This reading is from a passage written in 1918 by a man enlisted in World War I on the side of the British. He was Siegfried Sassoon, ultimately a company commander.  He was no friend of the war or the British Army. He begins by addressing a dead friend who was killed in a disastrous military encounter.  

Siegfried sounds like an amazing person. He was decorated for saving many lives with conspicuous risk to self.  And he was a successful writer of poetry- conveying the ugly truths he found as he fought the war.  And protesting how his military was being wrapped in politics and how maneuvers were being conducted wrongly as a direct result…which is what happened when his friend died.  His essays bashed persons and institutions, to where his self restraint became a problem and repercussions became bigger. But a brilliant life he lived.

I wonder how his superiors felt about balancing his outright defiance against his heroism. How do you punish a hero? A soldier you have promoted to Company Commander.  And how many of "his suicide missions" risked his mate's lives along with his own?  Ultimately he was placed somewhere for  help with his declining mental status.  Reminder to self.. follow up on this person..

Reference found in The Internet Archive under The Essay- BBC Radio 3: 6/21/2017. The reader is Joanna Bourke.

a soldier's declaration

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