"Heroes," he mused. "I suppose everybody is a hero after he has got
on to the knack of heroism. You don't call a man a hero because he
rushes fearlessly across Fifth Avenue; but to a person who has never
seen anything busier than a country road, the act looks heroic. It's
something the same with No Man's Land. I have a friend, a doctor, who
got a D.S.O. for going out on No Man's Land to bandage up some wounded
comrades. He didn't know he was doing anything heroic. They needed
care; they couldn't come in, so he went out--that's all.
"It was different with O'Leary. He went out for the fun of the thing
and got eighteen Germans."
The captain spoke of Private Michael O'Leary, V. C., who won the
coveted decorations for this particular joke. It happened in the sector
where Capt. Corcoran was stationed and he was well acquainted with the
details.
"O'Leary had been betting on the 'sausages' for several days," he said,
"and he was bored. He wanted some real fun and let everybody know he
was in the mood.
"Betcha can't go across and bring back a Boche," somebody suggested.
O'Leary sprung from the trench and went. In a second he was lost in the
darkness and in half a minute the boys heard him yelling like a demon
for help. Nobody could ever figure out how he did it--he must have
brained the sentinel and disarmed the others while they were asleep.
But there he was, with the arms of eighteen of them piled up before
him, yelling back to the British trenches to come over and get the men.
Of course, the boys answered his call and brought the whole eighteen
back to the British lines.
"You see, the Germans, with all their efficiency, aren't used to that
kind of fighting. They're always so darn serious about it. They're
good soldiers but they don't have any fun. When they see us come over
kicking a football ahead of the charge, they don't seem to know what to
make of it. We do it sometimes, don't you know, just to add a little
novelty to the sport.
"The war is just beginning. The Germans have a great machine and it'll
take a long while to break it.
"As much as you people in the States have heard about German
efficiency, there has been little overestimating of it. Only one who
has seen the Germans in action can appreciate what a well-regulated
business organization they have made of war.
"I don't know what our boys will do when it's all over; they're so used
to war that peace will probably come hard for a while.
"Seriously, now, I don't know a soldier who is even dreaming of peace.
They didn't want war, but now that it is here, they're going to carry
it through. And they're going to have all the fun they can out of it
while it lasts."