e fact that a great bombardment was taking
place. It was a wonderful sight to see him there, his big military
figure standing out boldly in presence of his soldiers." Colonel
Laurie was killed by the terrific shell fire which the Germans poured
on the advancing British. "It was brutal. We were lying in a wood. The
bullets were whistling over us in millions, and the screeching of the
shells was terrific," says Bugler Jack Leathem in a letter to his
mother at Downpatrick. "The trees were flying about like chaff and the
fellows getting blown to pieces. I do not know how some of us escaped.
Someone must have been praying for us. You know I am not very nervous,
but I was not sorry when it was over. It was four very hard days,
fighting both day and night, with no sleep and no trenches to protect
us, only the ones we dug ourselves with our entrenching tools. They
saved us from the bullets, but it was impossible to get out of
shell-fire."

"You would hardly credit it," adds Bugler Leathem, "but every time we
lay down to take cover out came our pipes and 'fags.' You would have
thought we were on a manoeuvre parade at home instead of in one of the
fiercest of battles." This was the spirit that brought the battalion
to Neuve Chapelle. About one o'clock in the afternoon of March 11th
the 2nd Lincolns proceeded up the road into the village, or, as
Captain Impey says, "the ruins of what was once a very pretty
village," and found the Irish Rifles there before them. "We lay in
support in this village," Captain Impey writes, "while the Irish
Rifles fought the enemy in front. A company was sent in close support
just behind them along a hedge."

One of the most interesting documents relating to the Irish regiments
in the war is a letter written by Father Francis Gleeson, chaplain of
the 2nd Munster Fusiliers. In it he states that each of the four
companies of the 2nd Munsters carries a green flag with a golden harp
in the corner, the Royal Tiger in the centre, and "Munster" inscribed
underneath. "The Irish flags are being highly honoured," he says. "The
French people are awfully kind to and fond of the Munsters, because
they are so Irish and Catholic. It is really true to say that in us,
the 'Munsters,' they recognise the children of the men who fought for
them at Fontenoy and Landen. They know that we are old, old friends,
indeed. Their histories tell of Ireland's brave sons having died for
their country here." Moved by these memories