It is now more than 90 years since the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, and, incredibly, a very few of the six million men who served in that bloodiest of wars are still alive. This book collects the stories of those men, and of those who lived to a very old age and died only recently. They tell in their own words of suffering and courage, of humor and comradeship, and of experiences that some of them say they would not have missed for the world, in spite of the cost. Richard van Emden has interviewed veterans over many years and has not only recorded their words and given a brief historical background to each chapter, but, uniquely, included his own memories of these remarkable men, so that in the book we get to meet and know them. This book is a heartfelt tribute to those few old soldiers who today represent the sacrifices of a whole generation.

Britain's Last Tommies: Final Memories from Soldiers of the 1914-1918 War: In Their Own Words

Biographies & Memoirs

Van Emden, Richard

Leaders & Notable People

Little, Brown Book Group

Accompanying the BBC documentary series, this volume recreates in extraordinary detail the experience of day-to-day life for soldiers in World War I. Volunteers have been recruited from the streets of Hull, exactly as the "Hull Pals" (the nickname of the 10th battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment) were recruited in 1914. After being trained just as the original recruits were trained and taken to a carefully reconstructed trench in northern France, they are subjected to as many of the privations suffered by their great-grandfathers as can realistically be recreated. It is an extraordinary challenge, physically, mentally and historically. Based on hours of original research and interviews with surviving veterans of the Great War, as well as the regimental diary which describes every hour of every day in painstaking detail, "The Trench" aims to give an honest and accurate picture of what it actually felt like to be a soldier on the front line in 1916. What was it like to see the trenches for the first time? What did you do to pass the time once you got there? How did you deal with trench routine? And the deaths of your friends? How did you treat injuries? And trench foot? And lice? What did you eat? How did you sleep? How did you stay alive?

The Trench

Corgi

History

Military

Transworld

Harry Patch, the last British soldier alive to have fought in the trenches of World War I, is now 108 years old and one of very few people who can directly recall the horror of that conflict. Harry vividly remembers his childhood in the Somerset countryside of Edwardian England. He left school in 1913 to become an apprentice plumber but three years later was conscripted, serving as a machine gunner in the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry. Fighting in the mud and trenches during the Battle of Passchendaele, he saw a great many of his comrades die, and in one dreadful moment the shell that wounded him killed his three closest friends. In vivid detail he describes daily life in the trenches, the terror of being under intense artillery fire, and the fear of going over the top. Then, after the Armistice, the soldiers’ frustration at not being quickly demobbed led to a mutiny in which Harry was soon caught up. World War II saw Harry in action on the home front as a firefighter during the bombing of Bath. He also warmly describes his friendship with American GIs preparing to go to France, and, years later, his tears when he saw their graves. Late in life Harry achieved fame, meeting the Queen and taking part in the BBC documentary The Last Tommies, finally shaking hands with a German veteran of the artillery, and speaking out frankly to Tony Blair about the soldiers shot for cowardice in World War I. The Last Fighting Tommy is the story of an ordinary man’s extraordinary life.

The Last Fighting Tommy: The Life of Harry Patch, the Only Surviving Veteran of the Trenches

Patch, Harry

Bloomsbury Pub Ltd

November 2008 sees the 90th anniversary of the end of the Great War, ‘the war to end all wars' that still haunts and fascinates in equal measure. Richard van Emden's new book tells that story as never before through the words and pictures of the men who were there. The Soldier's War includes incredible never-published-before letters and photographs to reveal the true stories of a lost generation.\nThe Soldier's War traces the war chronologically, taking stories from each year of the fighting and following the British Tommy through devastating battles and trench warfare to the armistice in 1918. The book also reflects on other lesser-known and more personal aspects of the war, such as the work of stretcher-bearers, army chaplains, and burial parties.\nEach chapter will begin with an exploration of the soldiers' post-war attitudes to an emotive and controversial aspects of the conflict. What were their attitudes towards the enemy? What did the troops at the front line really think about their generals? Did they remember their time in the war with any fondness?\nCentral to The Soldier's War are the original and as-yet-unseen photographs that punctuate the narrative. Many soldiers carried lightweight VPK cameras (Vest Pocket Kodaks) and used them (illegally) to photograph the war as it unfolded. Between seventy-five and a hundred remarkable images will for the first time show trench-warfare as it really happened.

The Soldier's War - The Great War Through Veterans' Eyes

BLOOMSBURY

The Great War ended more than ninety years ago yet still haunts and fascinates us today. In The Soldier's War, Richard van Emden traces a history of the fighting month by month and year by year, using original diaries, letters and as-yet-unseen photographs taken by the soldiers themselves. We follow the British Tommy through devastating battles and trench warfare from the outbreak of war in 1914 to the armistice four years later, guided by Richard van Emden's sure explanations. This is a history of the war as seen from the trenches that is shockingly intimate, sometimes heartbreaking, often wryly amusing, but always compelling.

Soldier's War: The Great War Through Veterans' Eyes

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

All Quiet on the Home Front: An Oral History of Life in Britain During the First World War

The truth about the sacrifice and suffering on the home front during World War I is rarely discussed. In this book, some of the oldest men and women in the country speak about experiences and events that have remained buried for 85 years. Their testimony shows the same candor and courage we have become accustomed to hearing from veterans of the western front. Those interviewed include a survivor of a Zeppelin raid on Hull in 1915, a Welsh munitions worker recruited as a girl, and a woman rescued from a bombed school after five days. There are also accounts of rural famine, bereavement and the effects on families back home, and even the story of a woman who planned to kill her family to save them further suffering.

Humphries, Steve

Europe

Headline Book Publishing

The truth about the sacrifice and suffering on the home front during World War I is rarely discussed. In this book, some of the oldest men and women in the country speak about experiences and events that have remained buried for 85 years. Their testimony shows the same candor and courage we have become accustomed to hearing from veterans of the western front. Those interviewed include a survivor of a Zeppelin raid on Hull in 1915, a Welsh munitions worker recruited as a girl, and a woman rescued from a bombed school after five days. There are also accounts of rural famine, bereavement and the effects on families back home, and even the story of a woman who planned to kill her family to save them further suffering.

Boy Soldiers of the Great War: Their Own Stories for the First Time

At the outbreak of the First World War, boys as young as thirteen, caught up in the overwhelming tide of patriotism, enlisted for active service in huge numbers. Many were to serve in the bloodiest battles of the war, like Frank Lindley, who seeking to avenge his dead brother, went over the top on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. He was just sixteen. Drawing on unpublished diaries and letters, as well as the testimonies of the last survivors, Boy Soldiers of the Great War records their stories of sacrifice and heroism.

Children's Books

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Books by Van Emden, Richard

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Van Emden, Richard. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Britain's Last Tommies: Final Memories from Soldiers of the 1914-1918 War: In Their Own Words

The Trench

The Trench

The Last Fighting Tommy: The Life of Harry Patch, the Only Surviving Veteran of the Trenches

The Last Fighting Tommy: The Life of Harry Patch, the Only Surviving Veteran of the Trenches

The Soldier's War - The Great War Through Veterans' Eyes

Soldier's War: The Great War Through Veterans' Eyes

All Quiet on the Home Front: An Oral History of Life in Britain During the First World War

All Quiet on the Home Front: An Oral History of Life in Britain During the First World War

Boy Soldiers of the Great War: Their Own Stories for the First Time