Amazingly enough, in 2004, 21 British World War I veterans were still alive, aged 104-109. Author Max Arthur decided to interview those men, hoping to capture their memories of that long-ago struggle before death took its final toll. The result of Arthur's work is this marvelous book, must reading for any Great War enthusiast.
Most of the veterans interviewed served in the infantry; other with the RFC or Royal Navy. Arthur chose to run the interviews he and others did with these veterans without editorializing. That was a wise choice, simply because many of the reminiscences these marvelous old men supplied ring out thoughts of the horror and futility of that war and all wars. The accounts of life in the trenches by the 'Poor Bloody Infantry' vets are especially horrifying. Each man is illustrated with one or more photos taken in wartime service along with a contemporary photograph.
In reading these accounts it is impossible not to admire these old soldiers and feel their pain. In one especially poignant account, Fred Lloyd, aged 106, recalled that "I often think about my brother William...Bill. He used to hold my hand when we went to school...It broke my heart when he died (at the front). I would have liked to die with him-but I didn't and here I am today."
LAST POST is inspiring reading. No battle glory here just fragile human beings struggling through horrifying times and triumphing!
Highly recommended.
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