In an Artillery Captain in the Hebuterne sector I recognized another member—a Machine-Gun officer rolled up smilingly on the way up the line, and, finest time of all, I had nearly a whole day with what was left of the old crowd when they were resting after Delville Wood.
Friendships made in the First Sportsman's Battalion were not easily broken. We are out of it now, but—once a Sportsman, always a Sportsman. That, at least, has been my experience.
And it must not be forgotten that to Mrs. Cunliffe-Owen is due the credit of conceiving the idea of a battalion formed of men over the then enlistment age, who, by reason of their life as sportsmen, were fit and hard. Approaching the War Office, she obtained permission to raise a special battalion of men up to the age of forty-five. This was how the Sportsman's Battalion was actually brought into being.