Description

In 1911, a Scottish lad from Peterhead, age 16, joined the Boys’ Brigade, training as a soldier. By 1914, as the Great War began, he was heading to France. His father was already there, having served at Mons with the Gordon Highlanders. Father and son reunited occasionally and at one point were wounded at the same time. The young man formed friendships among his comrades, often captured in photographs contained within this book. In 1923 he emigrated to the United States. He worked as a machinist and stationary engineer in New York City. It was some time later where events in life inspired the writing of this memoir to describe in vivid detail his experiences throughout the duration of the war. The narrative voice is that of a young soldier who witnesses both the daily routine of military life and the full intensity of a particularly cruel conflict, who was wounded twice and who recounts his wartime journey with clarity and precision, carrying his readers along with him. He and his wife retired to New Jersey, where he died on April 15, 1966.