A centena for Robert Greaves.

I’m one of a hundred writers taking part in an amazing project to commemorate the centenary of the armistice run by 26, an organisation of professional writers, in partnership with Imperial War Museums. The idea is that each of us would write 100 words about someone who was alive during the First World War and the resulting 100 pieces, called centenas, would be published one a day over the period of the 100 day offensive leading up to the end of the war.

There’s also a beautiful book which you can buy by donating to a JustGiving page here. The proceeds will go to the charity War Child. As I write this, £7,450 has already been raised.

Well today is day 92 out of the 100 and it’s my turn. Here’s my centena, in honour of a young man called Robert Greaves. I don’t know much about Robert, just what I could gather from reading a few newspaper accounts. I haven’t even been able to source a photograph of him, which is a shame. I would dearly love to see his face. The one thing I do know about him is that he committed suicide after being given a white feather, the symbol of cowardice, because he had not enlisted.

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