This interview with an unnamed veteran from WWI has been edited from a series of interview rushes conducted for With Heart and Hand: Battle of the Somme, a programme commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. Injured in battle, the veteran speaks of conditions in the dressing stations where the walking wounded queued for whatever succour could be found as overwhelmed medics struggled to cope with the casualties. The story of William McFadzean, who won a Victoria Cross, also features in his interview.

Most movingly, there is the story of a lark that manages to survive the bombardment and continue singing. Other veterans interviewed for this programme also speak of larks and nightingales, as if the unnatural actions of warfare have made them particularly attuned to the natural world.