Goodbye to All That

A few days after graduating from Charterhouse, on August 4, 1914, England declares war on Germany. Graves enlists in the army a few days later, thinking that, as the newspapers predict, it will be "only a very short war—over by Christmas" (67). Graves wants to get out of going to Oxford and assumes he'll be assigned to a garrison position defending England. He also expresses outrage over "the Germans' cynical violation of Belgian neutrality” (67). The golf club secretary at Harlech suggests Graves take a "commission" (69), or officer position, rather than merely enlisting. The secretary calls the Royal Welch Fusiliers, a well-regarded regiment, and tells the Adjutant that Graves served in the Officers' Training Corp at Charterhouse. The man tells Graves to come "right along" (69) to Wrexham.

Graves begins training on August 11th. His parents support his decision, thinking it "a religious act" (69) and "the right thing" (69) to do. Graves’s training in the O.T.C. helps him little and he makes many mistakes in his dress and conduct. As the leader of a platoon of many "re-enlisted old soldiers" (70), Graves feels uncomfortable speaking to the men with "the proper air of authority" (70). After only three weeks of training, Graves receives his first assignment to a "newly-formed internment camp for enemy aliens" (70), or Germans, in Lancaster.