One of the old platoon

An Australian soldier pauses at a wooden cross marking the final resting place of a fallen comrade, whose helmet rests on top. Between 1916 and 1918 Australians on the Western Front wore the British issue Brodie pattern steel helmet as head protection while in the trenches. The soldier’s isolation and that of the grave are heightened by Dyson’s use of the low horizon against which both are silhouetted.