Loyola College - Review Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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LOYOLA COLLEGE REVIEW 17 Am getting on fine with my men, and am very proud of them, as they are excellent in every respect: cheerfully enduring hardship, ever ready to undertake any work, and eagerly awaiting a chance to have а go at the Germans. On my return (from the Hospital) to my own men, I got so enthusiastic a reception that I was indeed greatly touched. у February 12th, 1916. . . - A few days before we quitted the trenches, а party of our boys and a party of the 29th crawled out to the German barbed wire, which protects their, front, cut same and entered the German trenches, taking a number of prisoners, and inflicting great loss on the enemy. Our Battalion has received considerable praise for the work and we are all justly proud of the men, 39 in number, who took part in this attack. We were rather surprised when we received the order to move back for a period of rest, as we had grown so used to the routine, trenches, billets, trenches, billets, that we were unprepared for a change. So we find ourselves now in the same position, relatively speaking, as we were in, nearly five months ago, when we landed in France, and had been transported to within about ten miles of the firing line. Once again we are billeted in an old French farm house, our men occupying the barns and adjoining buildings. The weather has been very cold and wet, and our men have had rather a hard time of it, as the barns are very cold, and the work is rather severe. Alas! whata change. Of the number of officers who arrived in France with us, twelve are not with us to-day, by reason of wounds, illness, transfer and other causes, and many of our brave lads, who greeted “ Іа belle France with a smile, have found their last resting place in Belgian soil. After nearly five months, we find ourselves as a battalion far better acquainted with each other than in the olden days at Winnipeg, and in training camp in England. We have gradually weeded out the unfit and the sloper and find ourselves to-day as fine a body of men as wear the King’s uniform. When you have slept, eaten, fought and fasted with men for such a period; when you have seen them with the shells bursting close by, or the sniper's bullet skimming over their heads; when you have seen them cheerfully erecting barbed-wire entanglements in the open, about 125 yards from the Huns; when you have seen all these things, you are proud to belong to such a Battalion, very proud of your men, and your only ambition is that in the time of trial they will have no reason to be ashamed of you . . . FROM A FORMER MASTER . . . I cannot convince myself that poor Arthur has been cut down on the threshold of man- hood. I had always counted upon him, more perhaps than upon any of my former pupils, to have a brilliant and useful career. But God ordained otherwise. The poor boy had many noble impuls and a high sense of honour. It was for them I loved him so much. He was a good friend. ... FROM ANOTHER FORMER TEACHER I recently received the very sad news about your dear Arthur, and immediately my thoughts were directed to his parents, and chiefly to you. You may rest assured that we share your loss, and that you have our deepest sympathy. Some consolation may be derived from the fact that your beloved son has done his duty to his country heroically. A halo of glory will shine around his name. Noble motives had a great power over his noble heart, and his patriotic conduct isa credit to his parents and to those who have contributed to the formation of his character. s x У ` Mayor's Office, Port Arthur, Aug. 15th, 1916. I am instructed by the Council to convey to you the sympathy of this community in the loss of your son. As an officer, born and bred in Port Arthur, we had followed his career at the front with keen interest. Many of the boys in his Company sent word back in private letters, telling of the grip he had secured on the affections of his men, and of the confidence they had in his ability as a leader. We feel that, when his youthfulness is taken into consideration, the above testimony to his qualities points out that, had he been spared, he would have gone far, and even had we not known him personally, we should have felt that in losing him the country was probably poorer than it would have been by the loss of a hundred men in the ranks. . . T У У Argonaut Rowing Club, Toronto, Aug. 215+, 1916. I bave been directed by the Argonaut Committee to extend to you our deepest sympathy in the loss of your dear, dear son, Arthur. He was one of our best beloved members—gentle, kind and altogether Aristotle's true gentleman. He heard the call of Country and “ greater love no man hath than this, . . . . and it isin this heroism, we trust, that you will find your truest comfort . . . Meanwhile, Arthur's noble life will remain a symbol and sign for us of the Argonauts. -

