Sunday WW1 Remembered ...

I enjoy reading books set during WW1 which cover as wide a range as possible. 


In August I will share my favourites, some non fiction and some fiction

Following on from last weekend's centenary commemorations of The Battle of Passchendaele. 

Another book in my WW1 collection is 

The Last Fighting Tommy by Harry Patch, written by Richard Van Emden

Bloomsbury
2007

When this book was published in 2007, Harry Patch was the last surviving soldier of the Great War. I remember seeing him on numerous television programmes talking very eloquently and humbly about his experiences, and yet, it is on record that Harry never spoke about his wartime experiences until he was a hundred years old. 

Harry was conscripted into the army in 1917, aged 19, and was sent immediately to the Western Front where he was injured at the Battle of Passchendaele. His memories of the battle are recounted in this memoir which serves as a poignant reminder that these young men who went bravely off to war were just ordinary young men caught up in extraordinary circumstances.

Harry always told it like it was, no frills, no embellishments, just plain honest truth. The Last Fighting Tommy is a memoir that is brave in its simplicity and which acts a powerful reminder of the sacrifices paid by this generation of brave young men.

~***~