Stretcher Bearers at the Double - ElectricCanadian.com

"SUNNY FRANCE 103
The captain would stand with his
schoolhouse for treatment.
hands clasped behind his back, and, regardless of whether the
man was supposed to have pneumonia, or influenza or some
other sickness, he would silently gaze at the patient for a minute
or two. "All right,"
he would then order,
"let down your pants
and show me your tongue."
As the surprised patient did so, Cap
tain Silcox s next remark was, "How long is it since you were
with a woman?" The poor ailing men became so flustered it was
all too often that they blurted out the enlightening truth. The
captain s face would then relax and he would prescribe the
necessary
We treatments.
must here record that when La Clytte received the heavy
shelling of December 29th, Captain Silcox was in charge of the
schoolhouse and acquitted himself wonderfully well during the
whole affair. He was cool and resourceful under fire and, along
with Captain Burgess, did some remarkably fine work over the
wounded. Eventually Silcox was given charge of Advanced
Medical Stores and was separated from our unit.
was hit,
La Clytte was again shelled on March 14th. None of our men
but that same evening Corporal Udell was badly shellshocked
- - and thereby hangs a tale. Just about twilight, some
over towards Kemmel Hill. The
long-range guns were shelling,
shells were landing harmlessly in the long valley south of La
Clytte, and at considerable distance from the village. A number
of Fifth men were out back of the schoolhouse, listening to the
approaching shrieks of the shells and watching their groundblasting
bursts in the distance. The giant corporal, who had been
in the pack-stores when the farrier s
shop had been hit one week
before, was seen crouching behind the wooden schoolhouse latrine.
One of the boys got an infantry entrenching tool and, just as one
shell reached the zenith of its shrieking arc, our practical jokesmith
hit the boards near Udell s head a resounding whack. Out
tore the corporal, his blond pompadour erect with terror. He
dived into the dugout at the front of the schoolhouse and there
after (if not before) was a total loss to the Fifth. He was evacu
ated "shell-shocked"
the following morning.
We Move, to Remy Siding and
On March 23rd the whole unit moved. A. and B. Sections
went to Remy Siding, in charge of Major Jones and Captains