Description
Object description
British NCO served with 1st Bn King's Own Scottish Borderers in Gallipoli and on Western Front, 1915-1918; POW in Germany, 1918
Content description
REEL 1: Background in Selkirk, Scotland, 1898-1914: family; education; memory of sinking of Titanic, 1912; sporting activities; activities with Boy Scouts and Boys Brigade; employment in mill; memory of outbreak of war; enlistment and reactin of family, 5/1915; question of being underage. Recollections of period of training with King's Own Scottish Borderers in GB, 5-9/1915: posted to 3rd Bn at Berwick; opinion of accommodation and food; attitude to other recruits; description of training and attitude to drill; physical training and route marches with piper; rifle training and marksman qualification; story of providing timing for drill exercises.
REEL 2 Continues: further comments on training in Berwick and Edinburgh; bayonet training; opinion of instructors; recreational activities; question of pay; opinion of accommodation in tents; question of being underage. Recollection of operations as private with 1st Bn King's Own Scottish Borderers in Gallipoli, 10/1915-1/1916: description of voyage aboard SS Franconia; problem of sea sickness; description of landing on W Beach and first experience of being under fire; question of fear; posted to 1st Bn and attitude to joining regular battalion; problem of lice; description of trenches; memory of first time in line and shell destroying Bn HQ; close proximity of Turks; opinion of rations.
REEL 3 Continues: further comments on rations; latrines; daily routine including lookout and sentry duty; memory of attack by 52nd Div; topics of discussion in trenches; communication with family; casualties; attitude to fellow soldiers; opinion of NCOs and officers; problem of lice and flies; memory of period in rest camp and guard duties; problem of cold weather and frostbite; attitude to death; description of building piers under heavy fire prior to evacuation from Gallipoli.
REEL 4 Continues: conditions on W beach and memory of taking shelter in quarry during shelling; description of evacuation by lighter, 12/1915; state of health; 1st Bn posted to Egypt for re-organization and training, 1-4/1916; description of journey aboard SS Megantic to Marseilles including amusing story of rifle and memory of plaque to Crippen, 4/1916. Recollections of operations with 1st Bn King's Own Scottish Borderers on Western Front, 4-7/1916: comparison of Somme and Gallipoli theatres of war; reaction to heavy bombardment; memory of address by Scottish general; description of role in attack near Beaumont Hamel, 1/Jul/1916; memory of leaving trench and advancing over No Man's Land; story of being wound in face by shrapnel and treatment; memory of officer preventing men running away.
REEL 5 Continues: further description of being wounded and treatment; amusing story of binocular case; question of seriousness of wound and evacuation back to GB. Aspects of period with 3rd Bn King's Own Scottish Borderers in GB and Ireland, 7/1916-12/1917: posted to camp near Edinburgh for machine gun training; attitude to being sent back to front; story of refusing to go on parade; role as officer's servant; story of going Absent Without Leave; attitude to army discipline; promotion to lance corporal and role as machine gun instructor; posted to County Tipperary, Ireland, and description of duties, 11/1917. Recollections of operations with 1st Bn King's Own Scottish Borderers on Western Front and period as POW in Germany, 12/1917-1/1919: posted back to 1st Bn near Ypres, Belgium, 12/1917.
REEL 6 Continues: description of being taken prisoner while in charge of machine gun section; 4/1918; memory of four day march to prison camp and problem of malnutrition; description of work in stone quarry; attitude to guards and question of escape; daily routine; accommodation; sleeping arrangements; opinion of food; importance of Red Cross parcels; amusing story of sardines; story of visiting town and reaction of German civilians; memory of Italian and Russian POWs; attitude to being a POW.
REEL 7 Continues: memory of armistice and refusal to work, 11/11/18; transferred to Holland and repatriated, 1/1919. Aspects of post-war life and employment: reason for not remaining in army and question of size; demobilized at Ripon, 3/1919; employment; reflections on period of war service.