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LOYOLA COLLEGE REVIEW 15 the finest officers ever sent out. Another adds: ‘‘He was a favourite with every one from the Colonel to the теп.” The following extract from a Port Arthur paper is an eloquent testimonial to the high repute in which our graduate was held by his fellow-citizens. His name is fittingly coupled therein with that of his close friend. Port Arthur mourns the loss of two gallant sons. Arthur McGovern, a Port Arthur boy by birth, is dead. Clarence Milne, a Port Arthur boy by years of residence, is missing and supposed dead. No two officers among all who have gone from this city were better known than these, and the report of what has happened drives home to this city the fact of the war, more than anything that has happened since the St. Julien, in April, 1915, when the first big casualty list came in with many Port Arthur names on it. Clarence Milne and Arthur McGovern were both of the highest type of citizenship, young, vigorous, capable, and even brilliant in their civil life occupations. They might easily and even reasonably held back at least until the demand for men was greater, but those qualities which made them good citizens in times of peace were just those to hear the call of duty in time of war. No tribute that can be put in mere words on paper is too good to pay to these young men from Port Arthur who will never come back. To sorrowing relatives a whole city extends sincerest sympathy. Later, in a stirring appeal for recruits, the same paper says: ‘‘ Voices from over in France are calling you: voices of Clarence Milne and Arthur McGovern, men of honour, men of integrity, of ability, and men with a sense of public duty, who have left as much as or more than is keeping you. To Arthur's mother—a kind friend of Loyola—we offer our heartfelt’ con- dolence in her two-fold bereavement for Mr. McGovern died not long after the death in action of his noble son. LETTER FROM CAPTAIN ARTHUR L. McGOVERN Otterpool Camp, Sept. 16+Ь, 1915. I am leaving here this afternoon, at 5 p.m., on my way to France, and am writing this little note of farewell . . . The King reviewed us on September 2nd, and was very pleased with our appearance and good bearing. Lord Kitchener was also present and complimented us on our men... We expect to make a good showing. Belgium, Oct. 15th, 1915. · · . I wrote you from the trenches while we were doing our first spell, and in haste sent you a card when leaving to re-enter the trenches, after being out for six days. After the completion of our first spell, when we came out of the trenches for the first time, we marched to a little village about six miles behind the line for a rest. Alas! for our men, the proposed rest was one in name only, as they were kept continually employed on fatigue work, that is, carrying food to the troops in the trenches, etc. However, we “ rested for six days and re-entered the trenches on Wednesday, to take our second spell. Sad to say, our second venture was not as fortunate as the first, and we had a great number of casualties. The Germans very unkindly exploded a mine under a portion of our trenches and caused considerable loss of life. We were also shelled very heavily, and in connection with this shelling I had a fortunate escape, the particulars of which were as follows: А large German shell dropped in the trenches occupied by my platoon, and, while doing consid- erable damage to the trench itself, did not, luckily, cause any casualties. I took an officer of the Engineers down to look at the damage, and, while we were both examining same, the Germans landed another shell about ten yards in front of us, outside the trench. We heard the shell hit the ground and rebound along the ground until it struck the parapet with a shock that caused the whole section of parapet to shake, but luckily the shell did not explode. As we were standing right behind the place where it struck the parapet, we had a close shave, but we both laughed and promptly forgot all about it.
