A youthful Royal Navy Midshipman without the white uniform, but with the accoutrements of a dandy. Photo source: http://www.ww1photos.com/RoyalNavy_B.html |
"DANDIES, BUT BRAVE KIDS"
TRIBUTE PAID TO MIDDIES
"We were given a holiday to get some stores," he writes, "and visited the vessel. After some trouble we got luncheon passes from the purser".
"We then strolled into the officers' mess and had soup, roast mutton and baked potatoes, cold tongue and mashed potatoes, and Snowden pudding and cheese. This, you must remember, after we had been for 24 hours in trenches, where we had 340 killed and wounded".
"We were greatly amused at the awful 'dog' which a middy, aged 17, put on. The way he walked through about 40 'non-coms., looking over their heads, is hard to describe. He resembled a conceited girl, with his white shoes and white duck uniform. But we thought of those kids in charge of the pinnaces who ran us ashore that morning at Anzac, and recalled their marvellous coolness under the hot fire. They might be dandies, but you can't beat those English kids for pluck. Two of them won Victoria Crosses in the Anzac landing."
"DANDIES, BUT BRAVE KIDS" (1916, January 7). The Herald
(Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 7. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242409993