What was the name of C.S. Lewis’s wartime service in the British Army?

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

Lewis enlisted in the British Army during the First World War and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Somerset Light Infantry. He served in France and was wounded by shell fragments at the Battle of Arras in April 1918. He was later sent home to recover.

His wartime experience deeply affected his writing and outlook. Several friends from his youth were killed in the conflict, and his later fiction often contains scenes of danger, loss, courage, and moral testing. His military service also interrupted his academic studies at Oxford.

The regiment’s full historical name is the Somerset Light Infantry (Prince Albert’s), although references often shorten it to the Somerset Light Infantry. Lewis did not serve in the Second World War as a frontline soldier; during that later conflict he became widely known for his BBC broadcasts and public talks.