At dusk half of the
Canadians occupying the trench made one rush after another
to bring in their wounded and helpless comrades. It was a
wonderful sight. Again and again these fellows went out,
each time carrying back a wounded man. I was the extreme end
man of our regiment, and so was right next to the Canadians
themselves. Their officer, who was hit some time during the
evening, came back with his arm in a sling, refusing to go
down the line to the dressing station, as he preferred to
stay with the remnants of his company. He was a most
encouraging chap, and it was here that I noticed the
difference between the companionship of these officers and
men and those of our own army. The ordinary private would
pull out his small packet of Woodbines and offer one to his
officer, who would accept it with the same feeling of
gratefulness as he would a cigar from a brother officer.
"We stayed with these Canadians for two days. For some
reason or other the transport had failed to bring up our
rations, but we did not suffer for lack of food, for
whatever the Canadians had, we had too. They shared with us
all their rations and kept us for those two days.
"At the end of that time, during which we had witnessed
several attacks on the right, we were relieved from those
trenches and marched back to the farm on the other side of
the Canal.
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