Jimmy Cross was obsessed with the love of his life. He could not concentrate on his work and spent many hours thinking about Martha. He was troubled by the thought of how Martha felt about him and this seemed to perturb him greatly. Ted Lavender was shot dead heading back to the place where the other members of his group were. He had gone to urinate and left the other members waiting for the soldier who had gone to inspect the hole before it was blown up. All members of the team were concentrating on the hole and so was Jimmy Cross. This implies that the death of Lavender was not the fault of Jimmy Cross or any member of the team. Jimmy blamed himself for the death because he was their leader. He felt that if he had concentrated more on his job Lavender would not have died. This is not true because his main duty was to ensure that the mission they had gone to undertake was successful. The mission was to blow up the hole and that is where he was when Lavender was shot. He may feel that at that time, he was thinking about Martha but there was nothing he could have done to keep Lavender alive. Therefore, he is not supposed to blame himself for his death and because there is nothing he could have done.
Jimmy burnt the letters he had received from Martha. He had a feeling that Martha was not involved in what Jimmy was going through in the battlefield. He also felt that Martha would never love him, as he would have wished. Consequently, he felt burning the letter would erase her memory and allow him to concentrate on his job. Burning the letters was a right move to reduce the obsession he had with Martha.