Letters to Lily Vale

$30

The life and letters of Ernest Latchford MC MBE in France, Persia, and Russia, 1916-1919

In late 1918, thousands of Australian soldiers, exhausted and scarred from the conflict in Europe, began to head home to loved ones down under. However, one ANZAC headed the wrong way, toward more conflict and risk in vast and frozen Siberia, thousands of miles from his fiancé waiting on the family farm in Western Victoria.

This is the story of Ernest Latchford, one of the most influential leaders in the Australian Army during the first half of the 20th Century, told through his articulate, observant letters home from three very distinct theatres of war, with related commentary by his grandson. Every week, irrespective of location, intensity of battle, or injury he wrote to his fiancé, Linda Dehnert in Western Victoria. These previously unseen letters, often many pages in length, were always passionate and vivid as he describes the politics of the conflict and the horrors of the battles, especially the loss of much- loved colleagues.

• Specs:

  297 x 210mm, 328 pages, Paperback

• ISBN:

  9780648845621

• Author:

  Mark Latchford

In stock