Chapter 27Michael managed to enlist in the Royal Welch Fusiliers, with James's help, and he went off to join the war effort on January 3rd. He spent the following weeks doing his basic training, and then, at the end of the month, he was sent over to Flanders, where he started life in the 9th battalion as an ordinary private. He put in for a commission and was made into a 2nd lieutenant towards the end of March, by which time James had returned to the regiment.
Phoebe subsequently learned of all this from what James wrote to her; and she was also happy to learn, from his letters, that things were fairly quiet for the time being on the Somme, even if the lice and the rats and the awful food did drive him to the point of distraction. Phoebe did her best to muddle along without him, whilst li
