Chapter 4 Continued
Great attention was given to the detailed routine of training. Weather permitting, the parade ground was constantly occupied by groups of young men who, by hard drill exercises, were soon transformed from slouching civilians into upright soldiers. When the weather was such that close order drill was impossible, long route-marches were undertaken that were designed to harden feet and develop leg muscles and necessary good marching qualities which were to be invaluable in the field. Rifle gallery practices were utilized in place of open ranges and were used to develop a thorough knowledge of musketry.
With the advent of an early spring, the opportunity was given to practice some exercises in the art of open warfare, which up to this time had always formed the basis of all military training for action in the field. The Canadian Forces had not yet established the close liaison between those troops actually serving in the theatre of war and those still struggling in the preliminary stages; a practice which was to become so characteristic of our Army as the war progressed. In the meantime, the Battalion's various departments were being rounded into shape and the Unit's personnel thoroughly combed and overhauled for Specialists. Lieutenant F.G.D. Manville gathered together a machinegun section (armed with two Colt guns) of approximately thirty all ranks which was to prove itself in later days to be a marvelously efficient force in the Battalion. Lieutenant A.L. Taylor had collected together and rapidly trained an excellent group of signallers who soon proved themselves to be very efficient. It was from this group that many excellent Commissioned and non-commissioned officers, including a future Regimental Sergeant Major, were obtained. The transport officer gathered together expert horsemen against the time when horses would form part of the establishment. This transport section was destined to remain practically intact during the greater part of the Campaign and its efficiency may be judged from the fact that on demobilization, after three years and two months of actual fighting, over fifty percent of the original horses were still in service and in first class condition. At this time too, Captain J.A. Cullum, the genial Medical Officer, was gathering together his section of stretcher-bearers. The splendid. types of men which had been secured for this work, were later evidenced in the numerous decorations afterwards awarded for services in action.
During this period in our regimental existence, our only interests in life seemed to be collecting rumours regarding dates of sailing or prospects of being too late for the War. None of the 'Originals' would ever forget listening to mournful choruses intoned by hundreds of melancholy male voices, "When the War is nearly over we'll be there”. How often in later days, when it seemed that the War would never he over, these same 'Originals' gleefully joked at their one-time over-enthusiasm. It may be said with confidence, that the survivors soon realized what it had all meant, that these same singing men would have, had they lived again, looked forward to another conflict with no thought of retreat. They would have been, even with full knowledge of subsequent events, singing the same words with kindred feelings - such was the spirit of the 28th.
The first real test of the Battalion's true fibre came early in May 1915 when, after months of weary waiting, all three of the other Battalions of the 6th Canadian Infantry Brigade (the 27th, 29th and 31st) were ordered overseas and our Unit was left behind in Winnipeg. Wild rumours that the Battalion was to go into the discard were soon circulated and it then became a question whether or not our newly-found discipline, and cohesive unity, could stand the strain. After a few well chosen words by the Officer Commanding, the 28th marched to the Station to say 'goodbye' to comrades of the 27th. Marching like veterans with heads high, although in every heart there were the deepest disappointments, we marched back to barracks to wait and hope with never a sign of a breach of discipline, our metal tested to the extreme length of endurance.
Continued
