Description
Object description
Incomplete and occasionally repetitive, draft chapters from a ts memoir (174pp) covering his service as a stretcher-bearer in the 43rd Field Ambulance RAMC (14th Division) on the Western Front, August 1915 – March 1918, including descriptions of life on the Home Front prior to enlisting, public opinion of the conduct of the war in its opening months and the heroic reception of wounded soldiers home on leave, his futile attempts to enlist in the Army and Navy before joining the St John's Ambulance and later the RAMC, his emotions on going to the Front for the first time, his observations of the Battle of Flers-Courcelette (15 September 1916) and the first use of tanks, his responsibilities as a stretcher-bearer on the front line and his work with medical officers, detailed accounts of attempts to rescue wounded soldiers whilst under fire with especially harrowing accounts of the difficulties in transporting the wounded from Passchendaele where he recalls dead bodies being used as stepping stones, descriptions of different aid posts and the inadequacies of front line medical services, the intense bombardment on the first day of the German Spring Offensive (21 March 1918) and his attempts to relieve the tension with tea and bacon sandwiches, followed by his capture by German troops, his arrival at a prisoner of war camp in Bachant and an incident of fraternisation with a German soldier from London; also described are his hospitalisation with influenza and Trench Fever, the infestation of lice and rats and his interactions with civilians both in France and when on leave in Britain. There is some indication that parts of the memoir may have been exaggerated.
Content description
Incomplete and occasionally repetitive, draft chapters from a ts memoir (174pp) covering his service as a stretcher-bearer in the 43rd Field Ambulance RAMC (14th Division) on the Western Front, August 1915 – March 1918, including descriptions of life on the Home Front prior to enlisting, public opinion of the conduct of the war in its opening months and the heroic reception of wounded soldiers home on leave, his futile attempts to enlist in the Army and Navy before joining the St John's Ambulance and later the RAMC, his emotions on going to the Front for the first time, his observations of the Battle of Flers-Courcelette (15 September 1916) and the first use of tanks, his responsibilities as a stretcher-bearer on the front line and his work with medical officers, detailed accounts of attempts to rescue wounded soldiers whilst under fire with especially harrowing accounts of the difficulties in transporting the wounded from Passchendaele where he recalls dead bodies being used as stepping stones, descriptions of different aid posts and the inadequacies of front line medical services, the intense bombardment on the first day of the German Spring Offensive (21 March 1918) and his attempts to relieve the tension with tea and bacon sandwiches, followed by his capture by German troops, his arrival at a prisoner of war camp in Bachant and an incident of fraternisation with a German soldier from London; also described are his hospitalisation with influenza and Trench Fever, the infestation of lice and rats and his interactions with civilians both in France and when on leave in Britain. There is some indication that parts of the memoir may have been exaggerated.
History note
Cataloguer SMR