Book description
Who were the men and women whose names are commemorated on war
memorials around the country? Where did they live - and how and why
did they die?
Such questions usually go unanswered, but this book for the first
time unravels the story of one war memorial, in the Dartmoor village
of Lydford. Through original documents, Clive Aslet traces in vivid
detail the lives of the twenty-two men, and one woman, who made the
supreme sacrifice fighting for Britain in the two World Wars, the
Falklands and Iraq.
The result is an intimate portrait of one corner of the countryside
in the twentieth century, and an extraordinary tale of the endurance
and bravery of otherwise ordinary people - farmers, masons,
railway-workers, landowners, schoolchildren - who, but for the war
memorial, would be forgotten.
War Memorial is about the people who laid down their lives
for us, and who will always be remembered.
Clive Aslet is an award-winning journalist and former Editor of
Country Life
who has spent his career observing Britain and its ways. An authority
on British life, he has written several books on the subject - including
The Last Country Houses
,
Landmarks of Britain
, and
Villages of Britain
- and is well-known as a campaigner on countryside and other issues. He
writes and blogs extensively for national newspapers such as the
Daily Telegraph,
the
Sunday Telegraph
and the
Daily Mail Online
, and frequently appears on radio and television.
