Fine prayer, kat, fine remembrance. It is interesting reading this to reflect what kind of language people felt that prayers had (have) to be in at such moments. Would anyone now use "thy" and "beseech", and the rest? I wonder what today's prayers look like, when you have fewer and fewer people with the Bible or weekend church services in their heads. I suppose everyone tries to find significant language at such moments: what would the attempt to find serious language look like now? I suppose like all really serious moments, simple language however phrased, would show its true colours. Or would it be a new set of cliches strung together as one groped towards saying something to oneself as well as to God?

With the Old Breed is a terrifying book: like James Jones' original novel (not the film) of The Thin Red Line. The two best things written about the Pacific War, in my mind.

yours, Peter T.