us knew until it was almost upon us. All this time our interests
(and, perhaps, our fears!) were centred upon one man, the unpopular
Colonel who, few of us guessed in those days, was destined to win the
V.C. on "the day," going down in a blaze of glory which should ever
associate his name with that battle. With that "day," which was for many
of us the end of all earthly troubles and hopes and fears, or, at any
rate, an end for many months, the story reaches its natural termination.

In these pages I give to the public, for what they are worth, my own
personal impressions of the people and things I saw and with whom I
came into contact. I hope I have revealed the late Colonel Best-Dunkley
to the public just as he was--as he appeared to me and as he appeared to
others. I believe that in this I am doing right. "Paint me in my true
colours!" exclaimed Cromwell to Lely. That is all that any hero--and
Best-Dunkley was certainly a hero--can conscientiously ask. And I am
sure it was all Best-Dunkley himself would ever have asked. He was a
brilliant young man, endowed with a remarkable personality. It is right
that his memory should be preserved; and if his memory is to be
preserved it must be the memory of the Best-Dunkley we knew.

The battalion which Best-Dunkley commanded has, since his death,
achieved great things and acquired great fame under the still more
brilliant leadership of his successor, Colonel Brighten; but we must
never forget that it was Best-Dunkley who led it on the glorious day of
Ypres and that it was the tradition which he inspired which has been one
of the strongest elements of esprit de corps in the 2/5th Lancashire
Fusiliers. All who served under Best-Dunkley remember the fact with a
certain amount of pride, however unfavourably his personality may have
impressed itself upon them at the time--for "All times are good when
old!"

I am fully aware of the many imperfections of this book; but if it
succeeds at all in vividly recalling to those who were in the Ypres
Salient in 1917 the atmosphere of that time, and if it should encourage
others to risk a similar venture, I shall feel amply rewarded.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

FOREWORD vii

I OFF TO THE FRONT 1

II THE PRISON