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A line that reads, ‘Died gallantly’ would tell a truer story, often, if it read, ‘Died screaming’; and instead of the total number of troops who ‘sacrificed’ their lives, we might simply chisel onto a block of marble the number of limbs left on the battlefield or in hospitals, the number of body parts unaccounted for, missing in action. Such a memorial would be unthinkable, of course, and I must confess that even I would find it tasteless. But if you want the truth about war, you have to start and end with the screaming.
