Soldier Against the Odds From Korean War to SAS

Book Code:  SH2477

Soldier Against the Odds From Korean War to SAS

 

The history of warfare was the exclusive preserve of the officer class, who could re-write their campaigns to serve their own ends, and didn't want any awkward upstart nonentities telling us what we actually already knew - namely that warfare is one part planning to ten parts cock-up. In which case, Lofty Large's squaddie's tale, Soldier Against the Odds, is something of an anomaly. He joined the army as a 15-year-old band boy in 1946. He then served in Korea, where he was both wounded and taken prisoner. On his return home, he was told that his days of active service were over; Large wouldn't accept this. He got himself fit, and passed the selection process for the SAS with whom he served with distinction in hot-spots such as Aden, Malaya and Oman. There is all the usual stuff on offer here; the blood, the guts, the boredom, the fear and the universal incompetence of the officer class. But there is also something a bit more profound. Large combines the personal detail with an unusual ability to see a wider perspective. So what emerges is not just a solipsistic life story in which other characters feature as mere incidentals, but as a more universalised experience of army life.

 

Lofty Large

Hardcover with d/w 288pp Mainstream Publishing 2000

 

Vg/Vg