Description
Written neither as a conventional biography or battalion history, this work centres on theremarkable life of Joe Waite, a boy soldier of the Great War. Though, in telling his story, thenames and lives of 64 of his fallen comrades are also revealed. All were lost in just onemonth of fighting, during the hell that was the Third Battle of Ypres also known asPasschendaele.Born in a tough, working-class neighbourhood in Coventry, in the heart of the industrialMidlands, Joe's childhood was blighted by the loss of his mother and tempered by his father'sdecision to separate him from his siblings and re-marry. The need to earn his keep forced himinto factory work from an early age, soon resulting in a humbling brush with the law.Eventually, the outbreak of war, and later, a family row over a pair of boots, lead to hisenlistment in the army, at just 16 years old.Hiding the secret of his true age from his comrades in the 1/7th (TF) battalion, The RoyalWarwickshire Regiment, Joe left Coventry and
