Andy Symington volunteered to join the Royal Irish Fusiliers in 1916. Over the next seven years, he would participate in the Battle of the Somme, the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War, a trilogy of military service experienced by fewer than sixty men, historians have estimated. His fighting career was a convulsion of contradictions: having been honourably discharged from the British army with a Silver War badge due to wounds and shellshock, he returned to Ireland and fought against the British (Black & Tans and Auxiliaries) for the nascent IRA, becoming the most wanted man in Tyrone in 1921; in 1922 he switched sides again, became a captain in the Free State army and fought against the IRA in the Civil War.

Meticulously researched, the book examines his life and times, casting light on some colourful characters like Geoffrey-Caiger Watson (an enigmatic RAF officer who survived a plane crash that killed his pilot on the penultimate day of the War); Woodbine Willie (a chaplain who crawled around No Man's land dispensing cigarettes and spiritual support to the wounded and dying); Tom Kettle, a gifted Irish academic and politician who not only lost his life but his place in history; and Mrs Mary Barbour who masterminded the Glasgow Rent Strike from her scullery (forcing Lloyd George to introduce emergency legislation in her favour).

This book uncovers a previously suppressed story of mutiny and officer murder in the trenches and reveals how the press covered it up. It also exposes a cover up in the War Diaries, as Army High Command sought to distance itself from an ill-conceived attack which cost the lives of 385 men, many of them killed by their own side.

The work is in three volumes, collectively dedicated to the memory of Andy and focusses on the years 1916-23, the most remarkable years of this fighter's life. This first volume covers his time as a British soldier and examines the bloodiest battle in the Great War: the Somme. There is a strong human-interest undercurrent, from his early days in a family of ten in Fermanagh to the post war impact of alcoholism and shellshock (today known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD) on a tortured family life.

The second volume, when released, will examine Andy's role in the War of Independence against Britain. This period of his life was spent "on the run", harboured by close friends like the McLoughlins and saw him become the most wanted man in Tyrone by the authorities. Volume three will cover his career as a Captain in the Nationalist army during the darkest days of the Irish Civil War.

A century after the Somme, there emerged a divine twist when Andy's great grandson married the granddaughter of his second lieutenant and fellow trench warrior, a fact only uncovered during the research for this book. Ronan Ferguson and Stephanie Caiger-Watson owe their gift of life to the outrageous good fortune of Private Andy Symington and Second Lieutenant Geoffrey Caiger-Watson.

I do not know the word for something bigger than a miracle. For now, I will call it a Findlay. Ronan and Stephanie's first born is simply that- a miracle of Life. His existence uniquely depended on the survival of both Andy and Geoffrey; two men that had the odds of reaching fatherhood very much stacked against them.

A story that began about my grandfather, ends with me becoming a grandfather.
I dedicate the endeavour to Findlay Rafferty Ferguson.