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[Page 70]
Officers that he had the entire confidence of his senior officers & that he proved himself a born leader & gallant officer in one of the most trying and nerve racking tests that a man can be subjected to. I speak of the 5th of May when some 20,000 shells of all sizes, from 9.2 inches down, were hurled into his company frontages in a little over an hour. And when half of his men were killed or wounded, the remainder in a more or less stupid condition from concussion & fumes, all his officers & nearly all of his N.Cos knocked out, he rallied the remnants & cleared his trenches of the Germans without waiting for assistance. After that night the 20th was proud of Capt. Ferguson, & his name was submitted for a decoration & recommended by General Birdwood. The British Army stupidly does not make awards after death, unless in the case of the V.C., but still you know your son would have received the D.C.O. or the Military Cross had he lived.
The 20th had some of the finest officers & men that left Australia but really