The Last Fighting Tommy

Download or read book The Last Fighting Tommy written by Harry Patch and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2008-06-02 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The extraordinary and moving story of a man, now aged 108, whose life has spanned six monarchs and twenty Prime Ministers .

Download or read book The Last Fighting Tommy written by Harry Patch and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2010-04-27 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Harry Patch, born June 17, 1898, was the last British soldier alive to have fought in the trenches of the First World War. From his vivid memories of an Edwardian childhood, the horror of the Great War and fighting in the mud during the Battle of Passchendaele, working on the home front in the Second World War, and fame in later life as a veteran, The Last Fighting Tommy is the story of an ordinary man's extraordinary life.

Download or read book Tommy's War written by Richard van Emden and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2014-09-09 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shares excerpts from the personal diaries and photographs of British soldiers to depict the daily life of a Tommy in the trenches between 1914 and 1918.

Download or read book My Last Fight written by Darren McCarty and published by Triumph Books. This book was released on 2014-10-01 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Looking back on a memorable career, Darren McCarty recounts his time as one of the most visible and beloved members of the Detroit Red Wings as well as his personal struggles with addiction, finances, and women and his daily battles to overcome them. As a member of four Red Wings' Stanley Cup&–winning teams, McCarty played the role of enforcer from 1993 to 2004 and returning again in 2008 and 2009. His “Grind Line” with teammates Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby physically overmatched some of the best offensive lines in the NHL, but he was more than just a brawler: his 127 career goals included several of the highlight variety, including an inside-out move against Philadelphia in the clinching game of the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals. As colorful a character as any NHL player, he has arms adorned with tattoos, and he was the lead singer in the hard rock band Grinder during the offseason. Yet this autobiography details what may have endeared him most to his fans: the honest, open way he has dealt with his struggles in life off the ice. Whether dealing with substance abuse, bankruptcy, divorce, or the death of his father, Darren McCarty has always seemed to persevere.

Download or read book Boy Soldiers of the Great War written by Richard van Emden and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2021-11-24 with total page 577 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After the outbreak of the Great War, boys as young as twelve were caught up in a national wave of patriotism and, in huge numbers, volunteered to serve their country. The press, recruiting offices and the Government all contributed to the enlistment of hundreds of thousands of under-age soldiers in both Britain and the Empire. On joining up, these lads falsified their ages, often aided by parents who believed their sons’ obvious youth would make overseas service unlikely. These boys frequently enlisted together, training for a year or more in the same battalions before they were sent abroad. Others joined up but were soon sent to units already fighting overseas and short of men: these lads might undergo as little as eight weeks’ training. Boys served in the bloodiest battles of the war, fighting at Ypres, the Somme and on Gallipoli. Many broke down under the strain and were returned home once parents supplied birth certificates proving their youth. Other lads fought on bravely and were even awarded medals for gallantry: Jack Pouchot won the Distinguished Conduct Medal aged just fifteen. Others became highly efficient officers, such as Acting Captain Philip Lister and Second Lieutenant Reginald Battersby, both of whom were commissioned at fifteen and fought in France. In this, the final update of his ground-breaking book, Richard van Emden reveals new hitherto unknown stories and adds many more unseen images. He also proves that far more boys enlisted in the British Army under-age than originally estimated, providing compelling evidence that as many as 400,000 served.

Download or read book Teenage Tommy written by Richard van Emden and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2014-02-19 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Benjamin Clouting was just sixteen years old when he embarked with the British Expeditionary Force for France in August 1914. The youngest man in the 4th Dragoon Guards, he took part in the BEF's celebrated first action at Casteau on August 22nd, and, two days later, had his horse shot from under him during the famous cavalry charge of the 4th Dragoon Guards and the 9th Lancers at Audregnies. Ben served on the Western front during every major engagement of the war except Loos, was wounded twice, and in 1919 went with the Army of Occupation to Cologne. The son of a stable groom, Ben was brought up in the beautiful Sussex countryside near Lewes and from his earliest years was, as he often said himself, "crazy to be a soldier". He worked briefly as a stable boy before joining up in 1913; his training was barely completed when war broke out. The Regiment, knowing Ben to be under age, tried to stop him embarking for France, but he flatly refused to be left behind. During the next four years, he served under officers immortalized in Great War history, including Major Tom Bridges, Captain Hornby, and Lieutenant-Colonel Adrien Carton de Wiart VC.Teenage Tommy is a detailed account of a trooper's life at the front, vividly recalling, for example, the privations suffered during the retreat from Mons. and later, the desperate fighting to hold back the German onslaught at 2nd Ypres. But this is more than just a memoir about trench warfare. Ben's lively sense of humor and healthy disrespect for petty restrictions make this an entertaining as well as a moving story of life at the front.

Download or read book The Last Veteran written by Peter Parker and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2010 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Harry Patch's story and the meaning of the war to those who fought in it and the generations that have followed. An illuminating and timely book, a moving tribute to a remarkable generation.