With the Judæans in the Palestine CampaignPatterson, J. H. (John Henry)
History
With the Judæans in the Palestine Campaign
Patterson, J. H. (John Henry)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Palestine; World War, 1914-1918 -- Participation, Jewish
I therefore formed a Sports Committee, collected my team of boxers,
bought them boxing gloves, punch balls, etc., and despatched them with a
trainer to El Arish, some 30 miles away, on the shores of the
Mediterranean. There they raced, chased, boxed, bathed, danced, and were
generally licked into condition by Sergeant Goldberg, the boxing
instructor to the battalion.
In order to weed out the weaker teams so that only the very best should
appear at the finals in Cairo, the contest was subdivided into four
great tournaments: one for all the troops in Egypt, another for all the
troops in Palestine, the third for all the troops in Syria, and the
fourth for the best team among the Australians and New Zealanders. At my
inspection of the 38th team, just before the tournament, I was much
impressed with our prospects of success, for the men boxed wonderfully
well.
We were all agog with excitement, and I may say with hope, when the
great day for the Palestine Championship arrived and our men stepped
inside the ropes at Kantara, surrounded by thousands of onlookers.
There was some splendid fighting, but I cannot go into the details of it
here. It is sufficient to say that we defeated all comers, won five gold
medals, and emerged as the Champions of Palestine, with the right,
therefore, of representing it in the great Cairo tournament for the
Championship of the E.E.F. Could anything be more fitting? Jewish
soldiers as champions of Palestine.
It can be imagined what jubilation there was in camp when our team
returned to Rafa, and the ringing cheers which roared out when, at one
of our concerts, I presented the gold medals to the victors, whose names
are as follows:--
Heavy-weight Private Burack.
Welter-weight Private Tankinoff.
Light-weight Private Cohen.
Feather-weight Private Franks.
Bantam-weight Private Goldfarb.
The first round of this essentially British form of sport had been
fought and won by the despised Jewish Battalion!
There yet remained the great contest at Cairo, where we would have to
meet the champions of Egypt, and of the Australian forces, and of Syria.
Real hard training was once more the order of the day at El Arish, and I
can guarantee that no fitter men than ours stepped into the ring at
Cairo on that glorious night of the 13th March, when the first rounds of
the championship were fought in the presence of thousands of spectators
from all parts.
Again the Jewish Battalion won practically every contest, defeating all
its opponents among the British Regiments. Eventually, it was left in to
fight out the final round of the Championship for the whole of the
E.E.F. with the Australians, who on their side had defeated their
opponents.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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