Letters From The Front A Year In The Life Of An Infantryman

Details H.A. Lowery's career using his son's commentary, family history and photos, military honors and decorations, and the letters to his wife and sons. The letters contained within provide a one-sided portrait of H.A. Lowery as a young man during a thirteen-month period between February 23, 1943 and March 25, 1944, as his wife's letters to him didn't survive.

"The letters that follow are those of a young painter who was at the front from September [1914] till the beginning of April [1915]; at the latter date he was missing in one of the battles of the Argonne. Are we to speak of him in the present tense or in the past? We know not: since the day when the last mud-stained paper reached them, announcing the attack in which he was to vanish, what a close weight of silence for those who during eight months lived upon these almost daily letters! But for how many women, how many mothers, is a grief like this to-day a common lot!" This book is part of the World War One Centenary series; creating, collating and reprinting new and old works of poetry, fiction, autobiography and analysis. The series forms a commemorative tribute to mark the passing of one of the world's bloodiest wars, offering new perspectives on this tragic yet fascinating period of human history. Each publication also includes brand new introductory essays and a timeline to help the reader place the work in its historical context.

The story of a renowned French painter who volunteered for the Army during the First World War paints a vivid picture of the horror at the front in his letters home written before his death in 1915. “A Bestseller, remarkable for the horrors of the western front conveyed in a spirit of self-sacrifice and filial love.”- A Companion to World War One ed. John Horne, Blackwell Publishing, 2012 “THE following letters were written by a young French painter who was at the front until the beginning of April, 1915, when he “disappeared” in one of the combats in the Argonne region of France. “Should he be spoken of in the present or in the past?” asks M. André Chevrillon , a friend of the soldier’s family, in the preface to the French edition of this book. “Since the day when his mother and grandmother received from him his last communication, a post card bespattered with mud which announced the attack in which he fell, what a tragic silence for these two women who, during eight months, had lived only with these letters, which came almost daily. In his studio, among the pictures in which this young man had fixed his dreams and his visions of an artist, I have seen, piously arranged on a table, all the little square white sheets of this correspondence. What a speechless presence! I did not know then what a soul was there transcribed in these messages to the family hearth - a fully formed soul, which, if it had lived, I feel sure would have spread its fame and its influence far beyond this little home circle and radiated a-wide among the hearts of men.””

Harry Lamin was born in Derbyshire in 1877 and left school at thirteen to work in the lace industry, but by December 1916 he had been conscripted into the 9th Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment and sent to war. Harry's letters home to his family describe the conflict with a poignant immediacy, even ninety years on, detailing everything from the action in battle to the often amusing incidents of life amongst his comrades. Throughout the letters, Harry's tone is unwaveringly stoical, uncomplaining and good humoured. Letters From The Trenches is a fitting tribute to the unsung heroes of the Great War who fought and endured and returned home, and the one in six who did not. The letters describe the war through the eyes of those who really lived it, bringing the horrors and triumphs to life for the twenty-first-century reader. Edited by Harry's grandson, Bill, Letters From The Trenches tells the moving story of a brave, selfless and honourable man who endured everything that the war could throw at him, and still came up smiling.

Pens and Bayonets gives voice to the young Australia soldiers who volunteered to fight for our freedom in the Great War. They answered the call willingly, with many thinking it may be all over before they got there. How wrong they were. South Australia, and Yorke Peninsula in particular, were proud to provide soldiers for their country. The letters were written during quiet periods and give us an insight and sometimes graphic account of the day-to-day encounters during the Gallipoli campaign and various offensives on the Western Front and Palestine. Communication options abound in the modern age, but imagine the challenges of 100 years ago, with your son, brother, uncle or nephew on the other side of the world, fighting in what we now know to be horrendous conditions, writing a letter home. It would take months for the letter to arrive. With the letter came a connection with family that gave a belief that their loved ones were safe and, importantly, the needed hope that the end of the Great War would bring them home. The letters the soldiers received, many weeks after being written, gave comfort and solace to these men, and provided their only contact with loved ones. Don Longo has gathered many of these moving letters, and set them in their historical context, to bring these soldiers back to life.

East Sandling Camp. 1 June 1915 "Captain Boyer and I are leaving for London to buy a motor car for the regiment. We will be staying at the Savoy." Flanders. 27 October 1915. Diary entry: 4:00 p.m. "Returned to the trenches. After two days of rain, they are in a deplorable state. There is mud up to our knees. The parapets have collapsed in several spots. The nights are frigid, our feet are cold, and we have not yet received our supplies of wood and charcoal." In the field. 1 August 1918. "You will pardon the brevity and the looseness of this letter when you know under what conditions it has been written. What you wish to know above all I can tell you at once. I am well - in fact I do not think I have ever been quite so well in body and in spirit. I have been protected in a special manner during the last three days. I have seen so many narrow escapes myself that I am beginning to think that one should not worry much about possible eventualities." No. 8 British Red Cross Hospital, Boulogne. 6 September 1918. "By this time you will have received reassuring cablegrams and field postcards and possibly letters from friends of mine. "First, to be quite frank, I will admit that I have not been in fit condition to write a coherent letter ..."

This book is a powerful collection of letters written by soldiers throughout history, exploring the joys and struggles of military life. From the soldiers in the trenches of World War I to the American soldiers on the front lines in Vietnam, these letters offer a unique perspective on war and its impact on those who fight it. An essential read for history buffs and military enthusiasts alike. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.