'The author served as a private, NCO and officer in the 27th Battalion AIF from 1915 to 1919. Presented here for the first time, after lying unpublished in the Australian War Memorial's archives for almost 80 years, this is the story of a young university student who enlists to 'do his bit'. In the persona of his narrator, John Carlton, Colman journeys from schoolboy cricked captain in Adelaide to infantry officer on the Western Front, where he is twice wounded and awarded the Military Cross for gallantry. A thoughtful and intelligent writer, he tells what it means to be a civilian in a soldier's world. Includes commentary from two leading South Australian military historians.' (Publisher's blurb)