IN 2014, as we commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of World War I, there can be no more poignant publication this year than Sian Price’s collection of letters sent from soldiers to their loved ones over the years, writes Kerry Black.

The book encompasses everything from war in France in the 1700s, to the American Civil War, right up to the recent conflicts in the Falklands and Afghanistan.

They are all copies of real letters sent home to family and friends either by the soldiers themselves, or by colleagues and nursing staff on their behalf.

For me the most heartbreaking chapter concerns the letters of a young man from Cowdenbeath who died in World War I.

Second Lieutenant William Barclay Binning was the Dux of Beath High, before going on to study medicine at Edinburgh University. He was killed in France in 1916. Tragically his parents received a letter from him on the same day as the telegram announcing his death. Even worse, another letter arrived from him several days later and his distraught family had to rely on their minister to read it to them. His final letter, sent from a nursing sister at the front, starts with the line, “Don’t grieve dearest mother and father.” He goes on to assure them of his great faith in God and they they will all be re-united one day.

Another incredible story is told via the letters of Private Alexander Wuttunee Decoteau, a Cree Indian, who died at Passchendale in 1917. In 1985, his relatives and friends performed a special ceremony to bring his spirit home, as in Cree culture, without a Cree burial, their spirit roams the earth.

There are also letters from people who survived conflicts, some with terrible injuries and many supporting letters from their families and loved ones.

No matter which century the soldiers fought in, these letters home tell us more about the tragedy and obscenity of war and it’s impact on future generations than any military campaign historian ever could.