Editing Siegfried Sassoon (section)

===War opposition and Craiglockhart===
Despite his decorations and reputation, in 1917 Sassoon decided to make a stand against the conduct of the war. One of the reasons for his violent anti-war feeling was the death of his friend [[David Cuthbert Thomas]], who appears as "Dick Tiltwood" in the [[Sherston trilogy]]. Sassoon spent years trying to overcome his grief.

In August 1916, Sassoon arrived at Somerville College, Oxford, which was used as a hospital for convalescing officers, with a case of gastric fever. He wrote: "To be lying in a little white-walled room, looking through the window on to a College lawn, was for the first few days very much like a paradise". Graves ended up at Somerville as well. "How unlike you to crib my idea of going to the Ladies' College at Oxford", Sassoon wrote to him in 1917.

At the end of a spell of convalescent leave, Sassoon declined to return to duty; encouraged by pacifist friends such as [[Bertrand Russell]] and [[Lady Ottoline Morrell]], he sent a letter to his commanding officer titled ''[[wikisource:Finished_with_the_War:_A_Soldier’s_Declaration|Finished with the War: A Soldier's Declaration]]''. Forwarded to the press and read aloud in the House of Commons by a sympathetic member of Parliament, the letter was seen by some as treasonous ("I am making this statement as an act of willful defiance of military authority") or at best as condemning the war government's motives ("I believe that the war upon which I entered as a war of defence and liberation has now become a war of aggression and conquest"<ref>{{Cite news |url= https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/887751--war-resisters-also-deserve-a-memorial|title=War resisters also deserve a memorial |author=Peter Smollett |date=9 November 2010|work=Toronto Star |access-date=12 November 2010}}</ref>).

Rather than court-martial Sassoon, the [[Under-Secretary of State for War]], [[Ian Macpherson, 1st Baron Strathcarron|Ian Macpherson]], decided that he was unfit for service and had him sent to [[Craiglockhart War Hospital]] near Edinburgh, where he officially was treated for neurasthenia ("[[shell shock]]").<ref name="ODNB" />

At the end of 1917, Sassoon was posted to [[Limerick]], Ireland, where in the [[Sarsfield Barracks|New Barracks]] he helped train new recruits. He wrote that it was a period of respite for him, and allowed him to indulge in his love of hunting. Reflecting on the period years later, he mentioned how trouble was brewing in Ireland at the time, in the few years before the [[Irish War of Independence]]. After only a short period in Limerick he was posted to Egypt.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sassoon |first1=Siegfried |title=A Limerick Posting |journal=Old Limerick Journal |date=1982 |volume=10 |issue=Spring |pages=29–32 |url=http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/limerick%20posting.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121216031640/http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/limerick%20posting.pdf |archive-date=2012-12-16 |url-status=live |access-date=18 September 2020}}</ref>

Before declining to return to active service, Sassoon had thrown his MC ribbon into the sea at Formby beach; some people misinterpreted his description of this incident in ''[[Memoirs of an Infantry Officer]]'' and believed that he had thrown the medal itself away, but this was retained and passed into the care of his family. He stated that he did not do this as a symbolic rejection of militaristic values, but simply out of the need to perform some destructive act as catharsis. His account states that one of his pre-war sporting trophies, had he had one to hand, would have served his purpose equally well. The actual decoration was rediscovered after the death of Sassoon's only son, George, and subsequently became the subject of a dispute among Sassoon's heirs.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12779481.Family_in_row_over_Sassoon_war_medal_sale/|title=Family in row over Sassoon war medal sale|website=The Herald|date=2 July 2007 |location=Glasgow|access-date=14 January 2018}}</ref>

At Craiglockhart, Sassoon met [[Wilfred Owen]], another poet. It was thanks to Sassoon that Owen persevered in his ambition to write better poetry.<ref name="LitHub">{{cite web |last1=Korda |first1=Michael |title=How Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon Forged a Literary and Romantic Bond |url=https://lithub.com/How-Wilfred-Owen-and-Siegfried-Sassoon-Forged-a-Literary-and-Romantic-Bond |website=Literary Hub |access-date=22 May 2024 |date=16 April 2024}}</ref> A manuscript copy of Owen's ''[[Anthem for Doomed Youth]]'' containing Sassoon's handwritten amendments survives as testimony to the extent of his influence and is currently on display at London's [[Imperial War Museum]].

Sassoon became to Owen "[[John Keats|Keats]] and Christ and Elijah", according to a surviving letter which demonstrates the depth of Owen's love and admiration for him.<ref name="LitHub"/> Both men returned to active service in France, but Owen was killed in 1918, a week before Armistice. Sassoon was promoted to lieutenant, and, having spent some time in Palestine, eventually returned to France by 20 June 1918.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sassoon |first1=Siegfried |title=Journal 9 May 1918 - 2 Feb 1919 |url=https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-09852-00001-00013/56 |website=Cambridge University Library |access-date=29 November 2024 |date=August 1918}}</ref>

Sassoon was wounded again on 13 July 1918<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sassoon |first1=Siegfried |title=Journal 9 May 1918 - 2 Feb 1919 |url=https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-09852-00001-00013/56 |website=Cambridge University Library |access-date=29 November 2024 |date=August 1918}}</ref>—reportedly by [[friendly fire]] when he was injured by a shot to the head by a fellow British soldier who had apparently mistaken him for a German, near Arras, France (per a 2018 story published by a British online tabloid, it was suggested that the friendly fire incident was not accidental, however the veracity of this claim is in some question<ref>{{Cite web |last=Deacon |first=Thomas |date=2018-07-28 |title=The extraordinary story of how a Welshman shot Siegfried Sassoon |url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/extraordinary-untold-story-how-welshman-14963777 |access-date=2023-06-23 |website=WalesOnline |language=en}}</ref>). As a result of this injury, he spent the remainder of the war in Britain. By this time, he had been promoted to acting captain. He relinquished his commission on health grounds on 12 March 1919, but retained the rank of captain.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31221 |supp=y|page=3269|date=7 March 1919}}</ref>

After the war, Sassoon was instrumental in bringing Owen's work to the attention of a wider audience. Their relationship is the subject of [[Stephen MacDonald]]'s play ''[[Not About Heroes]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Alexander |first1=Andrew |title=Review: "Not About Heroes" is a sweeping epic, but it's not for everyone |url=https://www.artsatl.org/review-not-about-heroes-is-a-sweeping-epic-but-its-not-for-everyone/ |access-date=15 January 2023 |work=ArtsAtl.org |date=7 November 2018 |format=Digital publication}}</ref>