Brent describes following the retreating Germans into long-occupied territory, which was the experience of a lifetime for him. He describes burning villages and ruined churches overgrown with weeds. They sat inside one church to cook dinner and listened to the sound of battle in the distance. While the others gathered resources he stood in the church and imagined he could hear James reading him some old classic about France and knighthood, and imagined he might open his eyes and be home. His work is still growing and he has more men under his command now than a brigadier and soon he will have as much as a major general. The greater privilege that comes of this is his frequent contact with the big headquarters and important figures in the war who may one day be more historically important that presidents.
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