At 31 years of age, Cyrus F. Inches set off to fight in the Great War, soon afterwards joining the First Canadian Heavy Battery. He was determined to survive without losing his sense of humour and love of story, despite the horrors and deprivations that he witnessed. By the time the War had concluded, he had written hundreds of letters, detailed diary entries, and a short history of the battles and movements of his artillery unit.

Undisturbed for more than 90 years, Cyrus Inches's voluminous papers, compiled and edited for Uncle Cy's War, provide a compelling, human, and sometimes humorous portrait of life on the front lines during the First World War, including first-person observations of the battles at Ypres, the Somme, and Mons.