What was C.S. Lewis’s military regiment during the First World War?

C.S. Lewis served in the Somerset Light Infantry during the First World War.

Lewis volunteered for military service and was commissioned in the 3rd Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry. He arrived in France in late 1917 and served as a second lieutenant with the 1st Battalion during the fighting on the Western Front.

In April 1918, Lewis was wounded by shrapnel during the Battle of Arras sector. He recovered in England and was discharged from the army in 1919. His wartime experiences affected his later writing, although he did not turn them into a conventional war memoir.

The regiment is sometimes confused with units connected to Lewis’s school or university career. His education at Oxford and service in the British Army were separate parts of his life. The Somerset Light Infantry identification is especially useful because Lewis’s military record is often summarized only as “service in the First World War.”