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Description: | British private served with 2/2nd Bn London Regt in Malta, Egypt and Gallipoli, 1914-1916; served with 1/16th Bn London Regt (Queen's Westminster Rifles) on Western Front, 1916; POW in Germany and Switzerland, 1916-1918
REEL 1: Background in London and Surrey, 1898-1914: family; education; sporting activities; employment with drapers; memory of outbreak of war; reason for enlisting and question of age; reaction of parents. Aspects of training as private with 2/2nd Bn London Regt in GB, 9/1914-12/1915: enlistment; basic training in Epsom and Tonbridge. Recollections of operations as private with 2/2nd Bn London Regt in Malta, Egypt and Gallipoli, 12/1914-7/1916: posted to St George's Barracks, Valleta, Malta and nature of duties unloading hospital boats; memory of swimming; ability as marksman; posted to Egypt and amusing story of falling asleep on train; memory of seeing U-boat; posted to Gallipoli, 10/1914; description of trenches former Turkish front line; memory of mules; role as sniper; problem of cold and heavy rain; memory of swimming in Dardanelles; evacuated from Mudros to Egypt, 1/1916. Recollections of operations as private with 1/16th Bn London Regt on Western Front, 7/1916: reason for transfer to 1/16th London Regt (Queen's Westminster Rifles) and arrival in Somme area, France; description of attack on Gommecourt Wood, 1/Jul/1916; story of being wounded in leg by machine gun bullet.
REEL 2 Continues: further description of leg wound and lying in No Man's Land; further wounds from shrapnel; reason for throwing away rifle and bombs; story of maggots healing wounds while in No Man's Land. Recollections of period as POW in Germany and Switzerland, 1916-1918: capture by Germans and medical treatment; memory of learning German while in hospital; transferred to POW camp at Bad Langensalza,, Germany and description of conditions; transferred to farm near Erfurt and nature of work; problem with feet; memory of other prisoners; role as interpreter; story of fight with German sentry; reason for prisoner exchange and internment in Switzerland; learning trade while POW; amusing story of celebrating armistice, 11/11/1918; demobilization in GB, 12/1918; question of pay. Post-war life and employment; effects of wounds. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Hart, Peter M | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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