SAPPER JAMES BRADLEY
ROYAL ENGINEERS
12TH SEPTEMBER 1917 AGE 19
BURIED: RENINGHELST NEW MILITARY CEMETERY, BELGIUM
References to sacrifice in these inscriptions are usually references to the sacrifice of God's only son Jesus Christ who suffered death on the cross "for our redemption; who made there (by his one oblation of himself once offered) a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world" (The Prayer of Consecration from the service of Holy Communion in the Book of Common Prayer). To many relations their own sons had made a similar sacrifice to save their country.
However, I don't believe that this is the sacrifice referred to in Private Bradley's inscription. I think this sacrifice is that of 1 Samuel 15:22. Samuel rebukes Saul for not obeying "the voice of the Lord", for not destroying the spoils of war - the sheep and the oxen - but letting the people offer them up as sacrifices:
"Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice".
God asks for obedience, James Bradley obeyed the call of his country and died as a result, he was "obedient unto death" (Philippians 2:8) - "what better sacrifice".