circumstances, he could have easily ended up the same way. Weeper Watkins Injured by poison gas that left his tear-ducts constantly running, Weeper is a cheeky rebel who hates the war and despises the army and he suffers badly for his insubordination. He eventually deserts but is recaptured in 1917. Ernie Stubbs A short soldier who is one of the officers' servants during Charley's time as Snell's batman. He once served in the Bantams until his regiments was disbanded because of heavy casualties. Captured during a raid on the trench, he is killed by Adolf Hitler with a grenade when he tries to escape. The Scholar Joining Charley's platoon as a young private after the Somme, the Scholar, a gentle and timid book-worm, is bullied viciously by a burly veteran named Grogan. Charley steps in to help, leading to a fight in which Grogan is accidentally killed. The Scholar soon turns out to be a two-faced cunning snob who wrangles a transfer to officer training and he later returns as the platoon commander who thinly conceals his fear behind his pomposity and petty resentment of Charley. Earwig A one-time crony of Grogan's and the regiment's barber. He holds a grudge against Charley for his role in Grogan's death and they often clash. He dies at the Third Battle of Ypres, after taking shelter in a shell hole full of mustard gas. Budgie A conscientious objector who has been forced into the army through torture and intimidation and works as a miner alongside Charley in 1917 employed to lay explosive mines beneath the German lines. Budgie has sworn never to kill a fellow human being. Sadders A terminally pessimistic soldier with a morbid fear of being gassed. He becomes one of Charley's regular companions during Etaples and Passchendaele. He is later killed by a sniper. Wilfred Bourne Charley's younger brother, 'Wilf' enters the army under-age by assuming the identity of a deserter. Injured on the Western Front in 1917, Wilf transfers to the Royal Flying Corps and serves as an observer/gunner in a two-seater Bristol squadron. Captain Morgan Wilf's pilot and commander whose previous three observers have all been killed. Morgan is a tough, hard-bitten pilot who has no tolerance for shirkers nor for the chivalrous pretensions of his fellow officers. Jack Bourne Charley's cousin and a sailor in the Royal Navy who fought at the Battle of the Falklands in