OFFICERS' SERVANTS.
iTo THE EDITOR OF TRH " SPECTATOR."1 Sta,—I cordially agree with Mr. Winston Churchill that too large a proportion of our Army is non-combatant, but I do not consider ti servants and grooms should be indiscriminatelyelassed as non combatants. Moreover, in your "News of the Week" of May 27th the writer shows a singular ignorance of the facts of the case in singling out servants of officers below the rank of Major for special condemnation. It is just this class of servant which is to be found in the front line as often as any man in the Army, and it is in the front line that their most valuable work is done. I consider it to be of the utmost im- portance that officers in the front line should be free from worry about their own food, clothing, and washing arrangements. They can then give their full attention to their work, the maintenance and cleanliness
of their own and observation of the enemy's trenches, confident that when their work is finished they will find ready for them a wash, perhaps a change of socks, and a meal cooked with some approach to decency and cleanliness. A servant who does this for his master is doing just as valuable work as any man in the company who does his share of fatigues and sentry-go. It is folly to suppose that in an action an officer's servant in the front line is going to sit down to brush his master's clothes and not take his rifle and do his share of the fighting. Servants, and grooms too for that matter, have fought and died, not only in the early stages of the war, the Retreat, and the first battle of Ypres, but in ordinary trench warfare since. They are usually old and reliable soldiers, and their training is probably continued front time to time when their unit is in reserve. By all means decrease the number of servants attached to officers at home, to the A.S.C., to the Staff and other non-combatant officers, but please remember that there is many an infantry subaltern's servant who has seen more fighting, incurred more risks, suffered more hardships, and shown more devotion to duty than many whose doings are more widely advertised. I could give you many instances from my own experience.—I am, Sir, Ac.,
R. M. W.
Previous page
