Dennis Bowen retells how as a naive teenager he joined his heroes in the army motivated by the harm World War 2 was having on the UK, the realities of war shattering all of his childish expectations. Initially being too young to fight he served as a demonstrator but due to the lack of action and the overestimation of his own abilities the job felt like a complete waste to him.  

Upon reaching 18 he was sent to France as part of the D Day invasion force and was finally among the British soldiers he had always idolised. Whilst Dennis found himself trembling with excitement the older soldiers remained blasé, the realisation of how much experience he truly lacked immediately hitting him. He was shocked to witness them reflexively kill German soldiers before they could even try to surrender but overtime he also found himself treating them more like moving targets than people.  

Dennis felt no longer human and like the battle would never end as everything except fighting was leaving his mind; there was no time for hunger, fatigue or pain, only fear, anxiety and excitement. Occasionally the thought of giving up did slip through but the fact none of his fellow soldiers had done so forced him to keep going as to not let them and especially those who had died down. When serious injuries temporarily left him unable to fight Dennis was so angry to be out of the battle he felt none of the physical pain as potentially letting everybody down was so much more distressing to him.