The Monmouth herald., July 20, 1917, Image 4

II
mm
SERGEANT McCLINTOCK.
No. 1. la Training
By Serjeant Alexander McClintock,
D. C. M.. 87. b Overseas Bath,
Canadian Circii. Guards.
Copyright, 1917, bv the Hell Syn
dicate, Inc.
FO HEW Oil I).
Hera It a literary product which U at
imi v an admirable example of the force
if simple realism in Ihe description of
things which are difficult of ordinary
:on incite union, and a handbook and
guide for txery prospective loldkr of
uur armict.
Sergeant McCliuttnk hai not written
ttorics about the tear. He has written
the tear itself, rt during it. out might
ilmost say. to words of one syllable,
yet bringing to the reader' t riVir, clear
ly and i iriii, the various a pert of
the. great struggle, hidden to all creep!
the man who in actually a part of it.
Iliii contribution to the history of the
war must be classtd a one which
thine with a new light.
It in fascinutittg in its simplicity, yet
thrilling in itn convincing detail. II
leads one, with evergrowing tu.d com
lulling intercut, from a casual conecr
ttition in a hotel in Sew York though
ieencH of strife uud blood and thrilling
'(mfllct to the moment when the king
and queen of England came to the bed
title of a Kcttlutky youth in a London
htmpittil to thUftk him in the name of
their nation for his scrricis in the
vanse whi' h we htire nr come to rec
ognise as that of world humanity.
Sergeant McClintock received the IHi
liitguished Conduct initial before leav
ing England for home on It ace. lie is
reluming to accept a commission i.i the
Vtniudian ovt rst as forces. The story u
told in ilt ('Unlock' own unadorned
way.
II)().'T lu y claim tn being much of
n v. rior, ii ml tip till now i have
never felt tlu- cull to write in)
tiling tilH'tit my cxporletn es with the
Canadian troops In Belgium mill
France, because 1 have realized (hut
U great uiim.v other wen t-aw iU'le ns
much ns I (lid uud could bint tin tell
ing iilmiit It. HI' (Oiiise I lieiievid that
uiy experience was worth relating, and
1 thought t ti nt the uiiitli'i- published In
the newspapers by professional writ
ers Mirt uf missed the essentials mid
lacked tlio spirit cf the "ditches" In n
liniHl many ways In spite uf lis excel
lent literary style, hut I didn't see liny
reason why It was up Id me lo mnku
uu effort us it war hlstor an until now.
Xow there Is a reason, as 1 look at It.
1 believe 1 i nn show the two or three
millions of my fellow co,intr, men who
Will he "out there" More this war Is
over what they are going to he up
against nnd what they ought to pre
pare fur personally and Individually.
That Is us fur ws I inn goln, to go In
the way of excuse, explanation or com
"Boyt, tor God'i don't call m
Harry. Her comta tha general!"
I. M
UYLE, I
The Thr;Il nd the Hell of
the Trenches, L escribed
by an Ameritan Boy.
Sergeant Alexander McClintock of Lex
ington, Ky., and the Canadian Anny Has
Gripping Tale That Ivery American Will
Read, For He Telli the Facts Unadorn
ed. Wounded, a Distinguished Conduct
Medal Man, He Was Invalided Home,
but Is Going "Out There" Again to Fight
For Uncle Sam and His Allies. An In
spiring, Interesting, Personal Narrative,
Full of the Spirit and Atmosphere of the
Trenches.
ment. l It what you will The rest
of my story Is a simple rci.it ion uf
facts uud occurrences In ti e order In
which they ume to my notice and hap
pened to me. It may start off a little
slowly and Jerkily. Just as we did. uot
knowing whM was coming to us. I'd
like to add Unit It got quite hot enough
to suit me later several times. There
fore, as my effort Is going to be to
carry you right along w ith me In this
icci nut of my experiences, don't be
Impatient tf nothing- very Important
seems to come off at first. I felt a lit
tle ennui myself at (lie getaway. Hut
that w us certainly one thine that didn't
annoy me later.
In the littler pint f October. 1013. 1
jdecldid that the Flitted States ought
to be lighting nil ni! with England and
j France on account of the way Belgium
I had beeu treated, If for lio other leason.
As there M'euied to lie a considerable
division of opinion on this p lot anion);
the people at bonie, I cmuc to the con
clusion that any mini who was free,
white and twenty-one and felt as I did
ought to (to over nnd get into It single
handed in the side where his convic
tions led lii in. If there wasn't some par
ticular reason why he couldn't. There
fore I Raid goodhy to my parents and
1 friends In Lexington and started for
New York with the idea i t sailing for
Frunoe and jnln'ng the Foreign legion
of the French army.
Decides to Go to Canada.
