Before we left England our Chaplain preached several sermons on the effect of danger and suffering on men out their. He said that being constantly in danger of losing one's life made men think of the serious side of life and fly to religion as the only source of comnfort. My own experience is quite the contrary. In the bombing raid I was on recently the language was so bad that even the men themselves commented upon it. Men go to their deaths with curses on their lips and religion is never mentioned or thought of. Why is it? I can only put it down to the fact that life out here is one of continual hardship and suffering, that in war there is no place for a God of Love, no time for the softer emotions, and no inclination to worry about a future when the present is a hell that the devil himself would be proud to reign over.

Private J. Bowles, Queen's Westminster Rifles, 1916

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