Giving water to a wounded pal beside a Hun blockhouse shattered in our advance at Hooge, Ypres 1914 - 1918

This stereo card, printed by Realistic Travels, shows a scene from the battlefields of Ypres. I imagine the photographer crouched in the rubble, the air thick with the smell of smoke and earth, trying to capture some essence of human compassion amidst all the destruction. It’s a difficult thing, really. You want to show the horror, but also the small, quiet acts of kindness that keep us going. Look at the tilt of the soldier’s head, the gentle way he extends the water bottle. There is so much care in that gesture, a tenderness that speaks volumes about the bonds forged in the face of war. Maybe the photographer, like the soldier, was just trying to offer a little something back, a moment of solace in a world turned upside down. It reminds me of Goya, in a strange way; the way he managed to find the human in the monstrous.