Church Service Before Battle…
He had been a regular churchgoer. Not really devout
But nevertheless a Christian, so when he joined the infantry he believed
Unswervingly that God would be on his and his country’s side
Against the evil Hun and that right against wrong would surely prevail…
He hadn’t seen much action. Nothing really to write home about
But as a dutiful son, he wrote bland letters home, which relieved
His anxious parents. And then to reassure them further, he identified
An official Daily Mail postcard, depicting a church service before battle, for sale…
He hadn’t been in the trenches for long. And he experienced doubt.
Comrades died or were mutilated, his life was a hell of mud, rats and gore but no-one grieved
The slaughter, the gas, the despair, or the corpses on barbed wire of the crucified,
For where was his God when he wept and implored to be led through death’s dark vale?
He never did get to kneel at a service. He died from wounds in a rout,
As German soldiers infiltrated his stinking trench and he received
Mortal bayonet wounds to the neck and chest. His mourning family was eventually notified
That his body had not been found and in the regimental records he remains an incidental detail…
Pete Ray…
1st June 2026…
I looked at the postcard, kindly lent to me by a friend and wondered about the scene…
The soldier could have been any one of those whose remains lie undiscovered still.
I guess many soldiers from many countries lost some belief during WW1, wondering how their respective gods could let such awful things happen.
Equally, others would have survived, prayed gratitude for their deliverance and retained their faith…
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