He was carefully tended, and when he had been made as comfortable as possible he asked how soon he would be taken to be tortured!
Loraine’s adventure was typical of the kind of work that went on in the air during all the operations of the Western Front. As in the days of King Arthur of olden story—
“Every morning brought a noble chance.”
“A GLORIOUS BAND”
“The Son of God goes forth to war,
A kingly crown to gain;
His blood-red banner streams afar:
Who follows in His train?”
The words of the old soldiers’ hymn must often have come into the minds of our brave men as they fought and died to win freedom for the world. And, indeed, they were doing no less than this; for all men knew that if the Germans were not beaten there would be no more real freedom for mankind.
There was one day in the month of September of the year 1916 when the King granted no less than twenty Victoria Crosses. Some of them could not be worn by the brave men who had won them for they had been “faithful unto death”; and their medals were sent to those whom they had left behind to mourn for them and to rejoice when they forgot their sorrow that they had died so nobly.
The newspaper on the following morning was a matter for gladness and sadness; for it contained a splendid record of heroic deeds which made one feel proud to be a Briton.