THE UNKNOWN WARRIOR

It is rare to find a tale so strange intimate and human yet at the same time so enormous so global in its importance Yet again John Nichol impresses us with his ability to weave together the little details and the grand narrative Dan Snow Over one million British Empire soldiers were killed during the First World War More than a century later more than half a million still have no known grave The scale of the fighting the destructive power of high explosive and the combination of relentless military engagement and glutinous mud meant that many of the dead were never recovered or identified Names were left without bodies and bodies or fragments of bodies without names In an emotional personal journey Sunday Times bestselling author John Nichol uncovers the dramatic story of the Unknown Warrior who lies in Westminster Abbey and our nation s deep seated need to honour and mourn the fallen A Soldier of the Great War Known Unto God Rudyard Kipling In the aftermath of the First World War an idea was born for a single Unknown Warrior to commemorate every one of the missing and help staunch the tidal flow of national grief Echoed most recently by the funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II each phase of his burial ceremony was choreographed with