"Dear Tom . . ."

A Greek patrol, advancing over hills where the 600 men of Britain's Gloucestershire Regiment made their heroic stand (TIME, May 7) last week, found a wounded British soldier lying in an abandoned farmhouse. He was Private Lionel Ellis, survivor of the battle in which most of his battalion had been killed.

Said Greek Major P. Pantelis Kalamakis: "We went in and saw this Englishman. He was thin, pale and hairy. He said: 'For this moment I waited. I prayed to God you'd come.' Then he cried. Then he began to laugh, and I wanted to make him happy. I started to sing to him. I sang a song of theirs, Bless 'Em All. He knew some words, English soldier words. They were something about Bombay. We sat on the floor and sang and sang."

On his way back to the U.N. lines, Ellis told his story. Outnumbered, the British had fought until their ammunition ran out and the Chinese overran them. Ellis, who lay on the ground wounded in both legs and one arm, played dead until the Chinese were gone.Then he started to inch away, "on his back. He did not remember how far he got. Next day, Korean civilians found him, carried him to a dugout and fed him. Korean women bathed him, washed his clothes, treated his wounds.

Some of the 40 Gloucesters who had managed to fight their way out of the April 25 encirclement went back last week to identify their dead comrades; most were in shallow graves dug by the Chinese, others lay where they had fallen. The dead were surrounded by the debris of battle--empty ammunition cases, smashed machine guns, small arms the Chinese had scorned. There were also scattered birthday cards, photographs of wives and children, letters from home ("Dear Tom," one began, "We haven't heard from you"). Beside a wrecked truck was a rain-warped cricket bat.

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