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Description: | British private served with Machine Gun Corps on Western Front, 1916-1918
REEL 1: Family background in Wolverton, GB, 1898-1916: memories of railway works employees volunteering at outbreak of war, 8/1914; story of brother serving with Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and false report of death; conscripted into the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry under Derby Scheme, 1916; medical; reactions to being conscripted. Aspects of training with Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and Machine Gun Corps in GB, 1916: basic training; reason for volunteering to join Machine Gun Corps and description of training at Grantham; story of receiving food parcel while in France and sending home money to mother; memory of local girls meeting troops at railway station; description of voyage from Folkestone to Boulogne; problem of seasickness. Recollections of operations as private with Machine Gun Corps on Western Front, 1916-1918: description of train journey to Arras sector and posted to machine gun unit; description of attack on Vimy Ridge, 4/1917; reaction to being under fire for first time; role in supporting Canadian troops; reaction to sight of dead bodies; description of going over the top.
REEL 2 Continues: description of role in attack at Passchendaele Ridge, Ypres, 22/Oct/1917; conditions; story of being wounded while treating injured officer; description of evacuation to GB via Etaples; medical treatment and discharge, 3/1918; problem of lice and use of steam baths; story of returning home on leave with lice; role of machine guns in supporting attacks. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Milton Keynes Interaction | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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