A couple of nights after I got to New
York I fell Into conversation la the
Knii kerbo' ker bar wllh a chap w'bo
was In the re-enforcement company of
I'rn ess I'ut's regiment f the Ciinu
tiliin, for es. After my talk with him
I divined to go up to Camilla and look
things over. I arrived at the Windsor
hotel, In Montreal, at S o'clock in the
wi'i'iiintf ii couple of days Inter, and at
1(1 o'i lock that illuming I was sworn
In us a pi'vule In the ('aunt! tin Creiui
dlcr guards. F'ghly-sevi nih o.erseas
battalion. Lieutenant Colonel I". S.
Melghen coiiiniaiiding. Tir.-.v w lejust
gelling under way, ni::king solcilersout
of th.' (roups I enlisted with, uud dis
cipline was ipllte lax.
TI cy at cin e gave Lie a week's leuve
to come down to New York and settle
up some personal iifi'nlrs, and I over
stayed It live days. ATI that my com
pany conimnniH r pa d to n.e w hen I
got biu k was that I seemed to have
picked up Onimilliin habits very quick
ly. At a review one day in our train
vi camp I iica id a major say:
"Itoys, for (lod's sake don't cull me
Hurry or spit In the ranks. Here comes
the general.'"
We found out eventually that theie
was a reiiiion for the slackness of dis-
1 clpline. The trouble was that men
would enlist to get $1.1D a day w'th-
i out worl.ln.; for It and would desert
; as soi n as any one made it unpleasant
for them. Our ohVors knew what they
were about. Conditions changed In-
I stantly we went on shipboard. Idscl.
pliue tiLhtened up on us like a tie rope
I on a colt.
j We trained In a sort of casual, easy
i way !u f iiimdii from Nov. 4 to the fob
i lowing April. We had a g.'od deal of
i trouble keeping our butlaiion up to
! stiengtlu uud I was sent out several
! times with ether "noncoms" on a re
', entiling detail. While we were lu the
; tniinhr; camp at St. John's 1 made the
1 acquaintance i f a young Canadian w ho
became tny "pul." lie wus Cumpbell
Mi I'lirlund. nephew of Ceorge McFar
land. the actor who Is so well known
. on the American musical stage. lie
was a sergeant. When 1 first knew
hlni be w as one of the most delight nil
! and amusing young fellows you could
j Imagine.
The war hanged hbi entirely, lie
, became extremely quiet nnd seemed to
j be borne down wlt'i the sense of the
i terrible things which he saw. lie nev
i er lost the pen si fellowship which wax
Inherent In tiliu uud wus always ready
to do anything to oh!i:re me. but lie
1 formed the hnblt of sitting, alone and
silent, for boon ut a time. Just think
ing. It seemed us If he bad a premoni
tion ulKiut himself, though he never
showed fear and never spoke of the
dangers we were going Into, as the
1 other fellows did. lie was killed hi
the Sonuue actlou lu which I was
wounded.
I also had been made a sergeant on
account of the fact that I had been
at school In the Virginia Military In
stitute that 1, 1 vvus nji .acting ser
geant T: win explained to me that
bit r ' Inti lent would have to be 1
eonfirh-i'l In Lngland and then re-ou-firmed
after three months' service la
I'nwe. I'lidcr the regulations of the
Canadian fnf a noncommissioned
oil: er. a'ter final confirmation lu hU
trrade. can lie reduced to the rank
only by a general court martial, thoug'a
be can escape a court martial when
confronted with charges, by reverting
to the ranks at his own request.
Forty-two hundred of us sailed for
England on the Kmpress of Trltaln.
alster ship to the Empress of Ireland,
which "was sunk In the St. Lawrence
river. The steamer was, of Course,
very crowded and uncomfortable, and
the eight day trip across was most un
pleasant. We had tripe to eat until
we were sick of the sight of It A
sergeant reported one morning. "Eight
men and twenty-two breakfasts ab
sent." There were two other troop
ships tn our convoy, the Raltic and the
Mrtagaraa, A British cruiser escorted
us until we were 4N) miles off the coast
of Ireland. Then each ship picked up
a destroyer which had come out to
meet her. At thut time a notice was
posted lu the purser's otfice Informing
us that we were in the wur tone and
that the ship would not stop for any
thing, even for a man overboard. That
day a soldier fell off the Metagama
with $'00 in his pocket, and the ship
never even hesitated. . They left hlin
where he had no chance lu the world
to spend his money.
"Make a Break!"
Through my training In the V. M.
I., I was able to read semaphore "iR
mils, and I caught the message from
the destroyer which escorted us. It
read:
"Euch ship for herself now. Make
a break T
We beat (he other steamers of our
convoy eight hours In getting to the ,
dock in Liverpool, and, according to
w hat seemed to I the regular system ;
of our operations at thut time, we
were the lust to disembark.
The majority of our fellows had nev
er been lu England before, and they
looked ou our travels ut that time as
a flue lark. Everybody cheered and
laughed when they dusted ofi one of
those little toy trains and brought it
up to lake us away in It. After we
were aboard of It wo proceeded at the
dizzy rate of about four miles an hour,
and our regular company humorist
no company complete without one
suggested that they were afraid, If
they went any faster, they might run
off the Island before they could stop.
