LAST LETTER TO HOME

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 272, 4 May 1917, Page 3 (Supplement)

LAST LETTER TO HOME

DYIN'G LAD'S NOTE WRITTEN OX BATTLEFIELD.

"MY THOUGHTS ARE NOW FOR YOU ALL." nis last message home as lie lay wounded on the battlefield! An intensely human documeut, 'written by a dying soldier on the battlefield of France, was that written by the late Private Thomas Heaton. of ttoe Liverpool Regiment, a clerk employed in the advertising department of Messrs. Hulton and Co., of Manchester and London. His parents reside at 14A Lower Broughton Road, Lower Broughton, Manchester." At the outbreak of the war he enlisted in the Liverpool Regiment. Last week, as Private Moores, of the *.st Newfoundland Regiment, was searching tie battlefield he found the dead body of Private Heaton, and Hanging from the pocket was a note, evidently hurriedly written as he lay wounded.

This letter, which is authenticated by Lieutenant Nunns, a Huddersfield man now with the Newfoundland Regiment, and Frivate Moores, of the Newfoundlands. reads: "My dear Mother. Father. Sisters and Brothers,—The good God has willed it so that my existence in this life, like many another, should be ended suddenly, unexpectedly, in the time wien all is young and life offers unlimited means of enjoyment, and I want this last message to you to reach you, to show you that it docs not find me unready to make the great sacrifice.

IN THE GREAT BEPOND

"My last thoughts are for you all, well knowing that the decree will greatly upset you, but remember—ond I hope you will draw some consolation from it—fiat I am not the only one, nor you the only parents, who have been called upon to make the great, sacrifice. This, then, is what I want you to do —to bear the loss as bravely quietly and resignedly as you possibly can. I myself will have the far easier task, and you the more difficult, but it is the will of Him aliove, and He knows best. You will remember the good old hymn, 'God moves in a mysterious way, Ilis wonders to perform.' "And please, for vour own sakes, try not to rail at His decision for us, as we are not the only ones to suffer. Perhaps God, in nis goodness, although He has denied the pleasure of meeting again on this earth, may in His unbounding mercy, grant us the greater pleasure of reunion in the great Ik>yond. With the greatest affection for you all, I leave you —Your loving son and brother, Thomas.