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Description: | Ts transcription of 216 unusually detailed letters (271pp) written to his parents whilst serving as an Anglican Chaplain with the 8th Battalion The Kings Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) (attached to 76th Brigade, 25th Division until October 1915, then 3rd Division) stationed in France, 11 October 1915 - 14 April 1919, expressing evocatively his experiences in the trenches on the Western Front and in particular the nature of the fighting he witnessed at the Battle of the Somme (July 1916) and the Battle of Arras (April 1917), also relating throughout his pastoral duties, including how he spent much of his time corresponding with the families of soldiers who had lost their lives on the Front Line, visiting casualties in hospital and organising church parades, sporting events and concerts, whilst sharing his opinions on the effect the war had on language and popular culture (6 Feb 1916) and how far religious beliefs and spiritual values influenced perceptions of war, continuing with a commentary of the aerial combat he observed throughout the German Spring Offensive of 1918 after his transfer to No 9 Squadron Royal Flying Corps in November 1917 and giving a very thorough insight into what life was like in the RFC, ending with an account of the reaction on the Western Front when the Armistice was declared and his subsequent advance to Germany, before his demobilisation in March 1919.
Cataloguer CLS
Catalogue date 2008-01-28 | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Leonard, M P G | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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