When the speaker (imagining himself as a major) says of a fallen soldier, "I used to know his father well" in the poem "Base Details," it could be referring to the way in which men of different classes participated in fighting during World War One. 'Gentlemen' from the middle and upper classes often went into positions of leadership (Imperial War Museums). Siegfried Sassoon, who served as a Second Lieutenant in the British army during World War One, came from a comfortable economic background. He was born in 1886 to a Jewish father and a Roman Catholic mother. Sassoon's father, Alfred Ezra Sassoon, was from a wealthy Indian Baghdadi merchant family. Sassoon's mother, Theresa, came from the Thorneycroft family, known for their engineers, artists, and sculptors. However, Alfred was disinherited for marrying outside the family's faith, and his son did not grow up with a connection to his Jewish roots.
Before enlisting to fight in World War One, Sassoon spent years pursuing his passions of hunting and poetry. He was able to live off of his family's money during this time. The poet was also gay and "remarkably open for a time," yet he later married and had a son (McGrath). Later in life, Sassoon converted to Catholicism. The religious poems Sassoon wrote during this time did not receive the same critical reception as his earlier work.