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16 | LOYOLA COLLEGE REVIEW Our casualty list to date consists of 83 killed, wounded and missing, which is pretty heavy, considering that we have only been in the trenches eleven days. However, our men behaved splendidly, and there were some great examples of self-sacrifice and heroism displayed in digging out the men who were buried by the explosion of the mine. . . We came out of the trenches on Tuesday night and, on Wednesday, Gen. Turner, the man who commands the 2nd Canadian Division, came to see us and paraded us and said: “ 1 have come here to-day to congratulate the 28th Battalion on the steadiness they have displayed in the firing line. Few, if any, troops have had to undergo such severe trials at the very commencement of your trench experience here, and you, both officers and men, have done exceedingly well, and I am proud of you. I have recommended some of your number for special decoration, and I want you to remember that a decoration or honour bestowed on any one of you is an honour and decora- tion for the whole battalion. You may be sure that we were quite pleased, as such praise is very seldom afforded to new battalions. Hurrah for the 28th! Unfortunately I lost two of my men, who were on duty as bombers in the section of trench blown up . . However, our artillery got busy next day on the German trenches, and we had the pleasure of seeing machine guns, Germans and portions of same going merrily skyward as our shells landed with wonderful aim in their trenches. j Nov. 19th, 1915. Since I wrote you, we have been in and out of the trenches twice and, to tell the truth, these last two periods have been the niost trying that we have experienced. Until these above-men- tioned tours, the life in the trenches was fairly enjoyable, but lately the rain has fallen incessantly and the trenches have been extremely wet, cold and damp, and the boys have had rather a bad time. The wintry season has set in, and we believe that we may expect to have rainy days until the early part of March, or even a little later. We were rather unprepared for the heavy rains, and when we entered the trenches we were obliged to do our work in the rain, our dug-outs being very wet, clothes the same, and our whole spare time was devoted to repairing damage caused by the rain. . . . The shelters or dug-outs are usually quite damp and leak very badly, our clothes are usually encrusted with mud and dirt, the food, while usually good, is often, through unforeseen difficulties, such as transport, etc., rather slim, but the men “ keep on smiling, and for my part I am very proud indeed to be associated with such a body of men. Their manners may be uncouth, their speech may be rough and their appearance far from attractive, but their hearts are true, and when the time comes for the big struggle, as it will surely come, our men will always be ready and willing to do their part. Dec. 6th, 1915. There has been nothing of any great importance taking place lately, except that we, the officers of “ A Company, have been worked very hard, owing to the shortage of officers in our battalion. At the present time we have only twelve officers left, out of 24 Company Officers, available for duty, although we have our Headquarters Staff still complete. . . This shortage of officers necessitated our boys doing duty with other companies, and for thelast three tours in the trenches I have been with “ D Company, and twice with “ C Company. Have at last got back to my own boys and am very glad to be with them again, as I have come to be awfully fond of them, for they are the best in the world. . . . Yesterday R . . and I went to a city near where we are located, and опе of the first men I saw was George Boyce, who used to be at Loyola with me. Heis now a Major in the Ambulance Corps, and we had a very pleasant time renewing old topics of school days. Chubby Power, of Quebec, has been wounded and sent to England. His brother, Joe Power, and Frank Maguire, two old school friends of mine, have also been invalided to England. . . January 10th, 1916. . . . Awfully sorry that I have been unable to write lately, but just came out of the hospital, and have had no chance to answer your very welcome letters. Entered the Hospital on Christmas Day and did not return to the Battalion until January 3rd. I was quite sick—cold and fever—but am feeling quite fitagain. . . . Нада very pleasant time, as the Officers' Hospital is situated in an old cháteau, with beautiful surroundings, and everything possible is done for our comfort. he Germans are growing more active lately, and we had our first experience of a gas attack a short time ago, and while the experience was unpleasant, fortunately no damage was done. The Germans are also making use of a new implement of Satan, namely, the “ aerial torpedo. This is a shell with little fins on the sides, and is fired from a point close to the enemy'sfrontline. They sent twelve over on the section of trench that “ A Company was holding, last week, but, by the grace of God, no one was hurt. It was about 4.45 p.m., and it was just beginning to get dark when the first one came over. I was standing, looking over the parapet, with one of the sentries, and we heard the shot, saw the torpedo rise high in the air (it has a tail of flame, that is, burning fuse, which enables you to watch it), turn over, the fuse going out, and dive into our trench. We shouted a well-known warning: Aerial torpedo, take shelter on the right! and everybody raced along the trenches, away from our left section. One torpedo lit in our trench, blew a hole about eight feet deep and twenty feet across, besides making a big hole in our parapet. However, it is all in the game, and we are always on the watch for this unpleasant visitor. One of these torpedoes killed seven men and wounded two, not so long ago, so we take no chances.
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