The Unwanted: Great War Letters from the Field

J.L. Granatstein, Distinguished Research Professor of History Emeritus,
York University, served as Director of the Canadian War Museum from 1998
to 2000. His latest works are Who Killed Canadian History?, Who Killed
the Canadian Military, and Hell’s Cor

During the Great War, the army raised whole battalions, rather than
training individual soldiers, and dispatched them overseas. Privates
were sent to the front, but after the first year of action officers
other than lieutenants were not wanted, largely because every
battlefield commander wanted men who knew what they were about. Officers
could revert to lieutenant and fight; many stood on their dignity,
becoming “the unwanted.” John M. Hughes was one, but he performed
useful service nonetheless, becoming an agricultural officer who
supervised the growing of crops behind the lines to feed the troops. His
memoirs and letters, helpfully annotated by his grandson, shed light on
a hitherto unknown aspect of the war. Still, one wishes that the
question of reversion had been raised. Hughes had a choice, as did
thousands of others.