After the battle of Nicholson's Nek, November 1899, during the Boer War, the Royal Army Medical Corps collected the wounded. The following is from a letter by a member of the corps.
I found one man propped up against a rock. I saw that both his arms were broken, and that he could not raise either of them. About two yards away there was a cigarette case which somebody had dropped.
"I'm all right, old boy," said the wounded man; "there's lots worse than me all round. Get them on the stretchers first. I can last out a bit. I'll tell you what you can do. See that case of fags? Well, just take one and stick it in my mouth." I gave him a cigarette. It would have done your heart good to see how he puffed away at it. The poor fellow seemed quite contented. I saw this inscription inside the cigarette case: "From Alice to Fred, in memory of happier days."
波爾戰爭期間，一八九九年十一月有尼科爾森峽谷之役。戰役之後，英國皇家軍醫部隊去收拾傷者。部隊一位成員寫了一封信說：
我看見一名士兵身倚大石坐着。他兩手骨折，無法舉起來。約兩碼之外，有人遺下一盒煙。
那傷兵說：「老兄，我還好，這裏周圍，傷勢比我嚴重者甚多，先把他們擡走吧。我還可以捱一陣子。不過，你可以給我做一件事。看見那盒煙嗎？拿一根放在我嘴裏。」我給他一根煙。看見他抽煙的樣子，實在令人心裏好過一些。這個可憐的傢伙，看來已經很滿足。我看見煙盒裏刻了些字：「弗雷德：記取當年歡樂時。愛麗絲奉貽。」