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Fifteen years after the close of the Great War, Richards published in 1933 his classic account of the war from the standpoint of the regular soldier. It differs in many ways from memoirs written by officers who joined the army specifically to serve in the war, and has been called "a brilliant insight
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A reservist soldier when war broke out in August 1914, working as a timber assistant, Richards rejoined the 2nd
Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers, in which he remained for the duration of the war. It was while drinking in the bar of the Castle Hotel at Blaina that he heard the news of the outbreak of
118:, Monmouthshire, where, in the 1890s, he worked as a coal miner. He joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers in April 1901 and served in India and Burma from 1902-09 when, having completed eight years with the colours, he transferred to the Army Reserve for the remaining four years of his
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without suffering any notable injury. Unable to return to the coal mines following the war because of a physical injury, Richards was obliged to earn his living from numerous temporary jobs.
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Richards, who at no point rose above the rank of private during the war, refusing any offer of promotion, was awarded the
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Frank
Richards, who continued to correspond regularly with Robert Graves, died in 1961 at the age of 78.
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in industrial
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Remarkably, Richards saw action in virtually all of the major
British campaigns on the
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was written with the unaccredited assistance of fellow Royal Welch
Fusilier
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Major & Mrs HoltĂŤs
Battlefield Guide to Ypres Salient and Passchendaele
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into the life of a soldier in the early stages of the twentieth century".
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at the age of nine, and was then brought up by his aunt and uncle in the
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with another successful memoir, this time of his service in India,
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Richards, an orphan, was brought up by his aunt and uncle in
332:. London: Faber & Faber Ltd. p. 31,69,93,109,131.
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for their classic multi-part documentary of the conflict,
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from 1902 to 1909, after which he transferred to the
372:"Frank Richards: The Private Soldier in World War I"
304:"FRANK RICHARDS: RESURRECTION OF AN OLD SOLDIER"
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255:. Uckfield: The Naval and Military Press Ltd.
236:. Uckfield: The Naval and Military Press Ltd.
459:Recipients of the Distinguished Conduct Medal
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343:Major Holt; Mrs. Valmai Holt (14 May 2012).
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18:Francis Philip Woodruff
330:Old Soldiers Never Die
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