Description
An in-depth study of the character and spirit of soldiers. This book takes as its starting point interviews with Chelsea Pensioners whose lives in the army span the 20th century, and who have seen action from World War I to Korea.
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Rich in narrative and anecdote, this book has at its heart short biographies of Chelsea Pensioners whose lives span the twentieth century and who have seen action from Passchendaele to Anzio, from the Malayan emergency to the Mau Mau uprising, from Aden to Indonesia. Philip Ziegler is fascinated by the values which these veterans share, and which the Army inculcated in them: self-discipline, acceptance of risk and pain, patriotism, loyalty to their fellows. And, of course, sometimes bigotry, narrow-mindedness, even blinkered stupidity. Are the old values relevant today or is the Royal Hospital a museum of fossilised ideals and attitudes?To read this book is to understand what soldiers are all about, what they fight for, and how they fit into the world of the twenty-first century.
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