On "Arandora Star"
Sang as Ship Went Down After Hit by Torpedo British soldiers of the guard aboard the Arandora Star, torpedoed off Ireland on Tuesday, stood on deck "as if waiting for a bus" as the ship sank.
The striking contrast of their behaviour to that of the hysterical panic among the German and Italian prisoners they were taking overseas was described by survivors who arrived in London recently, The army officers in charge of the guard gave their life belts to others, walked on to the bridge, and went down the ship with the liner's own captain and other officers. And with the officers the members of the guard remained at their posts to the end. A gunner gave his life belt to another man, and was never seen again.
The chief officer of the liner gave a private his coat and life belt. and he also was lost. In splendid relief to conduct of most of the Germans, was the heroic behaviour of one German interna who dived 20 times from a boat into the sea and brought someone aboard every time.
Another internee, an Italian, baled out his boat continuously for five hours with a tin hat, refusing to be relieved. One group of soldiers on two rafts during the hours of waiting for rescue sang at the top of their voices, "It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow," while another group of Welshmen on a raft nearby sang "Land Of My Fathers."
Private W. H. Edwards, of Merther Tydvil, paid a tribute to one Sergeant Davey, "The last boat was launched and there was the sergeant, standing on the tilted deck.
"He was just like the rest of the guard on duty—as cool as if he were waiting for a bus. 1 shouted to him and he came down the rope and was picked up. I think he was the last man to leave the ship. She went down stern first."
Private Rose, of Highgate, Birmingham, told how the chief officer of the liner gave him his life belt. "He saved my life," he said.. Some of the men said they saw Germans and Italians pushing soldiers who were in the water away from lifeboats, shouting, "There's no more room here."
Ambulance Girls Reach England Safely Found Refugee in France Their Greatest Menace Missing for ten days and almost given up for lost 42 British ambulance girls finally reached England safely, according to the "Daily Herald."
They were members of the Anglo-French Ambulance Corps which went out to France last March to work with the French Army. For six weeks they had been setting up emergency hospitals, evacuating them as conditions dictated, and setting up new hospitals, Their 22 amdulances were always full of wounded, All the ambulances, worth together £11,000, had to be left behind. Miss Lesley Murray, leader of the unit, said recently ' that starting from Compiègne, north of Paris, the ambulances fell back gradually right down to Bordeaux, all the time handling relays of wounded.
"We worked under machine-gun fire very often," she said, "and were in frequent danger from bombing. But there was cne even greater menace, which should be appreciated in England: that of the refugees.
"They refused to obey instructions in time, with the result that they cluttered the roads: and made progress sometimes almost impossible. One journey of 30 miles took 24 hours."
Mrs. Dorys Bentley, deputy leader of the unit, said that with their cook missing, meals for the staff and the wounded had to be prepared on one small paraffin stove,
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