SECOND LIEUTENANT CYRIL ARNELL NEWMAN
28TH APRIL 1917 AGE 24
BURIED: AUBIGNY BRITISH CEMETERY, FRANCE
Ragnhild Torp married Cyril Newman whilst he was home on a brief leave in March 1917. The following month he was killed in action during the Battle of Arras. Ragnhild chose his inscription. I have a feeling that she assumed we'd recognise the phrase, 'I once had a comrade', because it comes from a traditional European military lament, a lament for a comrade killed in battle.
The words were written in 1809 and set to a Swiss folk tune in 1825. It originally had no affiliation to any country but after 1871 it became a fixed part of German military funerals, the equivalent of Last Post at British military funerals.
You can hear it here.
I once had a comrade,
You will find no better.
The drum called to battle,
He walked by my side,
In the same pace and step.
A bullet came a-flying, ...
The man who walked by Ragnhild Torp's side, 'in the same pace and step', was her husband of one month, Cyril Newman. She died in 1976 - It appears that she never remarried.