A Long “Goodbye”

It was night―the fateful night of September 24th 1915. Thousands of men were sleeping in the trenches for whom, when the day dawned, it would be their last on earth. Orders had been given silently that the attack would be at daybreak, and tired men who had marched many miles were taking what rest they could. But no sleep came to one young officer; he was passing from group to group along the trench to say Goodbye “to his fellow officers. Some were awake and responded wonderingly to his Good-bye, old fellow,” others he woke to bid them farewell. He felt he was going to his death, and his sense of comradeship made him long to forge this link of the last “Goodbye” into the chain of their remembrance of him. In the light of subsequent events they would never forget the pressure of his hand, for as the dawn came the order was given to charge, and one of the first to fall and die was this young officer. Young, gallant, and brave, he headed his men, ran with them a few yards, and then death came, and the long “Goodbye.” Thank God he was ready. Many bore witness to his Christian life. He lay where he fell, the morning light upon his quiet face; his soul with Christ in heaven. He was loved by all his men and fellow officers; he had the friendship of all, and these lines are true of him
“Oh: that it might be said of me,
‘Surely thy speech bewrayeth thee
As friend of Christ of Galilee,’”