ONE YOUNG MAN ON ACTIVE SERVICE


Sydney Baxter was sent with his unit to Rouen. He writes:

"We were tightly packed in a small tent at Rouen Camp. The
following morning and afternoon we were busily engaged in
being fitted out with extra equipment and ammunition, and so
did not have time to look around. We had great hopes,
however, of seeing the city in the evening, but we had to
'Stand by' and on no account leave camp. This was horrible.
The tents were too dark to play cards, we had no reading
matter or letters to answer, and once more seemed doomed to
an evening of deadly dreariness. However, we decided to
patrol the camp, my chum and I. As we walked off together we
little dreamed that exactly one month from that day he was
to be called upon to pay the supreme sacrifice of all. We
walked round that camp, feeling that in each other we had
our only link with home, with past associations. We did not
speak much. Each had his own thoughts, each was
subconsciously leaning on the other for support, for the
coming unknown experiences. It was a cold March evening, and
for want of anything to do, and in the hope of getting a
little warmth, we decided to go back to our tent and turn
in. I have tried to give an idea of how we were feeling; it
can be summed up as tired and cold--and a bit homesick.

"It was just then that we spotted a tent with the sign of
'The Red Triangle.' We had visions of hot tea. An oasis in
the desert could not have been more welcome. We entered the