This autobiography is one of several books written by Basil Peacock. He wrote the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers volume of the Famous Regiments series as well as various works on his postwar life.

His story takes the reader through his early years, into being a commissioned officer in the Great War, and then a prisoner of the Germans after capture in March 1918. Between the wars he established as a dentist, and also commanded various units of the Territorial Army. The Second War saw him eventually posted to Malaya with an anti-aircraft searchlight unit, and second capture, this time by the Japanese at Singapore. He was a fortunate survivor of the work on the railways and at the River Kwai. He rightly describes capture in the latter stages of the Great War as almost blissful release from a living hell; at the hands of the Japanese it was captivity that was brutal, murderous hell. Nonetheless Basil survived, returning to both dentistry and the Far East after the war. Easy to read, touchingly told, and full of incident and interest. Some 88 of the total 214 pages are on the Great War era.

Basil joined a curious organisation called the Junior Training League in 1915 at the age of 16. In that year he matriculated for entry to the University of Durham, but he was not admitted to the University Officer Training Corps and told to 'grow a bit'. He tried again months later and was accepted.

At seventeen and a half he applied for a commission in the Special Reserve but just as the regulations changed to make the lower age limit nineteen. He decided to give up the idea of a commission and lied his way into service as a ranker volunteer. He elected to join the Royal Fusiliers Public Schools Brigade, and with them carried out his training in Oxford and Edinburgh. Basil was one of only three of his draft that were kept behind when the rest were posted to France during the battle raging on the Somme. He was at first mortified, but perhaps calmed when he learned how many of his chums were killed within the first weeks of arrival.

On the recommendation of a friendly CSM he applied again for a commission and went through several incidents where those examining his case refused to believe his declared age due to his very youthful appearance and small stature. Eventually he was accepted and posted to No2 Officer Cadet Battalion at Cambridge. On passing the course, he was appointed a Second Leiutenant with the Special Reserve of his chosen Northumberland Fusiliers. Within a fortnight he was detailed to move to France, where he was posted to the 22nd Battalion, one of the Tyneside Scottish. It was a few days after his nineteenth birthday, in April 1917.

Basil Peacock was awarded the Military Cross, before his capture during the Michael offensive in March 1918.

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