" But there was a gash in the back where the exploding missile had
torn away and carried out portions of my lung and bits of bone and flesh.
I closed my eyes. Then from a distance I heard Bob speak.
"I'm going to fix you," he said, and knelt beside me. He got into such a
position that his own body shielded me from any of the enemy bullets. It
was a marvelous piece of bravery; less has earned a Victoria Cross.
He turned me round so that my head was toward our reserves and my feet were
toward the Germans. In almost all cases when a man is hit he falls forward
with his face to the enemy. In all probability he will become unconscious.
When he awakes he remembers that he fell forward. A blind instinct works
within him and makes him strive to turn around. He knows danger lies ahead,
but friend and safety are back of him.
Bob shifted me round. "Remember," he whispered, "that if you should faint,
when you come to you are placed right. You are in the right
direction--don't turn round."
A wonderful motto for a man to carry through life. Bob had no thought of
future or fame. In keen solicitude for a fallen comrade he uttered words
which mean more in these days of war and blood than do the words of poets.
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