More about Herbert Elder

Herbert Elder   4th Black Watch

DUNDEE BLACK WATCH HERO

WHO HAS BEEN MAIMED FOR LIFE.

TEACHES HIMSELF TO WRITE AND SKETCH WITH LEFT HAND.

Private Herbert Elder, whose home address is 25 Ryehill Lane, Dundee lies in the Grange Convalescent Home at Worthing with shrapnel wounds to both legs, wounds in the left hand, inflammation of both eyes caused by poisonous gas, and minus his right arm.

Exactly a month ago this lad of 19 left one of the big military hospitals to recuperate after the amputation of his arm, and since then he has taught himself how to write and to sketch with his left hand.  Within a few weeks he will be discharged from the army as physically unfit to serve, and will return to Dundee, and endeavour once more to fight the battle of life.

The following story was told by Private Elder to a press representative who found the young Dundonian endeavouring to play a game of billiards at the convalescent home :–

At Neuve Chapelle.

“I was 19 years old when war was declared last August, and was employed as a lithographer at my native place, Dundee.  “I joined the Black Watch, and on February 22 I was drafted out to France, and went straight into the trenches.  Six days later I took part in the Neuve Chapelle affair.

“It was a big battle, which lasted three days, and during that time we were bombarded heavily from seven in the morning until nine at night.  I was wounded in the left hand, but after getting proper medical attention I got back into the fighting line after a matter of ten days rest.

“On May 10, when at Ypres, an officer called for volunteers to throw bombs into the German trenches.  I fancied myself at that game, but almost at the start, while we were rushing across the open ground, a shell exploded quite close to me.  I found myself lying on the ground with excruciating pains in my right arm and both legs.

Two Hours of Torture.

“For two hours I lay in torture, and then I saw a dark yellow cloud drifting over towards me and the other poor chaps who were wounded.  It was poisonous gas, and I could not move.  Then came a choking sensation.  All the while I could see other fellows suffering.  Some cried aloud in awful voices, others appeared raging mad, and all clutched at the air or anything they could get their hands on.  I became unconscious, and when I came to found myself in hospital.

“I found out that 360 of my battalion (the 4th) had been gassed.  I think that is all I can tell you.  My arm was amputated, and there is still some shrapnel in both legs, but what I find such a nuisance is the recurrence of the gas trouble with my eyes, which are very painful at times.

Left-Handed Writing and Sketching

“I came out of hospital at the end of June, and my chief pastime since then has been an attempt to write and sketch left-handed.

“Do I belong to a fighting family? Well, I don’t know; but I’ve got four brothers in the army.  One was in the 1st Battalion Black Watch, but has been missing since October.  Another was with me in the 4th Battalion, but he was shot in the spine at Neuve Chapelle, and will never stand again.  His case is worse than mine, because he’s married and has three children.

“Then there’s one in the R.F.A., and the last is in the Motor Transport.

“No, I don’t quite know what I will be doing for a living, but something will come along, and even if it does not –well, I’ve tried to do my bit and it isn’t my fault that I’m not out there still.”

Dundee Courier 28th July 1915