a Zo-mile xtenion T Ui California e Oregm Coant railroad from Waters Crek. to Waldo, to lp a' section of country said to be rich in chrome ore. und with 0.0')"a feet of Port Orford cedar tributary tX k. Harney Valley Seele Ileceenltlna' The Burns Commercial club and oilier I astern Oregon Interests have aaked consideration for a line to connect Burns lth Crane, on the plea that thle would open large agricultural area in the Harney valley. The Florence Commercial club wants a three-mile road built to Cushman. whereupon, it is stated, a shipyard u 111 be built and new wooden shins can be put. on the ways. KdwarU Chamber, asalant to I1 rector General McAdoo. has manifested some Interest in the Burns to Crane line, having asked for details or the plan for financing the road. Probably this ts due to the fact that the Burnt Commercial club has Intimated that it could present a feasible plan for con struction. riaanclng nig Problem If the government Itself be expected to furnish the money, it l.i probable that all the plans of railroad building will have to wait. So far the problem of the government has been to get motive power and cars enough to move ton nage, that Is offered and urgently needed. regimental headquarters when we went into action he might still be alive. In stead he quickly followed Colonel Far quhar to whatever especial billet may i be set aside in the hereafter for officers whose deaths bring tears to the eyes of their men. Immediately after we had gone over the top for the first time the Germans began to search us out with their big one of the four officers left, with this message : "Tell the Pats General French pre sents his compliments to them and con veys the gratitude of the king and of Princess Patricia." We went through Tpres and down to the Somme. New faces came into the regiment and new officers came down from headquarters to take command. batteries. Our airplanes could not locate 1 n'w "Jen wer Wtss Pats the big guns for some time, and in the " ... i L Z , 7 ' ' 1 meantime the fire-foot shells of the big Ith riot thfc8 .old-f-eS,,mfTl!"t.e !Plrlt German field guns fell among us like ! -A through to fffe last by the cor- hailstones. One by one our regimental ; Pral su,ard that waa ot JLhe Cv"ack officers paid the toll. Colonel Buller . V, I , , himself went out to a "listening station" l .thlhll , dKa'". ' the Pat- the location of the hidden '."" " """ " '"T7"'C''' company of snipers which d urine the i z ' V , , -I V. 7 day persistently picked off every man !? iilen m.hat who raised his head above the trench, J! f- ' JID -m-r MnBe.l-4A. ffha .nr 1 s-ovaa w avu . vauoiiisj us AHBk.i.i j ,M3UAabaw j 1 1 w Camp LewU. Jan. 19. (I. N. 6.) While he takes no particular pride in the possession of the largest feet In the cantonment First Lieutenant H. C. Force, in charge of the casualty office here, is of the modest opinion that he has the largest feet in the United States army. He wears a ahoe which In size is 16 and which in length is 14 Inches. Ever since he was a sophomore In high school the lieutenant has been obliged to have his shoes made becauso at that time his feet outgrew the sises which were made by shoe manufactur ers. They now cost 15 a pair. When he went to Harvard his size- six feet four and three' eight inches won him a pla.ee on th eleven and one of his most prized iKseK6ions is the "H" granted all men who played against Pennsylvania, lie was in the 1S02 eleven when size and an ability to buck the line were more to U de aired tnan a knowledge of the fine points of the gair.e. He modestly ad mits that his feet had a lot to do with the winning of the Pennsylvania, game where he won his letter. Lieutenant Force, before he went to the second training camp at the Pre sidio, was an attorney In H'-attl. "wl ere he has practiced ever since graduating from Harvard. He weighs 25 pountia Widowed Mother for Her Son's Enlistment Japan Is Building Number of Ships Toklo, Jan. 19. Japan Is able to .build 250 ships a year, their tonnage totaling 1,000,000, according to a government statement. The shipbuilding business of Japan has had an unprecedented growth since the beginning of the war. and on September 1 there were 11 J shipbuild ing slips owned by 42 firms, besides 24 slips which are building and will be ready before the end of the year. These facilities are more than three times aa great as at the beginning of the war. Each slip Is capable of turning out a ship of more than 1000 tonnage In less than a year. Denver. Colo.. Jan. 13. Although wid owed and In straitened circumstances. Mrs. Clara Doss Burrows, one of the few living descendants of the famous Adams family, urged her only eon. Karl Gardner Doss, to enlUt for service in Uncle Sam's forces. The young roan is now at the Mare Island marine corps training station. Young Doss's great-grandfather, Eli jah Adams, waa among the leaders of the Mohawks, who staged the historic "tea party" In Boston harbor just prior to the P.evolutlonery war. Ills r rand father, Gardner Adams, was a cousin of President John Wulncy Adarna, and fought In the United State navy throughout the war of 1812. The boy's uncle, another John Quincy Adama, brother of Mrs. Burrows, was with the Union forces in- the Civil war. his men throughout their occupancy of the firing line. ' ' v Headquarters expected the colonel to open up with machine gun fire to cover while the regiment slipped bak through traverses and across the open space to the second line, thus leaving an empty trench for the Germans' to mine. - The