I am sorry I missed our Church Parade this morning. We got a message
early that we were to go to a place to make arrangements for taking
over a section of trenches to-night, so Captain Graham and I went and
made the necessary arrangements.
We feel so glad that they have taken us away from the section of
trenches that has such unhappy associations. Graham and I went into
the trenches this morning to see the section that we are taking over
to-night. They are well made, and are quite close to the section we
held many weeks ago under our last Division that we liked so well.
Things are quite quiet, and there is no suggestion of anything more
than just the holding of the line. This we are very thankful for.
In the Colonel's letter to Captain Lusk in reply to the long letter
given above, the following sentence occurs:--'I want to thank you, my
dear fellow, for the absolutely splendid way in which you took hold
of things under very, very trying circumstances. The Regiment will
never forget it.'
The mother of one of the fallen Officers wrote to Mrs. Lusk on June
20th:--
'Your dear son is still spared to be a comfort and help to others,
and he so bravely led the party who tried to find our dead and
wounded, but alas! they had fallen, I fear, within the German lines.
It would have brought comfort to know that our dear son was buried by
loving hands, and that they knew his grave, and I'm sure they _nobly_
tried to reach the place. I read yesterday a letter from one of the
men (spared, though his brother is "missing"); he said "Our Captain
wept, I think, when the General told him it would be certain death to
venture." I felt sure this was your dear son. God bless him.'
The official statement of the matter is found in the Divisional
Orders which mention the award as being 'for gallantry displayed at
Rue d'Ouvert on 15th June, 1915; when a large number of Officers had
been killed he voluntarily proceeded to the firing line, took command
of what was left of the Battalion and successfully brought the troops
out of action.'
Captain Lusk was gazetted Adjutant of the Battalion shortly after the
Battle of Festubert, and continued to act in that capacity to the
end. During Major Graham's absence on leave, he acted as Commanding
Officer as well.
The Battalion was moved south to the neighbourhood of Albert and the
Somme[5] about the end of July:--
[5] They occupied lines near Aveluy and Authuille.