Sergeant Murphy, of the 3rd Battalion of the Rifles, has received a letter from his brother (who was wounded with the Rifles at Neuve Chapelle, and is now in hospital at Brighton), in which he says:--"I think I am a lucky man to get away at all. Our Commanding Officer, Colonel Laurie, was killed, and all our officers have been nearly washed out. There was an awful bombardment between the two armies, and it was only a very odd man that got away without being wounded. The Germans lost heavily; so did we. I was in a ward with the Germans, and they told me they were glad they got wounded, for they would have to be killed anyway." Rifleman Sharkey, who was wounded, and is in hospital at Netley, writes:--"We got a bad cutting-up, and lost our beloved Colonel and adjutant and the two officers of our company." ("_Morning Post_," _September 20th, 1916._) THE ROYAL IRISH RIFLES. ULSTER GALLANTRY. (_From a Military Correspondent._) "Well done; very well done indeed." Such was the remark of a General standing at a Ginchy debris heap as the Irish battalions moved past him on the way to a rest point in the captured line. The numbering of the platoons did not reach the morning's total, but the men had conquered, and they bore aloft the trophies of the battle, helmets and such like, which they waved at the General. All had contributed to the joy of Ireland from Cork to Derry, Ulsterman and Nationalist, and the Royal Irish Rifles had made Belfast glad. Colonel Fitch raised the regiment in Dublin six score years ago, and the Army of that time called them "Fitch's Grenadiers," because the men were small of stature. When they fought they were as giants, and later on the good physique of the men and their hardy endurance earned them the name of the "Irish Giants." One branch of the regiment was raised in County Down, and to-day the name is perpetuated in the 4th and 5th Battalions, which are known as the Royal Down Militia, despite official changes of designation; and as a further link with the past the depot is in Belfast and the Record Office in Dublin.