'What and when he ate, and where he should sleep—very important items to most soldiers—were matters of least importance to him. We used to beseech him to have more regard for himself, and he only responded with a smile.
Yet when the comfort of others was concerned he would make a resolute fight. After a long march we arrived at our appointed billet, a small farm, to find that the Officers of another regiment had usurped our farmhouse. The Brigade Officer came upon the scene. Captain Lusk tackled him, and would not let him go, until he had turned out the intruders and given us our right.
'None was more touched than he by the death of any of our men. He made a point of being present at the burial, and on such occasions I have noticed the unconsciously upward glance of his eyes.
'To myself your brother's consideration and courtesy was unsurpassed. He must have seen my faults, yet he was always most forbearing. I used to say to him, "You are the real Padre of the regiment," as indeed he was. Still he always honoured me as the Chaplain and gave me every opportunity in my work.
'I visited the Battalion recently. Our talk was chiefly about your dear brother. Major Graham and Quartermaster Hamilton, who were more closely associated with him than I was, agreed with me that our fellowship with Captain Lusk was a privilege never to be forgotten. None of us can hope to meet with a more truly Christian gentleman.'
* * * *
'Among the many casualties which have befallen the 6th Scottish Rifles, none can be more deeply or widely felt by Officers and men than the death of Captain Lusk. We learned that he had been wounded on Christmas Day, but the message did not say that the wound was dangerous. We did not expect to hear that on the fourth day after the injury he succumbed.
'We have reason to be proud of the Battalion. Major A. J. Graham, Captain J. Lusk, Captain D. L. Gray, Captain J. C. E. Hay, Private J. R. Brown, Private J. Craig, Private W. Hannah and Private J. Williamson have been mentioned in Despatches. Of those eight, seven will admit that there was none worthier of the distinction than he who is taken from them, nor any who better deserved the additional recognition given to him only among them, the Chevalier of the Legion of Honour.
'To those who did not know him, any attempt to estimate the worth of Captain James Lusk, must seem exaggeration. His were not mere surface qualities. Indeed, a stranger on first meeting him might not discover any brilliancy. Those who lived with him learned what he was. He was a man of many accomplishments. A graduate of Cambridge, he had the culture of a great University. He was a highly skilled engineer and showed a rare capacity for business. He had also acquired the art of managing men. He was a splendid horseman; it was good to observe his firm seat and to watch his determined mastery of a refractory steed. He was an accomplished musician who could charm with the music he drew from the piano or the pipe organ. He was a soldier of the finest type, master of the details of military duty, scrupulously careful and exact, faithful and fearless to a degree. One could not find a more unselfish man than he was. Anything good which he happened to have was generously at the disposal of others. If there was any hardship or privation, Lusk would take the worst place.
'When the billet of one of our companies was shelled and burned and the Officers lost all their kit, the rest of us contributed such articles as we could spare for their supply. It was not much to give a razor or a shirt, or a pair of socks, but Lusk gave up his Wolseley valise—a fact which was revealed only by seeing his things lying in a heap in the corner of the room. He would sleep without murmur on the hard earth of an unsavoury field because he considered it his duty to be with the transport. When he had secured a fairly comfortable billet for four of us in which there were three beds, we knew that Lusk would certainly choose to be the man who should lie on the floor, unless we found a fourth bed in some adjoining house. If the way to and from Headquarters of the trenches lay, as it generally did, through an "unhealthy" field or wood, Lusk would certainly accompany one who disliked solitude in such places, deaf to any protest, or the consideration that he himself would have to return alone. His quiet strength and indomitable courage banished every sign of fear.