About The Sword in the Clay

If you are a lover of History and are drawn in by a true and ghostly tale that blends historical fact with humanity, The Sword in the Clay has been written and illustrated just for you.   

It's the true story of Canadian soldier, Will Bird, who during WWI discovers a 2000-year-old Roman gladius in the churned up mud and clay after the bombardment of Amiens, France in 1917. The sword, it was found, dated back to Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars, but there was no way to know to whom it may have once belonged.   

This is also the story of Marius Abruzzo, a Roman centurion who, along with his two brothers, fights for Julius Caesar in the Gallic Wars between 59 and 53 BCE.   

It is also a ghost story. After the war, Will Bird became a prolific writer, authoring 40 books over the next 50 years. Among his very first was his memoirs of his experiences in the war entitled, Ghosts Have Warm Hands, in which he tells of his ghostly encounters with the spirit of his younger brother, Steve Bird, who died early on during the war. Will believed very strongly that the ghost of his his brother saved his life during the battle of Vimy Ridge.