A personal word from the composer:

'Epitaphs of the War' is an absolute must to read for those who seek entrance into the depth of the concerned poet Kipling - surely before having ideas about the man's position in life.

All to easily critics have mentioned the inspiration his kolonial background has formed throughout much of his career as the basic ingredient of his being - I see it rather as a background against which real people are depicted as real people, something he gets to the core of in the 'Epitaphs'.
And indeed I see it as a cheap shot to point at, as an explanation for these views, my mother's (she was in fact anti kolonialism) and my father's (strongly sharing her views - and certainly not for kolonial reasons on a mission in the Far East) time in Indonesia. Life's a bit more complex as all that; yes, it does 'colour in' a host of possible thoughts one all to easily can avoid, or simply not see, by being and staying at the 'family homestead', but it has never any bearing on the real development of a personality - one's identity.