Bed claimed my presence for many a weary day, and it was March 16
before a Medical Board permitted me to resume my duties with the
British Expeditionary Force. My further experience of service must be
related in the subsequent chapter on 'Life at the Base.'
THE WELCOME OF A PEOPLE
CHAPTER III
THE WELCOME OF A PEOPLE
There was no mistaking the enthusiastic welcome accorded to the Seventh
Division, as it moved south through the well cultivated country,
thriving villages, and prosperous towns of Belgium.
Already the deeds of German 'kultur' had reached the ears of the
inhabitants; indeed, many of those who had fled from the barbarous enemy
bore signs of the gross ill-treatment inflicted by the 'kultured' foe,
in furtherance of the advice of General Bernhardi and others to carry
'terror' into the hearts of the invaded people. And nearly all of them
had some dread story to relate, of wanton destruction to public and
private property, and of vile wrongs perpetrated upon an unoffending
people. Small wonder that they welcomed us; for Great Britain meant more
to them than the name of a powerful nation; it rather conveyed the idea
of the strong, active principles of liberty and justice, which they felt
were about to be set free in their unhappy country.
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