In December 1917, after being rejected by the U.S. Army due to poor eyesight, he was sent to the Italian front as a member of the Red Cross and was an ambulance driver. In July 1918, he was wounded and underwent 12 operations, during which several hundred pieces of shrapnel were removed from his body. Recuperation took several months. He was decorated with orders for his heroism on the battlefield twice. His war experiences formed the basis of his novel “A Farewell to Arms,” which he wrote in 1929.
