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DARDANELLES HEROES.
ARRIVAL OF THE THEMISTOCLES.
WITH WOUNDED AND INVALIDED
SOLDIERS.
With over 700 wounded and sick soldiers
on board the Aberdeen liner Themistocles
arrived at Fremantle shortly before noon
last Friday. Of the total complement on
board 73 are for this State, and
these have been conveyed to the Base
Hospital in South-terrace. Owing to the
uncertainty of the exact time the vessel was
expected to put in an appearance, there
was not a very great crowd on the quay
when she put in an appearance off the
mouth of the river, but the hooting of the
sirens from the locomotives and various
steamers which greeted her as she forged
majestically to the river buoy quickly
attracted the people, and by the time she
had made fast her mooring lines there was
quite a respectable crowd on the wharf.
A number of people who had friends or
relatives on board put off in motor
launches, and although they were not
permitted on board they were able to
exchange greetings. One girl remained on
the quay and tor some time carried on a
"conversation" with some of the soldiers by
semaphore a branch of signalling in which
she was apparently fairly expert.
Although there are a number of sad and
somewhat serious cases, the majority
of the men appear to be in splendid
health and spirits. Quite a large number
have brought back with them Turkish
bullets embedded in various parts of their
bodies, and it will be necessary for them
to undergo further operations before they
are finally discharged from the hospital.
This ordeal, however, does not hold out
any terrors, after what they have passed
through. They made no attempt to
conceal their joy at once again being in
Australia, and the Victorian contingent's
chief anxiety was as to whether the
Themmistocles would arrive at Melbourne for
them to witness the final of the football
season.
Along the decks were to be seen the
halt and the maimed, and there was also
a lad who had lost his sight. He was led
along the decks by a comrade, and it
was quite evident from the manner in
which he was greeted by the other wounded
men that he was quite the most popular
figure on board. As he passed slowly
along his comrades would catch him by
the hand, and for each one he had a jolly
greeting. "He's the gamest kid there
ever was," remarked one man, "and I have
never heard him murmur since he came
on board." "Charlie," as he is "known to
his comrades, takes his misfortunes
philosophically, "It is no use worrying over
it, is it ?" he remarked to a representative
of the '"West Australian." "I know
of one man who was shot in the hand and
had one of his fingers blown off. That
man just fretted and fretted until finally
he died." "Charlie" was in the act of
firing his rifle when a Turkish bullet struck
the barrel and then entered his throat.
The bullet, as it entered the flesh, burst,
and emerged under the right eye and other
parts of his face, the tissue of the right
eye being torn. The other eye was also
badly injured, but the doctors have not
altogether given up hope of restoring the
sight of this eye.
The men all spoke in the highest terms
of their treatment on board during the
voyage. Some of them have been twice
wounded. One man was wounded at the
first landing, and after spending some
weeks in hospital he was sent back to the
trenches, only to receive another bullet
through the arm. This man was four
days on the beach at Gaba Tepe on the
first occasion before he was placed on
board the hospital ship. "lt was a terrible
sight," he said; "wounded were
lying everywhere and the majority did
not have their wounds properly attended
to until after their arrival in Egypt. They
never expected such a large batch of
wounded and consequently there was much
unnecessary suffering. On arrival, in Egypt
I, with a number of others, was placed
in a room and kept there two days before
our wants were attended to. In fact the
authorities quite overlooked us, so great
was the demand made upon them. Of
course everything is different now."
According to this man over 5,000 wounded
Australians arrived in Egypt from the
Dardandles just before the Themistocles left
for Australia.
All the men were anxious to know whether
Achi Baba had fallen. They were
all confident that the next few weeks
would witness the forcing of the
Dardanelles as by recent operations the
Australians had practically succeeded in
cutting off the Turks' supplies to the southern
end of the Peninsular. The men are of
the opinion that a supreme attempt will
be made to storm the Turkish position
within the next two months, before the
stormy weather sets in.
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