Groups and Single Decorations for Gallantry


All the bright company of Heaven Hold him in their high comradeship, The Dog Star, and the Sisters Seven, Orion's Belt and sworded hip.


The woodland trees that stand together, They stand to him each one a friend, They gently speak in the windy weather, They guide to valley and ridges' end.


The kestrel hovering by day And the little owls that call by night, Bid him be swift and keen as they, As keen of ear, as swift of sight.


The blackbird sings to him, “Brother, brother, If this be the last song you shall sing, Sing well, for you may not sing another; Brother, sing.”


In dreary, doubtful, wailing hours, Before the brazen frenzy starts, The horses show him nobler powers; O patient eyes, courageous hearts!


And when the burning moment breaks, And all things else are out of mind, And only Joy of Battle takes


Him by the throat, and makes him blind


Through joy and blindness he shall know, Not caring much to know, that still Nor lead nor steel shall reach him, so That it be not the Destined Will.


The thundering line of battle stands, And in the air Death moans and sings; But Day shall clasp him with strong hands, And Night shall fold him in soft wings.


A fortnight later, on 13 May 1915, Grenfell was wounded in the head by shrapnel. The V.C. & D.S.O. takes up the story:


‘On the previous evening he was with his regiment about 500 yards behind the front line, near the Ypres-Menin Road, in support of an attack on the German trenches running south from Hooge Lake. The Royals were behind a small hill which Julian afterwards called the little hill of death. Early in the morning the Germans heavily bombarded this hill, and Julian Grenfell went to the look-out post and was knocked over by a shell which merely bruised him. He went down again and reported his observations, and then volunteered to get through with a message to the Somerset Yeomanry in the front line, which he successfully accomplished under very heavy fire. When he returned he went up the hill with his General and a shell burst four yards away, knocking them both down and wounding Julian Grenfell in the head. He said: “Go down, sir. Don't bother about me. I'm done.” The General helped to carry him down, and was wounded while doing so. Julian said afterwards to a brother officer: “Do you know, I think I shall die,” and when he was contradicted, remarked: “Well, you see if I don't.” He was carried to the clearing station, and asked there whether he was going to die, adding: “I only want to know; I am not in the least afraid.” He was then taken to the hospital at Boulogne, and his sister came from Wimereux to nurse him, and his parents were both with him. When the surgeon asked him how long he had been unconscious after he was hit, Julian said: “I was up before the count.” ’


In point of fact a shell splinter had penetrated Grenfell’s skull by an inch and half, causing brain damage and, following two operations, he said goodbye to gathered family and friends - ‘seeing a shaft of sunlight falling across his feet, he murmured “Phoebus Apollo,” the name of the sun god of classical mythology and, apart from his father’s name, these were his last words. He died on the afternoon of the 26 May and was buried in the military cemetery at Boulogne.


Lieutenant-Colonel Maclachlan, his C.O., afterwards wrote:


‘Julian set an example of light-hearted courage which is famous all through the Army in France, and has stood out even above the lost lion-hearted.’


It is said that when Kitchener, a family friend, heard of Grenfell’s death, he lost his composure and had to leave his desk. And among the mass of letters sympathy received by Lord and Lady Desborough was a message from Winston Churchill, who said ‘He was all that you could have desired and all that our race needs to keep its honour fair and bright.’


His poem Into Battle appeared in The Times on 28 May and quickly attracted critical acclaim, his old Professor of English Literature at Oxford writing, ‘I don't know if you really know that Julian's poem is one of the swell things in English literature. It is safe for ever; I know it by heart, and I never learned it. It has that queer property which only the best poems have, that a good many of the lines have more meaning than there is any need for, so that new things keep turning up in it.’


In fact it became a source of inspiration to many young men in those early stages of the war and his place in the ranks of the Great War poets was assured.


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