relieving unit. The Battalion Aid Post was at Plum Farm, where the Medical
Officer and his staff worked to the limit of their powers in attending and
evacuating wounded.

Major E.G. Hoare, who was in command of the Battalion during the
operation, wrote a poem which describes the conditions of the Ypres
battle, and it is here given in full:--


THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW.

31ST JULY, 1917.

Down in the valley the Steenbeek flows,
A brook you may cross with an easy stride,
In death's own valley between the rows
Of stunted willows on either side.
You may cross in the sunshine without a care,
With a brow that is fanned by the summer's breath.
Though you cross with a laugh, yet pause with a prayer,
For this is the Vale of the Shadow of Death.

Down in the valley was rain and rain,
Endless rain from a dismal sky,
But the valley was Liberty's land again,
And the crest-line smoked like a Sinai.
Rain that beat on the tangled mass
Of weeds and pickets and broken wire,
And astride the stream was a brown morass,
In the valley of water and mud and fire.