The author of this article, Capt. A. P. Corcoran, has just returned from France, where 

 he served with the British army. Hts miUtary work included the installation of signaling 

 apparatus. The following contribution from his pen, therefore, will give our wireless 

 readers some first-hand information on the war-time usage of radio apparatus. — Editor. 



TO the public at large there is little that The position of the wireless man is now 



is romantic in the performance of the quite definite. There is no scrap in which 

 wireless man in warfare. He does he does not have his share, no division of 



not charge with bayonet fixed to rush an 



enemy trench. He does 



not kill or conquer. And 



the popular imagination 



finds it hard to see a hero 



in a man whose duty is the 



mere recording of others' 



exploits. 



Like the dispatch-rider, 

 indeed, the wireless oper- 

 ator is likely to become 

 conspicuous only when he 

 fails in the task assigned 

 him. Then he has an op- 

 portunity to judge his im- 

 portance by the measure 

 of the opprobrium poured 

 on him. When he fails, of 

 course, he never fails 

 alone. 



Yet technical and un- 

 heroic as his task may 

 seem, it calls for gallantry 

 equal to that of any. Not 

 only does he share in 

 all the risks run by the 

 Tommies, but he lacks all 

 their means of defence. 

 Though he stands side by 

 side with them in the front line trench, 

 ready to join in the attack, his sole weapon 

 is his wireless apparatus. He carries neither 

 rifle nor bayonet. 



the army in which he does not have his 



The first set was placed loosely on a board, but it soon be- 

 came apparent that a different outfit was needed and one 

 more easily transported; hence the box set came into use 



place, whether it be infantry, artillery, air- 

 service or cavalry. That he is absolutely 

 indispensable in achieving results has been 

 conclusively proved in the battles along 



795 



