OH GOD WHY DID YOU
TAKE MY ALL
MY HEART HAS A WOUND
THAT WILL NEVER HEAL

PRIVATE ALBERT RENAUD

QUEEN'S OWN ROYAL WEST KENT REGIMENT

27TH SEPTEMBER 1917 AGE 30

BURIED: CANADA FARM CEMETERY, ELVERDINGE, BELGIUM


It is unusual to see an inscription like this. Most people do not rail against God, rather they say they are prepared to accept His will: 'Not my will but thine O Lord'; 'God knoweth best'; 'We cannot Lord thy purpose see but all is well that's done by thee'. This won't do for Mrs Augusta Renaud. Married in 1911, her inscription challenges God and declares that her heart will never heal. And perhaps it never did. Augusta Renaud did eventually remarry but not until 1957, forty years after her first husband's death. She died in 1978 aged 84.
Renaud originally served with The Queen's Royal West Kent Regiment but at the time of his death was with the Labour Corps. This suggests that he had been wounded, reducing his medical fitness from A1. However, whilst this might mean that you were not fit enough to be a front line soldier it didn't keep you away from danger. Renaud is buried in Canada Farm Cemetery, a front line dressing station cemetery.