We Will Remember Them: Memories of Our First World War Soldiers [Hardcover]

Max Arthur (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 5, 2010

Published to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I, We Will Remember Them commemorates the veterans who are no longer among us. Featuring an introduction by the 110-year-old Henry Allingham—the only living survivor of the Battle of the Somme—this new anthology will contain interviews with the families of World War I veterans as well those still alive from the British, German, French, Russian, and other armies. These men have left their mark on history, and their personal stories are deeply moving. A concluding chapter places the “Great War” in context.

 

Editorial Reviews

Review

'It's a winning formula, and his books have enjoyed much success... there is also much that is arresting.' LITERARY REVIEW 'poignant... Today's youngsters should read this so they never forget the sacrifices of their forefathers.' NEWS OF THE WORLD 'a seamless patchwork of memories and recollections which, perhaps for the first time, tell us exactly how it was for the men returning to 'a land fit for heroes'... essential reading... A simply superb work' THE GREAT WAR

About the Author

Max Arthur is author of the best-selling Forgotten Voices of the Great War and Forgotten Voices of the Second World War. His other oral history titles include the classic work on the Falklands Campaign, Above All, Courage. He is the military obituary writer for The Independent.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: WN; 1 edition (January 5, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0297853295
• ISBN-13: 978-0297853299
• Product Dimensions: 1.2 x 6.2 x 9.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,975,317 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars REFLECTIONS ON THE FIRST WORLD WAR - The Survivors' Perspective, October 15, 2011

By 

MONTGOMERY (WASHINGTON, DC - U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Road Home: The Aftermath of the Great War Told by the Men and Women Who Survived It (Paperback)

Since the late 1990s, there have been a spate of books in the market on the First World War, re-examining its effects on the present day and hearing again the voices of its dwindling number of veterans.

Now, with the passing of the last veteran 5 months ago, they are all gone and with them, that living link to a world that now seems to many of us living today as remote as the days of antiquity. This book offers the reader the opportunity to hear, in the words of soldiers and civilians alike, their reactions to the news of the war's end on November 11th, 1918, their struggles in the early postwar era to find work and readjust to "life on civvy street", and in their twilight years, their reappraisal of the sacrifices they had made, as well as their hopes for future generations. When I read this book, I felt as if these people were not dead, but speaking directly to me with a freshness and clarity of thought that I could appreciate.

In summing up this review, I wish to cite the following remarks from Sergeant W.J. Collins, who had served in the Royal Army Medical Corps: "They were a wonderful generation ... let's face it, there were we, at the beginning of the war, the regular soldier, tough hardened from India and South Africa, and then the 1st Army, Kitchener's ... grand men they were. I watched a battalion of them march into battle on the Somme in 1916, and I thought to myself, 'My God! What a wonderful lot of chaps.' Fine physically, good, well set up, good marching ... it was a fine generation. It's a great pity it was decimated."

4.0 out of 5 stars What it was really like, December 14, 2010

By 

Shirley Wardzinski (Indianapolis, IN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Road Home: The Aftermath of the Great War Told by the Men and Women Who Survived It (Paperback)

A fantastic book! When I was reading the first section, Armistice Day 1918, I was so deep in the story that I was surprised when my phone rang because I was in France at 11:11 on November 1918. Interviews with real live people--------things that will make you cry and things that will make you think that Politicians never change!This will deepen your understanding of the time period and the things that happened afterward