Produced by David Clarke, Janet Blenkinship and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) ON ACTIVE SERVICE SERIES AT YPRES WITH BEST-DUNKLEY By THOMAS HOPE FLOYD LONDON: JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY MCMXX _Garden City Press, Letchworth, Herts._ TO ALL RANKS OF THE SECOND-FIFTH LANCASHIRE FUSILIERS WHO FELL AT YPRES ON THE THIRTY-FIRST OF JULY, 1917 I DEDICATE THIS BOOK "... Henceforth These are our saints. These that we touched, and kissed, And frowned upon; These that were frail, yet died because the good Was overthrown. That they in one dread hour Were terrible Stains not their sainthood, nor is heaven less sure That they knew hell. How beautiful they are, How bright their eyes. Their hands have grasped the key Of Paradise! They hold it out to us, Our men, our sons ... To us The lonely ones." --THOMAS MOULT.[1] FOOTNOTE: [1] Quoted with Mr. Moult's permission. FOREWORD No doubt it will be thought that some apology is necessary for thrusting upon the public all this mass of matter, relating to many persons and episodes with whom and with respect to which they may feel that they are in no way concerned. I quite realize that my action may appear strange and uncalled for to the superficial observer. But I do not hold that view. I, personally, have always felt a desire to read this kind of literature. The Press does not cease to pour forth volumes of memoirs by leading and prominent persons--matter which is all wanted for a true understanding of the history of our times. But this is not enough. We require all the personal narratives we can get; and, in my opinion, the more personal and intimate, the better. We want narratives by obscure persons: we want to know and appreciate everybody's outlook upon public events, whether that outlook be orthodox or unorthodox, conventional or unconventional. Only thus can we see the recent war in all its aspects. The motives which have prompted me to publish this book have been well expressed by Dr. A. C. Benson in his essay on Authorship in _From a College Window._ In that volume there occurs the following striking passage: