It is quite something to be told by your father of events and stories which took place during the First World War - I am honoured to share this with you. This is the true story of an ordinary man sent to fight in an extraordinary war - the war to end all wars. Geoff Dunkley's moving tribute to his late father recounts the early days of joining up and basic training through to the deadly battlefields of Western Europe, with gas attacks, aerial bombardments and the appalling conditions of life in the trenches. This personal record, complied by Geoff from extracts from his father's diaries and letters home lends even greater poignancy to the dreadful experiences Ted and his comrades endured in some of the bloodiest battles of the conflict - Ypres and the Somme. A tale of mud and bullets, death and destruction on a massive scale - but also one of human friendship and integrity and courage under fire.