John Kipling was reported missing, believed killed, in his first battle on the Western Front. From this time Kipling was constantly in pain from a gastric ulcer. He published some (censored) articles of war journalism in 1915, collected as The New Army in Training and France at War. His report of what he had seen of the military activity was published in six articles in The Daily Telegraph, in England, and in the New York Sun. They were collected in booklets in both countries, with some small textual variations. The articles include: On the Frontier of Civilisation; A Nation's Spirit; Battle Spectacle and a Review; The Land that Endures; Trenches on a Mountain side; The Common Task.The stories and verse that Kipling wrote at the turn of the century did much to shape public attitudes towards the British Empire and the worthiness of it's purpose. Born in Bombay, the son of an art teacher and illustrator, he was educated in England (a miserable experience recaptured in some of his stories) before returning to India in 1882 as a newspaper reporter.Nine years later he came back to England with an emerging reputation as an author and poet for both adults and children. His works on Indian, imperial, military and patriotic themes enjoyed huge commercial and literary success.
