A new memoir titled “Horses were more valuable than men” gives a personal account of the vital role horses played in World War One.
The title comes from a quote in a scrapbook kept by Charles Bassett, who served in the transport section of the Civil Service Rifles during the war.
His grandson Stefan Woroniecki tracked the tatty book down in the Royal Green Jackets museum in Winchester while he was investigating the family’s history.
“As I child I remember my grandfather pouring over this book at the table,” he told H&H.
The curator at the military museum gave him a photocopy of the scrapbook and he got a copy typist to type it up with a view to turning the edited version into a book.
Determined to get it published in the centenary year of World War One Mr Woroniecki went to self-publishing company PublishNation.
The final edited book is 23,000 words and 95 pages including pictures.
The book lists all the horses Charles Bassett worked with until he was hit by shrapnel and injured out of the war in 1917.
“Horses were more valuable than men” is available from Amazon in Kindle form, price £1.95 or in paperback price £5.50.
