The opening of Foreword
BY
COLONEL H. A. R. MAY, C.B., V.D.,
recently Commanding the Artists’ Rifles.
As one who has been intimately connected with the Corps for nearly forty years, and who yields place to none in his interest in, and love for, his old Regiment, I have awaited the publication of this Roll of Honour of the Artists’ Rifles with an eagerness that I would find it hard to describe. For it is a Record of which, not only every past or present member of the Regiment, but everyone who values the proved possibilities of the Territorial Force may rightly be proud.
The story it tells is one of alert and patriotic acceptance of the responsibilities cast upon us by the war, of many thousands of officers trained for service in the field, of duty nobly done, of gallant service rendered--even unto death. And in no boasting rhetoric is the tale related: the narrative unfolds itself, modestly and simply, in columns of names and figures which speak more eloquently perhaps than any letterpress that could accompany them. Every line records good service voluntarily rendered: one in every seven lines denotes the splendid tragedy of a promising young life sacrificed for his country.