We were taken to Itramshott camp. In
Hampshire, twelve miles from the
Aldershot school of command. The
next day we were given "king's leave"
el' ht days, with free transportation
anywhere lu the British Isles. It Is
the Invariable custom to give this sort
of leave to nil colonial troops Immedi
ately upon their arrival In England.
However, In our case Ireland was bar
red. Just ut that time Ireland was no
phi' e for a newly arrived Canadian
looking for sport.
After that they really began to make
soldiers of us. We thought our train
ing in Canada had amounted to some
thing. We found out that we might
as well have been playing croquet.
After That They Really Began to Make
Soldiers of Ut.
We learned more the first week of our
actual training In Englund than we
did from November to April In Cana
da. 1 make this statement without
fear that any officer or man of the
Cauadiuu forces alive today will dis
agree with me, und I submit It for the
thoughtful consideration of the gen
tlemen who believe that our own
armies cau lie prepared for service
here at home.
In this war every man has got to be
a specialist. He's got to know one
thing better than unyliody else except
those who have bad Intensive Instruc
tion in the same brunch. And, besides
that, he's got to have effective general
knowledge of all the specialties in
which hli fellow soldiers have lieen
particch;'- 'jancd. I tail ll.ustrai
i
Newp ort
Charming Resort
by the Sea
Those who seek rest and sea
shore recreation, will find abund
ant opportunity at Newport.
Ample hotel accommodations
cottages or camping arrangements.
Low Round
Daily Trains -
Ask our nearest agent for folder. "Newport" or write
John M. Scott, General Passenger Agent
Southern Pacific Lines
fii's, nniueuiuteTy upon our reiuru
from first leuve In England we were
divided Into sections for training lu
eight specialties. They were: Bombing,
sniping, scouting, machine gun light
ing, slgnuling. trench mortar operatlou,
bayonet fighting and stretcher bearing.
I was selected for special training In
bombing, piobubly because I was sup.
posed, as uu Aineili'dn and a baseball
player, to l.e expert lu throwing. With
tbetber men picked for training In
the same .specialty, I wus sent to Al
dershot, and there for three weeks,
twelve hours a day, I threw bombs,
studied bombs, read about bombs, took
bombs to pieces to see what made
them tick ard put them together again
nnd did practically everything else
tluij; you could do with a bomb, except
eat it.
Then 1 was ordered buck along with
the ether men who had gained this
Int i mate acquaintance with the entire
bomb family, und we were put to work
teaching the entire bnttullon ull thut
we had leumed. When we were not
touching we were under instruction
ourselves by the men who hud taken
speclul (ruining in other branches
Also ut certain periods of the day we
had physical training and rifle prac
tice. Up to the time of our arrival lu
England Intensive training hud been
merely a fine phrase with us. During
our stay there It was a definite and
overpowering fact. lay and night we
trained, and day and night It rained.
At 0 o'clock we would full Into our
bunks In huts which held from a half
to a whole platoon from thirty to six
ty men and drop Into exhausted sleep,
only to turn out at 5 a. in. to give a
sudden und exact Imitation of what
we would do to the Oertnans if they
sneaked up ou us before breakfast In
six Inches of mud. Toward the last
when we thought we hud beeu driven
to the limit, thev told us that we were
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to have a period of real. Intensive train.
Ing to harden us for actual fighting.
They sent us four Imperial drill ser
geants from the British grenadier
guards, the senior foot regiment of the
British urinv und the one w ith which
we were aliillated.
It would be quite unavailing for me
to attempt to describe these drill ser
geunts. The British drill sergeant Is
an Institution which can be understood
only through jiersonal and close con
tact and Is about us cordial as loose
electricity. If he thinks a major gen
eral Is wrong he'll tell him so on the
spot In the most emphatic way, but
without ever violating a single sacred
tradition of the service. The sergeunts
who took us lu charge to put on the
real polish to our training had ajl seen
from twenty to twenty-five years of
service. They had ull been through
the battles of Mons und the Marue.
and they hud all been wounded. They
were perfect examples of a type. One
of them ordered all of our commission
ed officers, from the colonel down, to
turn out for rifle drill one day und put
them through the manual of arms
while the soldiers of the battalion stood
around looking on.
"Gentlemen," said he very politely
In the midst of the drill, "when I sea
you handle your rilles I feel like futl
Ing on my knees and thanking God
that we've got a navy."
A Call For Volunteers.
On June 2, after the third buttle of
Ypres, while McFarland aud I were
sitting wearily on our buiiks during
a strunge hour In the afternoon when
nobody had thought of anything for
us to do, a soldier came In with a
message from headquarters which put
a sudden stop to the discussion we
were having about the possibility of
getting leave to go up to London. The
message was tlist the First. Second