The Project Gutenberg EBook of Over the top with the 25th, by R. Lewis

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Title: Over the top with the 25th
Chronicle of events at Vimy Ridge and Courcellette

Author: R. Lewis

Release Date: October 16, 2008 [EBook #26930]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Illustration: LIEUT. R. LEWIS, M.M.]

OVER THE TOP
WITH THE 25TH

CHRONICLE OF EVENTS
AT VIMY RIDGE AND
COURCELLETTE

BY

LIEUT R. LEWIS, M.M.

1918
H.H. MARSHALL, LIMITED
HALIFAX, CANADA

Chapter One

The end of August, 1914, found me following my usual employment as
second mate on a small steamboat plying between St. John's,
Newfoundland, and various stations on the coast of Labrador. The news
from the front aroused my patriotism, and though my captain, who was a
Britisher through and through, strongly urged me to remain with him
because of the great difficulty of securing another man, I was fully
made up in my mind that my clear, plain duty was to enlist. On my
return trip to St. John's I found, greatly to my disappointment, that
it was all too late to enroll my name in the already organized
Newfoundland regiment. There was nothing for it but to cross to Canada
and try my luck at enlisting there. Arriving at Sydney, and making
enquiries, I discovered that the second division was not