 British veterans wounded in the First World War—at Roehampton Military Hospital, London (source). |
Charles Whitehair, a prominent YMCA worker in a French war (convalescent) camp, tells of his encounter during the First World War—in his book, Out There (1918, 2002)—with a wounded Canadian solder.
The soldier bared his leg, which had been torn with a shrapnel shell, leaving a deep scar that would send him back a physical wreck.
But, Whitehorn reports, as he look into the soldier’s face—and saw the look of “personal victory over physical pain,” he took him by the hand and said:
| My good man, when you go back to Canada, back to your home, you need not tell them that you love your country, that you love your home, that you love your God—just show them your scars. |
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