LIEUTENANT COLONEL HERBERT CECIL BULLER DSO
PRINCESS PATRICIA'S CANADIAN LIGHT INFANTRY
2ND JUNE 1916 AGE 34
BURIED: VOORMEZEELE ENCLOSURE NO. 3, YPRES, BELGIUM
This inscription quotes Zechariah 14:7. When the day of the Lord comes, the last day, the day of judgement, "it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
This may be the origin of the inscription but the source is probably the hymn called 'At Evening time it shall be light'. Five of the six verses end with this refrain and verse 2 offers the comforting promise that:
Thy morning may be overcast -
Clouds may obscure the brightest sky;
The gath'ring storm may burst at last -
But, O, take courage, God is nigh -
His promise puts all fears to flight
"At evening time it shall be light".
Henry Buller was one of the five sons of Admiral Sir Alexander Buller. A serving soldier before the outbreak of war, he was promoted to command Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry on the death of his comanding officer in March 1915. In May that year he was badly wounded, losing an eye, but returned to his command and was killed on 2 June 1916 in the German attack on Canadian positions at Mount Sorrel. Three Canadian lieutenant-colonels and one major general were among the huge casualties suffered by the Canadians that day.