Description
Object description
British seaman served with Drake Bn Royal Naval Division on Western Front, 1915-1918
Content description
REEL 1: Background in Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire, 1897-1914: family; education; employment in collieries; daily life and conditions. Story of enlisting with Royal Naval Division, 8/1915; description of basic training at Crystal Palace and Grantham; issued with kit and description of journey aboard Olympic to Dardanelles, 1915; story of fighting with Greek soldiers and punishments. Recollections of operations with Drake Bn Royal Naval Division on Western Front, 1915-1918: various memories of operations in Abbeville, Vimy Ridge and Bapaume areas; memory of going over the top; problem of contracting influenza and treatment; memory of pilots dropping out of planes during aerial battle; memory of Zeppelin over London, 1915; story of sniper; transferred to Ypres sector, Belgium; description of role as runner and story of delivering message to D Coy under heavy fire, 1917; problem of wet conditions.
REEL 2 Continues: further comments on role as runner and delivering message; story of retreating from advancing Germans, 3/1918; moved to River Ancre area, France; story of finding transport for retreating troops and question of looting; description of holding line and advance over drained Canal du Nord; casualties; memory of tanks near Mons; memory of Armistice, 11/1918; billeted with family in Douai, Belgium; story of women making coats out of British Army blankets; medals; memory of football match; story of return to GB and demobilization; memory of loss of family members during Second World War; question of value of training as miner; problem of snipers and vulnerability of tall men; story of falling asleep on duty.
REEL 3 Continues: description of conditions in trenches; opinion of rations; problem of lice and scabies and treatment with red iodine; question of care of feet; story of post-war experience in colliery; problem of rats; memory of poppies on battlefield; communications with home; memory of singing songs in camp at Etaples; loss of friends in Drake Bn; story of being awarded Legion d'Honneur.