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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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18 LOYOLA COLLEGE REVIEW FROM AN OFFICER AT THE FRONT Somewhere in France, I9th, June 1916. . . . From information I have since gathered the 28th went into action about the 2nd of June. Тћеу lost several men going to the trenches and found things warm when they got there. Тће Huns blew up a couple of mines on them . . . which wiped out half the battalion. I believe there are only five or six survivors of the Port Arthur and Fort William Company left . . . Poor Art. McGovern was fatally wounded, just previous to the mine explosions, and was alive when carried to the rear. I have been unable to find out for certain, but there is every reason to believe he received the Last Sacraments. When my own battalion came out three days ago, after a few hours' rest, I started to hunt up poor Art’s grave, and at last found it at a place called Reninghelst. Have enclosed a P.C. of the church at Reninghelst. Arthur is not buried in the churchyard, but in a military graveyard not а stone's throw from the church, so I thought it might interest you. Further, he must have often visited the church, for it is at no great distance from his rest camp. As soon as 1 located the grave, I had а wreath made and placed it on the grave, with a short note stating that it was from Leo Council, Knights of Columbus. . . . P.S. I hate postcripts, but I feel I have not paid sufficient tribute to the memory of poor Art. He was a great favourite amongst the men and officers of his Battalion—always cheery, and looked upon as a good soldier. In fact, I learn he was to have taken command of a Company, but for his untimely end. However, he died like a soldier and a man, facing the enemy and fighting for the right. FROM AN ANGLICAN CHAPLAIN 1 n is with the greatest difficulty that I attempt to express to you my sincere sympathy in your sad loss. I have very naturally been interested in the 28th Battalion, and have from time to time visited them, when they have been anywhere near me, and on each occasion I have seen Capt. McGovern, together with the other Port Arthur and Fort William boys. Less than two weeks ago, I saw them all, near our Advance Dressing Station, and they were all in their usual good spirits, happy and cheerful under such adverse circumstances. I was very upset to hear that they had suffered so heavily. Visiting the Battalion a few days ago, as far as I could gather, Capt. McGovern suffered no pain at all, and they were able to bring the body out of the trench. I was talking to Father de Jaddine this afternoon, and he it was who buried him in our Military Cemetery in Ren- inghelst. Е А cross will be erected in a few days, bearing the date, пате and Battalion, so that everything that could be done was done. Please accept my sincere and heartfelt sympathy in your sad bereavement. FROM A PORT ARTHUR BOY I feel, though, that it is a duty I owe to endeavor to give you some of the details regarding Capt. Terry McGovern, and, if I don't geta chance to write any of theother boys of Leo Council, you can pass it along to them. То begin with, I can tell you our boys were called on to hold one of the warmest corners on this front. “А” and “B” company were in the front line and “C” and “D” in supports. Terry was in charge of “С,” for this trip, and Capt. Milne of “A.” It seems to be usual luck of our battalions when anything is doing, to be intoit. This particular day, Fritz shelled the supreme dickens out of our trenches. The boys who were in it and fortunate enough to return say the whole place was like a scrap—iron heap. Of all the propositions they have been up against, this certainly was the worst. Then, on top of all thisshelling, a mine was blown up on them. Fritz came over and took a few of them prisoners. You will have to learn that from the local papers. Terry being in “C” company, was not blown up in the mine, but the same afternoon was hit with shrapnel, below the heart, and killed instantly. At first he was buried just behind the communication trench, but the same night was taken out and was brought down to the battalion on the transport. At this time we were a couple of miles from the battalion camp. Twenty-four of us were sent up to duty and for a couple of days I was detonating bombs with brigade bombers. I arrived at the camp just as they were taking Terry away to be buried in the cemetery, but too late to have a last look at him, nor was I able to attend the funeral, being for immediate duty. The priest was there, Bill, so he was given a decent burial, and now rests in the military cemetery not far from our present camp. We certainly have lost one of our very best officers in Terry. He sure was the most popular with the boys and right in his glory when catching for the battalion baseball team. у d T