Call to Arms: The Clerk Who Dared the Great Adventure

"The Call to Arms" is the life story of First World War hero William Palstra between 1914 and 1917. In 1914 he leaves his job as an office clerk in London, sails to Australia in a steam-ship, and takes a job as a clerk in Melbourne. While he is still on the high seas the Great War breaks out, and his younger brother enlists in the Australian Imperial Force (A.I.F.). Charles is destined to sail to the shores of Gallipoli, where the Anzac legend will be born.

Young Will Palstra also enlists. With the 39th Infantry Battalion, he voyages to the war on the other side of the world.

The young soldiers complete their training on Salisbury Plain, in the shadow of Stonehenge, before crossing the English Channel to begin active service in the muddy, bloody trenches of the infamous Western Front.

"The Call to Arms" is Book #2 of the VALIANT HEART trilogy. It follows Palstra's well-documented life story as he comes of age, maturing from a mild-mannered office clerk to a commissioned officer in the Australian Army.