Private Peat by Harold R. Peat
page 119 of 159 (74%)
page 119 of 159 (74%)
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man can live on his reputation, he must keep on adding to it. That
you will do so I feel just as sure as I did two months ago when I told you that I knew you would make a reputation when the opportunity came. "I am now going to shake hands with your officers, and I do so wanting you to feel that I am shaking hands with each one of you, as I would actually do if the time permitted. "No--we will not have any cheering now--we will keep that until you have added to your reputation, as I know you will." And there was no cheering. We turned away--the few men of us left whole in those scattered ranks--our eyes tear-dimmed in memory of those comrades whose lives had gone out; but our hearts ready to answer the call wherever it might lead us. The world to-day knows what the Canadian boys have done. We have more than added to our reputation. Right after this terrible scrap at Ypres came Givenchy and Festubert, and then we held the line at Ploegsteert for a whole year, fighting fiercely at St. Eloi, and stopping them again at Sanctuary Wood. In the summer of 1916 fourteen thousand of us went down before German cannon, but still they did not break our lines. This was known as the third battle of Ypres. From Ypres we went to the Somme, and it was on the Somme that we met our Australian cousins who jokingly greeted us with the statement "We're here |
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