In which army did C.S. Lewis serve during World War I?

C.S. Lewis served in the British Army during World War I.

Lewis volunteered in 1917 and trained as an officer before being commissioned in the Somerset Light Infantry. He was sent to France in November 1917 and served on the Western Front. His wartime experience strongly influenced his later writing, especially his reflections on suffering, friendship, grief, and faith.

Lewis fought at the Battle of Arras sector and was wounded by shell fragments in April 1918. One of his close friends, Paddy Moore, was killed during the war. Lewis had made a promise to Moore’s mother that he would care for her, and he continued to support her and her daughter after the conflict.

Lewis was discharged from the army in December 1918. Although he later became best known as a Christian author and Oxford academic, his military service formed an important part of his early adult life and appears in autobiographical accounts of his development.