The Death Grip

By: H. C. McNeile, Sapper

Narrated by: Gordon Griffin

A story from The Prisoner’s Defence, a collection of First World War short stories.

When Hugh Latimer is shot in the head during combat, he is not expected to survive. But he returns home a hero and is awarded the VC. As time moves on, though, it becomes clear that whilst he may have recovered physically, he has been dramatically changed psychologically by the war.

Written by H. C. McNeile as 'Sapper'.

Public Domain (P)2018 Soundings

One Tragedy in a Monumental Catastrophe

The preface says that McNeile's stories brought the reality of the trenches home to British readers at the time and they do the same for us today. And I confess that, after the gung-ho, swashbuckling ex-soldierly camaraderie of his Bulldog Drummond stories, the stark reality of this one came as something of a surprise.

Yet while showing the staggering tragedy war can inflict on a single home, McNeile stops short of the "Goodbye to All That" attitude of so many First World War authors. And I think the camaraderie among men who, as Oliver Wendell Holmes said, have "shared the incommunicable experience of war" has a lot to do with that choice.

Gordon Griffin is, as always, perfect.