officer ;-who - brought the - information suggested that the colonel hurry the evacuation, for, he said, "the devils are ready any minute to blow the whole regiment to kingdom come." But thai waa not Colonel Farquhar's III Men iiiiiimi minim Seven Qualified are in charge of our Prescription Case , Mfn of family, training, experience and skill men with an abiding - interest in their responsible calling, giving to it their sole, undi - yided and exclusive attention. No interruptions, tkisiness or social, are permitted to interfere with their task, involving as it does, life i. and death. Infallible? No but here's -the record: 53 YEARS OF SERVICE to this community and near a million-atid-a-quarter prescriptions. A constantly growing, steadily ex panding business fabric, built upon mutual goodwill and confi dence between public, profession, ourselves and our two-htindred- :;T and-thirty-eight associates.. v'':- - .;v . Have we riot a, proper right-to ask you who1 read this, Vto turn. . lowaru us rur mis- service vwnen me occasion arises? nn MloodardGlkefe'Go- ;1 era caught him creeping back to the line. We went out to get him' when he didn't return, and found him clasping In his hands a photograph of his daughter. When we buried him Brigadier General Smith, commandinglhe eightieth bri gade, of which contingent we were a part, came down to pin upon his coat the distinguished service medal, con ferred by special orders. ; Beeaptara Key to Tpres There would have been few of the regiment left, so fast were . the . German batteries decimating them, if prepara tions fo? the. 'battle of Tpres had not gotten - under way. Then the Germans moved their . batteries. I Before Tpres there was 'the battle of St. Jullen, fought along the Menntn road. The Germans, especially anxious to take the city of Tpres, which they wanted to use as a distributing center. marched upon the trenches of the French colonial troops in the Mennln road sector,- where a salient had been formed. In mass formation, sacrificing a hundred thousand men to break the line. Here they used gas for the first time In that district . i The French colonials were driven out, unable to cope against the tremendous odds and reckless sacrifices of the Ger man commanders. The Mennin road was the Key to Tpres, however, and the orders came down from Marshal French to regain the line at all cost. The First Canadian contingent, 40,000 strong, which had been distributed close to Festerbert, was called up. As the Canadians marched down the Mennin road they encountered the routed French colonials, the roads and fields strewn- with thousands choking to death from the gas. It seemed as if the very fields were shrieking and groaning, so pitiful was the agony of the colonials who had fallen in their tracks as they streamed across the open behind their trenches, staggering till they dropped, with the terrible gas gripping at their lungs.- But the Canadians marched Into ac tion, laughing with and at each other, joking and cheering, until some one began singing "Tipperary." Company after company of the division took up the refrain until the whole 40,000, officers, noncoms and men alike, were singing with all their might this Cockney march ing song. They took hack the trenches mit the 40,000 were .only 18.000 when the casualty list was read. This was the first big casualty list sent back to Canada it was the. Dominion's rirst big "Jolt" 22,000 of her first 40,000 contingent lost in a Bln- gle battle. It woke up the nation. But there was a thrill, too, that went home with the report of the doings at Mennin road. When the -battle was over and the trenches safely In the hands ot the Canadians, it was the Princess Pats that were found firmly holding the very apex of the salient the most dangerous place of all. ' "When the field marshal reported back to England there waa one line In his report that must have touched the heart of the royal princess "Especial credit Is due the Princess Patricia's Ca nadian Light .Infantry for its gallantry in taking, under heavy odds and -concentrated- fire, the most advanced line pf - . ' At Battle of Tpres We paid heavily, of course, but not so heavy as the toll of the Princess Pats a few days later. May 8, when the Ger mans began the battle of Tpres. At 20 minutes after 6 o'clock on the morning of the eighth, the Germans began their desperate attempt to take the city. They first i concentrated their fire upon' the apex-of the salient held by the Princess Pata. They-fired ' at intermissions until half past nine, when the shelling finally ceased and they began their frontal at tack.. -.- ' ; , '-..... '' ' Four regiments .of "Germans marched ; directly upon our position. . but we held j them oft with machine gun fire, causing . 1 . J . U V . V. 1 , , ...... V.l J . 1 miMM driven back to their, own trenches their Wbm wrtUns to or ranlns oa adrartlam pImm aay im aae ad la .Tea Joornal. TODAY TRY TO GET IN A A DOUBLE AD. OF A DOUBLE BILL Jack PIckf ord in THE SPIRIT OF '17 By Judge W31i Brown of Chicago SHOT DOWN! First sod only notion ple tares of battle between French and Carinas air sqaadron. howls aetaal fall of defeated Gem as frem time he Is hit, ttaoa sasds ef feet taroagh paee, te flaal crash far below. IT IS PART of FRANCE IN ARMS TODAY at the COLUMBIA Try to Get t J "rTT-" 111,1 11 " iw Fit -- .--- -i ZgSaSfcMl ammMMw 'a . - - . . rsaBSBSa I.ii l1inSaat tm: ., , . ? , ' '' .. ?. . . - s , - . ,,-, .-,t-a ' ' " V' '.. . i .-; -.- v . y i .: , v -i RIN CLING BROS. COULDNT JK TJCS JalUCH FOR "YOU