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Engaged In War
The
Letters of Stanley Goodland
1914 - 1919
This is the story of a Territorial Army officer, (1/5 Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry) who took part in some of the forgotten theatres of World War 1; sometimes designated as 'sideshows': 'Mespot' (Iraq), Egypt, Palestine.
Five
years overseas with no home leave
These letters voice the concerns
of a territorial soldier, a second lieutenant who was in camp in August
1914, and did not return to England until 1920; a man who had just become
engaged to be married and was getting established in his career. He left
for India in October 1914 and never had home leave. Most of his letters
to his fiancée, Elsie, survive (unfortunately her letters do not)
and it is these letters that form the basis of this book, edited and annotated
by his son and daughter.
Changing
attitudes - contrasting fortunes
These letters reflect his initial excitement at going to war and his keen and lively interest in new places and people. They reveal how his attitudes change with experience of camp life and combat into a dogged acceptance of a job to be done, whatever the discomfort and losses involved.
We share the thrill of being entertained by the Maharajah of Patiala:- '...treated like royalty ... met at the station by elephants' (Jan 1915); are appalled by conditions in 'Mespot':- 'bitterly cold and often we had to be out in the desert at night in our thin Indian clothes with no blankets' (Jan 1916). We have sympathy for a man who had lost two good friends to death or injury in Palestine (and for Elsie) when he says;- '... a few days ago I wrote you a very miserable letter and I have regretted it ever since' (Dec 1917). As a concientious adjutant he spent the whole of 1919 in Egypt attending to other people's demobilisation and suppressing local unrest, his own return being for ever deferred. 'Five years ago I sailed from Southampton. Isn't it dreadful to think of?' (October 1919).
Eyewitness
accounts
For each year, the letters are
preceded by an introduction, putting them in context of the war situation
worldwide and Stanley Goodland's part in it. His letters reveal much of
the military action, and his (sometimes) critical view of those in command.
It is a story which combines military history and human interest - and one with a happy ending.
Published March 1999
172 pages 16pp black and white plates 7pp maps
ISBN: 0 9528625 2 2
Price: £9.50 Post and Packing: UK £1.50, overseas £4.50
Engaged in War can be obtained from:
Ann Noyes
Twiga Lodge, Wonham Way, Gomshall, Surrey GU5 9NZ
United Kingdom
Cheques payable to Twiga Books.