British poet Wilfred Owen badly wounded in World War I 100 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (Apr 1 1917)


Video: 'The Great War episode 5 Mutiny' (April 1, 1917, at 7:55)

(Sunday, April 1, 1917; during World War I) — British poet Wilfred Owen was blown up by a trench mortar today near the town of St. Quentin in northern France and spent several days unconscious on an embankment lying amongst the remains of one of his fellow officers.

Soon afterward, Owen was diagnosed as suffering from neurasthenia or “shell shock,” a new term used to describe the physical and/or psychological damage suffered by soldiers in combat, and sent to Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland, for treatment.