and good. I shall accept the inevitable. If
they take me, so much the better. I have had several chats with
the Officer Commanding the Supply Column on the subject, and
explained to him that I was utterly fed up with grocery work.

The scenes I have witnessed during and since this great
attack--the Somme battles--have confirmed my resolution to go
into the fighting line. You who have not seen the horrors of a
modern campaign cannot possibly know the feelings of a young man
who, while the real business of war is going on at his very elbow
(for we are not far from the centre of things), and who is
longing to be in the thick of the fighting, is yet condemned to
look after groceries and do work which a woman could do probably
a great deal better.

Oh! it is awful. And all this, mind you, with the knowledge that
all the chaps one used to know are in the thick of it.

To sum up, I recognise that I have a serious physical defect. I
shall not attempt to conceal it from the authorities; it would be
wrong to do so. But I have also many physical, and I think some
mental, advantages over the average man. Moreover, I am young and
exceptionally strong. I give you my word of honour that in making
my application I shall not conceal the facts about my short
sight. Having lodged my application for transfer, it will be for
the authorities to say whether they will take me or leave me.
Please, please, give your approval to my putting in such an
application. Occasions come to every man when he has to make up
his mind for himself and by himself--as I did about my move to
the Modern side of Dulwich. Was that a failure?

_August 8th, 1916._

I am more thankful than I can say to have your permission to
apply for transfer to the R.F.A. Since I wrote to you a circular
has come from G.H.Q. stating that officers for the artillery are
wanted urgently. They propose to send home two hundred officers a
month till further notice for training at the Artillery School. I
want, if possible, to avoid going home to train. I would like to
go through my training course here, but I fear beggars can't be
choosers, and in the case of a highly technical arm like the
gunners the training may have to be done in England. Everybody
with us i