The Minstrel Boy: A Tale of War

Yearning for adventure a boy of 16 enlists in the Army in August 1914 giving his age as 19. In the Battle of the Somme his battalion is decimated, all his friends are killed. He decides that, before he faces death again he should experience the embrace of a woman. This he seeks in the arms of a whore. Now a Corporal he leads a firing squad ordered to execute a boy, probably younger than himself,found guilty of cowardice.This affects him profoundly. He meets an Army Nurse, a Jewish girl. They become lovers but he must return to the war. Now Commisioned he leads a platoon into the hell that was Passchendael. His battalion is thrown against the German onslaught of 1918. He is taken prisoner but escapes & seeks to reach the allied lines. Wounded whilst evading a German patrol he reaches safety in the American Army lines. The war ends but government promises of a 'Land fit for Heros' prove to be hollow.