Ian Pegg
Ian Pegg has a lifelong passion for the history of war and conflict. This started from a young age, talking to his grandfather who served in the Royal Engineers and suffered injury at Dunkirk in 1940.
Bringing his professional writing career into his authorship has allowed him to use these skills to undertake extensive research from the National Archive, Imperial War Museum, Royal Military Chaplains Museum and unpublished memoirs and diaries of Chaplains who served in World War 2. These sources have allowed Ian to expand his research into the role of Army Chaplains in War and their role beyond religion, to understand what sort of man goes to war.
Encouraged by eminent authors James Holland, Peter Caddick Adams, Ted Barris and Prit Buttar amongst many, to tell the stories of these men across the whole journey of World War 2 this is his debut non-fiction book.
Pegg’s ‘Death and Heroes – Royal Army Chaplains in World War 2’ will be published in hardback and ePub/Kindle by Chiselbury in May 2025
A Chaplains’ role was much more than religion in World War 2. They served right on the front line, serving with their men, tending to the wounded and dying, giving pastoral support and medical care and putting themselves in harm’s way without a second thought for their own safety.
They sacrificed themselves both in terms of their freedoms and liberty but also at times giving their lives to try to save others. They dealt with death daily, experiencing the atrocities of war but with a purpose to ensure dignity in death and that the religious and pastoral needs of all those they served with no matter rank or religion were met.
The Army Chaplains that served in World War 2 were a different breed of man and through this book it is important to tell their stories.
This book is not about the theoretic aspect of religion or the rights and wrongs of war. This book is about the stories of individual men. It is their story. It is about who they were, what they did, what they felt and what it meant to them and those they served with.