Captain Hartley Holmes, cited in Practical Christianity Jan-Mar 1971 pp 3-4 published by the Officers’ Christian Union (now the Armed Forces’ Christian Union)
As I sat down to write this retrospect, a letter arrived from my old Battery Commander in France! It brought the early days of 1906 most vividly to mind; I first met the Battery Commander when I was the guest of his young brother. I had just graduated from the Royal Military College, Kingston, Canada with a commission in the Gunners and had been assigned to England, where the brother and I were in the same gunnery course. As a stranger in a strange land, I made several visits to that delightful home. I’m sure they prayed hard, for, tough guy that I was, a miracle happened. Jesus Christ, who had been little more than a name in history, became the chief among 10,000 and personal Saviour and Friend to me. In fact, it has ever been my supreme joy in life to make Him known to others.
Nine years later I found myself entering a French farmhouse and this old friend coming to greet me! I was taking the place of two officers, each of whom had been shot while serving as Forward Observation Officer close to the enemy trenches. That night we enjoyed a time of fellowship together in prayer and reading of His Word. I slept on straw with my kit bag for a pillow, the night punctuated by sudden bursts of fire. But the Lord was with us; His presence was so real that I look back upon that night and the weeks that followed as among the happiest of my life.
Next morning my magnificent charger took me down near the Front and, tying him to a tree, I worked my way forward to a suitable spot to observe our shells and target. Snipers didn’t worry me, because praying friends had given me a divine promise, “No weapon formed against thee shall prevail” (Isaiah 64:17).
Later each afternoon, praying for those whom I would meet, I rode out with saddle bags full of Gospels to visit troops back from those water-logged trenches, in barns and billets. These gospels reached me during the winter regularly from the Scripture Gift Mission.
I met with much encouragement, for they listened eagerly! Before long each evening saw all of us sitting round the dining room table, reading His Word and discussing the contents. As the War drew to a close, the call clearly came to spend the rest of my life passing on the good news amongst officers.
*Photo credit: https://www.pexels.com/@peter-dyllong-2158803154