February 1901 South Africa,
The Boer War " Frankly, I had enjoyed the war", the thrill and enjoyment it brought.
I was 20 years old when I tried to join the British army. Unfortunately, I got rejected, but that never stopped me. I abandoned my studies in Balliol College and Oxford,"I didn't care for school and was determined to fight. I wasn't interested in the reasons for the war. I was only too glad to get into it." So I went under the name Trooper Carton) I pretended to be 25 before getting signed up.
I left for South Africa to serve with the British Army during the Second Boer War. For three years (1899-1902) I marched under that scorching sun, across terrain so dry and dead it crumbled beneath each step. The land was cracked, brittle, barren like the faces of the men beside me."It was a purely selfish adventure. I was obsessed with getting into the fighting and learning what it was all about."
I was young. Stupid.