KILLED IN ACTION

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 3286, 9 July 1943, Page 4

KILLED IN ACTION

FINE TRIBUTES PAID PRIVATE BERT YARDLEY FORMER GAZETTE EMPLOYEE , - c ■' -I S-l Writing in connection with the death of Pte. Bert Yardley who was killed in action in Tunisia during the recent campaign, Second-Lieutenant Pirrie, the officer commanding the platoon in which Pte. Yardley was serving has paid the following tribute to this gallant young soldier. Prior to joining the forces Pte. Yardley whose home was in Morrinsville, was a member of the staff of the Hauraki Plains Gazette. Lieutenant Pirrie writes to the family as follows:— “I felt I must write to you and offer my condolence for your recent loss of your son in action. I am his platoon officer and although he was only with us a few weeks, he made his presence felt. He was a great lad; always clowning and cheerful. He died fighting like a real man should—quickly and cleanly; he knew little pain. It was all over very quickly. We who are here now are just a wee bit lost without him, and a few others; it hit the boys hard. Our battalion has its own cemetery in Tunisia and a lot of good lads lie together. The Padre put on a wonderful service and there was many a full heart there. “Cheerio; and again I am so very sorry we haven’t got Bert with us to-day.” Padre’s Tribute 'Presbyterian Padre Judson writing on April 10 from Tunisia to his parents, states:— “ With this notq goes our sincere sympathy in this your sorrow. You have sustained a great los& in your son’s death, and all we can say is that we miss him too. It only seems like yesterday that we held a Bible Class in the Ambulance and Bert - came along. I gave him a New Testament that he had on him at the time of his death. “It was during the daylight attack on Friday, March 26, that he received his fatal wound. It was a bullet deep into the body on the right side. The orderlies gave him morphia to deaden pain; but the shock and internal bleeding were more than the human frame could stand, and he slowly slipped into his last great sleep. I want v you to know that he would not suffer. “Wrapped in his blanket we laid him to rest with his mates in our little desert cemetery. :His grave, a sandy mound with its little wooden cross will ever be a monument to a noble sacrifice—killed in action. He lay down his life for his friends. -

Heartfelt Sympathy “Yet as he lay there so quiet and still, I felt he was not really there—■ his physical body, yes, but only h broken shell, an empty husk. But his real self, that deeper something that was essentially Albert and no one else, that ‘ego’ that you gave him at birth, fostered and cultivated through childhood, that ability to love and be loved, the spirit that inspired him to fight and die so others will be free to live—that was gone. And above the battle din echoed the words of our burial service: ‘Jesus said, I am the Resurrection and the Life ... he that believeth in Me shall never die . . . to-day shalt thou be in Paradise with Me.’ .No, he is not out there in the desert, but lives on, watching down on. you, his loved ones, and on us, his mates. Not lost; but only gone before, waiting for that day when all shall be reunited around the throne of Love when war and death is no more.

“In closing, let me again say that you have our heartfelt sympathy in this your bereavement. And may the God of Peace, He who brought again our Lord Jesus from the dead, give you strength to carry your loss and grant you grace still to say: ‘Thy will be done.’ ” I do not know why oft around me My hopes all shattered seem to be, God’s perfect plan I cannot see, But some day I’ll understand.