The reluctant tommy - Ronald Skirth

In the First World War, like many other Tommies, Ronald Skirth fought in the trenches, endured shell shock and somehow survived. But Skirth's story is extraordinary: on the Flanders battlefield he came across the dead body of a teenaged German soldier. The boy was just like him; in his hand, a photo of his girlfriend who looked just like Skirth's sweetheart, Ella... Skirth resolved never again to help take a human life. He altered the trajectory of guns to fire harmlessly, and, at great risk, carried out smaller acts of sabotage. Despite suffering breakdowns and amnesia, Skirth continued his peaceful campaign, lived out the war, and returned to marry Ella. THE RELUCTANT TOMMY is the story of a man who stuck by his principles in impossible circumstances.