Patch could not stop for the wounded during the advance

Harry Patch remembered advancing through British and German casualties at Passchendaele while the wet, cratered ground made formation impossible. A mortally wounded British soldier asked to be shot and died before anyone acted. Patch interpreted the man's final cry of "Mother" as a sign that his mother was welcoming him into the next world, and the incident shaped his conviction that death was not the end. He wanted to find the man's identity disc and write to his family, but his Lewis-gun team's number one was moving ahead and Patch carried the spare parts. Orders to continue the attack and the men's lack of medical knowledge also prevented them from helping many of the wounded they passed.