Jimmy Kerwood of the Royal engineers, came to Buxton in the autumn of 1915 for the necessary period of training ere going to the front. He was a quiet, consistent Christian young soldier, having left a godly home and a praying mother in a village near Oxford, and during his stay in this town he endeared himself to all who came in contact him. He had the inestimable privilege of having as his special “pal” in the same company a bright, young Christian, Sapper E. O. Pullen, saved in the Salvation Army, in Chalk Farm, and together they sought to live before their comrades so as to commend the gospel they loved to preach.
In consequence, Sapper C — A — came to the gospel meetings, “Because,” he said, “Jimmy is Christian, and it is his consistent life that made me accept his invitation to the meeting.” Jimmy and Pullen were the speakers that night, and both spoke with liberty and power, and, thank. God, some stepped on to, and into, the Rock of Ages.
On 27th January, the order having come for their company to leave for France, they entrained with others and went off to the Front, and in a short time were billeted in a barn about three miles in the rear of the firing line. On Sunday evening, 6th February, a little company of eight young Christian soldiers (Jimmy and Pullen among them) met for prayer and Bible reading, and had sweet converse together over God’s Word, after which they commended themselves and their dear ones to the God of all grace in this awful time of war and bloodshed. About 8:30 p.m. they turned in at the billet, and ten minutes later two shells burst through the roof of the barn, killing seven and wounding many more. Pullen, who was about six yards from Jimmy and without a scratch, rushed at once to where he was, to find him on his knees, his open Bible before him, dead — killed instantaneously whilst praying. The Lord had taken him to higher service. What a translation! His comrades, one and all, bore testimony, and said, “Well, Jimmy was ready.”
They buried him with full military honors in a quiet little cemetery close beside one of the Royal Scots who had won the verse Dear Jimmy had no chance of winning any of these coveted distinctions, but he has left a grand testimony to the power that not only saves but keeps, and his V.C. is Victory Complete through the blood of the Lamb.
On 16th March Sapper E. O. Pullen was killed by a German shell. As a comrade (C.A.) writes: “It is my sad duty to let you know that dear Pullen is no longer with us. He saw a wounded comrade, and ran across a hundred yards of the hottest line of fire to render him aid, in spite of the order for everyone to seek cover. This was his ‘good deed,’ which he tried to do every day. He reached his comrade and tended to his wounds, but was killed soon after.” Pullen laid down his life for a friend, but the Lord and Saviour he loved and served laid down His life for His enemies.
In his last letter to the writer, Pullen said what a comfort the fourteen times “trust” (R.V.), “take refuge in,” occurs in the first book of Psalms (Psa. 1. — 41), had been to him since he had been at the Front, and which my wife had pointed out to him in one of her letters. Pullen’s bright face, like a gleam of sunshine, and unselfish thought of others, will long live in the memory of those who knew and valued his “out-and-outness” for the Lord.
J. L. S.