I do not know who sent the
telegram, or on what foundation in fact it was based. I think that
somebody in authority considered it would be well to cheer up our men
with a piece of good news. At any rate all who were at the dressing
station believed it, and I determined to carry a copy of the telegram
with me up to the men in the line. I started off on one of the
ambulances for Railway Dugouts. Those ambulance journeys through the
town of Ypres after midnight were things to be remembered. The desolate
ruins of the city stood up black and grim. The road was crowded with men,
lorries, ambulances, transports and motorcycles. Every now and then the
scene of desolation would be lit up by gun flashes. Occasionally the
crash of a shell would shake the already sorely smitten city. I can
never cease to admire the pluck of those ambulance drivers, who night
after night, backwards and forwards, threaded their way in the (p. 131)
darkness through the ghost-haunted streets. One night when the enemy's
guns were particularly active, I was being driven by a young boy only
eighteen years of age. Sitting beside him on the front seat, I told
him how much I admired his nerve and coolness. He turned to me quite
simply and said that he was not afraid. He just put himself in God's
hands and didn't worry. When he came afterwards to Headquarters and
drove our side-car he never minded where he went or how far towards
the front he took it. I do not know where he is in Canada, but I know
that Canada will be the better for having such a boy as one of her
citizens.
When I arrived at Railway Dugouts, I found that there was great activity
on all sides, but my message about our naval victory had a most
stimulating effect and I had the courage to wake up no less than three
generals to tell them the good news. They said they didn't care how
often they were awakened for news like that. I then got a runner, and
was making my way up to the men in the front line when the Germans put
on an attack. The trench that I was in became very hot, and, as I had
my arm in a sling and could not walk very comfortably or do much in
the way of dodging, the runner and I thought it would be wiser to
return, especially as we could not expect the men, then so fully
occupied, to listen to our message of cheer. We made our way back as
best we could to Railway Dugouts, and telephoned the news to the
various battalion headquarters. The telegram was never confirmed, and
I was accused of having made it up myself. It certainly had a
wholesome effect upon our men at a critical and anxious moment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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