Ebook: The fighting padre: Pat Leonard's letters from the trenches 1915-1918
Author: Leonard Pat, Leonard John, Leonard-Johnson Philip
- Tags: Military chaplains--Great Britain, World War 1914-1918--Chaplains, World War 1914-1918, Military chaplains, Chaplains, Personal narratives, Personal correspondence, Leonard Pat -- Correspondence, Military chaplains -- Great Britain -- Correspondence, World War 1914-1918 -- Chaplains -- Correspondence, World War 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives British, Great Britain
- Year: 2010
- Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
- City: Barnsley;Great Britain
- Language: English
- epub
Pat Leonard served throughout the Great War as a Chaplain to the Forces in France, Belgium and, after the Armistice, in Germany. Along with the many hundreds of letters he wrote to the relatives of those 'parishioners' who died or were wounded, he found time to describe for his parents back at home the awful reality of life in the Trenches, and on the makeshift aerodromes from which the pilots of the Royal Flying Corps operated from the Observer's seat which liberated his spirit from the mud of Flanders.
Very much a 'front-line' priest, his descriptions provide an unusually objective view of army life, and of the job of the multitasked chaplain who was expected to undertake the roles of counselor, comforter, caterer, censor, entertainment officer and sports supreme to name but a few. The extracts selected from his letters are full of detail, humor, self deprecation and just sometimes when judged by today's standards, mild 'political incorrectness'! Known as 'a veritable...