A brother-officer attached to the King's Shropshire Light Infantry
writes from the Front:--"I thought you would like to hear some details
of the death in action of Lieutenant ALEC JOHNSTON, who used to write
'At the Front' in _Punch_. I knew him well and we were rather especial
friends.
"On the night of the 21st of April the Battalion, which was resting at
the time, was suddenly ordered to attack some six hundred yards of
trenches which the enemy had taken two nights previously. JOHNSTON'S
Company was in the centre, and, after the O.C. had been severely wounded
just before we attacked, JOHNSTON led the Company and captured the
position most gallantly with the bayonet. He then went on himself and
personally reconnoitred the ground up to the German line. He found them
massing for a counter-attack and came back and gave warning. When the
enemy attacked they were driven off with heavy loss. He was
indefatigable all night consolidating the recaptured position, exposing
himself on top all the time in order to move about more quickly.
"At dawn, he sent the only other officer then remaining unwounded to the
safest part of the trench, saying that when it got too light to stay on
top he himself would get into 'the first old crump hole.' He stayed up
too long, and was shot through the heart by a German sniper.
"He was a general favourite and loved by his men. He had done more
dangerous patrol work than any two other officers in the battalion, and
the hotter the situation the cooler he got.
"The way he used to write his articles was very characteristic of the
man. I have seen him lying flat on his face in a tiny dug-out no bigger
or higher than the underneath of a small dinner-table, in the front line
trench, dashing off the first half of one of his quaint articles to
_Punch_. He would have to stop in the middle and crawl out on patrol up
to the German wire, have a scrap out there with a Bosch patrol at a few
yards' range, stay out for two or three hours, and crawl back, soaked to
the skin and covered with mud, to finish his article in time for the
post.
"His name had already gone in for distinction, and if he had lived he
certainly would have had a decoration conferred for his work in this
last show.
"As you probably know, his articles were awfully appreciated by every
one out here, and in his quaintly witty way he caught perfectly the
spirit 'at the Front.'"
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