These are the final, moving letters written by soldiers to their families just before they died.The brave servicemen penned the missives to be read by their loved ones if they were killed.Dedicated historian Sian Price spent three years travelling the world and reading through 30,000 heart-rending letters to compile the touching collection.
The letters, spanning the 17th century to the present day, reveal the timeless truths of war in the words of fallen heroes throughout the ages.
Miss Price searched museums, libraries and military archives in the UK, Australia, Japan, Germany, France, USA, South Africa, Italy, Canada and New Zealand to find the most poignant writings.
Her book If You're Reading This... Last Letters From the Front Line collates 70 letters from soldiers who never came home.
'They are the most amazing letters,' said Miss Price, 35, from Cardiff. 'There is something very beautiful about reading the intimate thoughts of these men who knew they could be about to die.'The common theme that binds them all is love. Almost all the letters from the whole 300 years express the writer’s love for someone, whether it is their wife, mother or children.
'Sometimes they’re very flowery and poetic, others are humourous or even quite flippant.'Contemplating the possibility of not making it through has forced them to say things they might not normally express in their wildest dreams.
'The hardest ones to read are the ones written by young men, who are full of exuberance and confidence and never really believed they might be killed.
'These letters are treasured by the families and passed down for generations.'The messages trace common themes of heartache and loss over 300 years of history and nine major conflicts, from the Napoleonic Wars to Afghanistan today.
One of the most recent was written in 2006 by Gunner Lee Thornton to his fiance Helen, before he was killed aged 22 in Iraq.It reads: 'I don’t know why I am writing this because I really hope that this letter never gets to you, because if it does that means I am dead.'Just because I have passed away does not mean I am not with you. I』ll always be there looking over you, keeping you safe.
'So whenever you feel lonely just close your eyes and I』ll be there right by your side. I really did love you with all I had, you were everything to me.'
The Honourable Samuel S. Barrington, who was killed aged 19 at Quatre Bras in 1815, two days before Waterloo, wrote: 'If I escape with my whole skin, I shall think myself well off and be thankful.'If on the contrary some unlucky ball finished me, I trust I shall not be wholly unprepared to face danger and death.'The book even contains a fascinating letter from Japanese kamikaze pilot Captain Masanobu Kuno, who was killed on May 24, 1945, as part of an operation which caused 5,000 casualties.
He wrote to his children: 'Even though you cannot see me, I will always be watching you. Please persevere like your father and avenge my death.'