Dangerous work of mercy. [WWI]

>Stormont Gibbs saw stretcher-bearers at work clearing Delville Wood in August 1916. >>One of these bearers had been working increasingly at getting people who were near enough to drag and now he was working further afield crawling about with bandages and iodine and a water bottle. The look in his eyes was such a contrast with what I had seen earlier in the eyes of those men who were running away. It was also a contrast with the dull expression of the people who were left. It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that the soul of this man seemed to be shining through his eyes as he went about his dangerous work of mercy. His face was beautiful. ______________________________ **Source:** Holmes, Richard. "Steel and Fire." *Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front, 1914-1918*. London: HarperCollins, 2004. 472. Print. **Original Source Listed:** Stormont Gibbs *From the Somme to the Armistice* (London 1986) p. 66. ______________________________ **Further Reading:** [Battle of Delville Wood](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Delville_Wood)