REFLECTIONS FROM THE DAY THE GUNS STOPPED

“DIRTY, LOUSY, STINKING, UNSHAVEN, UNKEMPT. WHERE WERE THE BANNERS, THE TRUMPETS, THE DRUMS, THE POMP, THE BOMBAST, THE GLORY?”

Howard Palmer enlisted in August 1914, signing up with the Territorial Force, East Coast Defences, but later joined the Royal Garrison Artillery. He served through both world wars and lived to write his memoirs. He survived the Somme, Ypres and even the Spring Offensive in 1918, when he was returned to England as a casualty. But by the November, he was about to be sent to Mesopotamia, and after the