My War Experiences in Two ContinentsMacnaughtan, S. (Sarah)
History
My War Experiences in Two Continents
Macnaughtan, S. (Sarah)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Hospitals, charities, etc.; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, English
Miss Macnaughtan said she had been speaking in many parts of the
country, but she was especially proud to address a meeting of Welsh
working-men. Besides coming of a long line of Welsh ancestors, her
brother-in-law, Colonel Young, was in command of the 9th Welch
Battalion at the front, and she had also four nephews serving in
the Welch Regiment. Only the day before Colonel Young had written
to her: "The Welshman is the most intensely patriotic man that I
know, and it is always the same thing, 'Stick it, Welch.' His
patriotism is splendid, and I do not want to fight with a better
man." Miss Macnaughtan then explained that she was not asking for
funds, and was not speaking for employers or owners. She simply
wished to tell them her experiences of the war as she had seen it,
and to describe the heroism which was going on at the front. If
they looked at the war from the point of view of men going out to
kill each other they had a wrong conception of what was going on.
She had been asked to speak of the conditions which might prevail
should the Germans reach this country. She did not feel competent
to speak on that subject, as the whole idea of Germans in this
country seemed absolutely inconceivable. If the Germans were to
land on our shores all the waters which surrounded this isle would
not wash the land clean. She knew what the Germans were, and had
seen the wreck they had made of Belgium and part of France. She
knew what the women and children had suffered, and how the churches
had been desecrated and demolished. It was said that this was a war
of humanity, but she believed it was a war of right against wrong;
and if she were asked when the war would finish, she could only say
that we would fight it right on to the end until we were
victorious.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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