Page 24 - The Spirit of Christmas 1940

P
A
ER
H
T
C FO
UR
THE BATTLE WITHIN
Rifleman William Snow still didn’t understand why he was
at the station. All he knew is he had an overwhelming urge to
comfort those who needed it. He had seen the pain and sacrifice
of the battlefield and understood from a soldiers eyes. In fact
the memories of 1916 never left his mind. But comforting the
families, the lovers, the friends, those who had no control of what
was happening to their loved ones was almost too much to bear.
They were innocent, there were no choices, just the pain of having
to deal with the enormous grief that was thrust upon them. But
why him? Why did he feel the way he did and how did he get
there? There was no explanation, just questions.

His last memory was the offensive on 31st August 1916 at
Delville Wood. History would know this as the prelude to the
Battle of Guillemont, one of the final offensives of the Somme
campaign, which took place just a few days after. However,
Delville Wood was subjected to intense German shelling which
reduced the wood to nothing more than splinters before the
counter-offensive to retake the wood was launched. William could
remember the whistles in the trenches and then running forward
on that day but nothing after that. Just sitting on the station
wanting to comfort others. No other memory in between existed.

But a strange thing had happened. A young woman had spoken
to him. The only person that had spoken to him. That was

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