There are many books about Great War heroes. Relatively few are written about survivors and even fewer detail their whole lives or the wider context of their service. In this approach to the Great War, Richard Cullen takes the reader through history, led by the medals of five who served, each decorated for distinguished service; to wide-ranging political and military contexts, the personal side of their lives in war and peace, and the untold contributions that they made. What do the medals tell about the people who wore them? Where did they serve? How full were there lives? What wider historical and tactical contexts surrounded them?

Readers will learn of aspects of service, battles and ways of making war that they might otherwise not have found in one place; philanthropy, volunteering, care for the injured, supplying an army, the dangerous monotony of the trenches, the Allied Intervention in the Russian civil war.

Each of the subjects covered here led diverse lives. They served on land, in the air, and later at sea. Their stories are untold and open our eyes to the struggles that so many faced without formal recognition. In these varied and multi-layered accounts are tales of sadness, power struggle, modesty and compassion, bravery and a fulfilled post-war life.