|
Date: |
|
Description: | British artist served as private with 3/4th Bn Gordon Highlanders on Western Front, 1916
REEL 1: Background in Glasgow, Scotland, 1896-1916: family; apprenticeship as lithographic artist; question of volunteering and release from apprenticeship; called up and enlisted with Gordon Highlanders in Aberdeen, 1/1916. Aspects of training as private with Gordon Highlanders in GB, 1916: posted to Ripon, Yorks for basic training; drill; musketry; tactical exercises; skills as graphic artist and illustrator; memory of being wounded in foot on Somme, 8/1916; further description of training at Ripon; field exercises; sniping; camouflage; methods of attack in open formation and in fours; physical exercise; description of digging and reinforcing trenches; wiring; opinion of NCOs; comradeship; attitude to fear; further comments on being wounded in foot; description of journey to France as part of draft and arrival in Boulogne, 7/1916. Recollections of operations as private with 3/4th Bn Gordon Highlanders on Western Front, 1916: marched to camp at Etaples; further description of route marches during training and rations; opinion of food at Ripon; practicality of wearing kilt; question of contact with officers.
REEL 2 Continues: Further comments on training at Etaples; marched to Albert and sleeping arrangements; use of waterproof sheets; memory of seeing statute of Golden Virgin at Albert; problem of enemy fire and casualties; description of landscape and conditions; memory of post-war visit to Somme; story of meeting school-friend at Dressing Station; further description of being wounded and amputation of foot; returned to GB for further treatment and amputation of leg; convalescence in Glasgow; discharged from Army and returned to civilian employment; reflections on military career; opinion of treatment by army; recreational activities in France; problem of lice and rats; attitude to German POWs; further comments on being wounded; memory of listening for shells; question of age of recruits; reason for choice of Gordon Highlanders; attitude to military discipline; opinion of rations; scarcity of water; question of sharing parcels from home; messing arrangements; relationship with civilian population; communication with home; reason for sketching while at front and contribution of work to 'Blighty' magazine; question of pay and amusing story of pay parade; opinion of treatment in hospital. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | de Lee, Nigel | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
|
|