Description
Object description
British gunner served with 61st Battery Royal Field Artillery in Mesopotamia and India, 1916-1919
Content description
REEL 1: Aspects of period in GB,1915-1916: story of enlisting in Shoreditch, London, 1915; description of training at Woolwich and Swanage; story of voyage from Devonport to Basra, Mesopotamia, 1916; problem of seasickness; reaction to seeing flying fish; transferred to paddle steamer Cynthia; given tea made with salt water; disembarked Basra. Aspects of operations as gunner with 61st Battery Royal Field Artillery in Mesopotamia and India, 1916-1919: received first pay of 15 rupees; story of dropping shell on foot during unloading; opinion of Salvation Army; reaction to seeing Arab being whipped; description of small gauge railway; attitude of RSM to taking bath; ordered to keep topi on; selected for HQ, 61st Battery Royal Field Artillery; organisation of battery; story of being picked for escort duty and having to ride horse for the first time; issued with rifle; detailed to GS wagon; problem of oil on ground; description of large fish in River Tigris; posted to India, 4/Apr/1919; story about sergeant shooting trooper over bottle of whiskey and subsequent court martial; story about keeping desert rat as pet; story of watching snake digesting a lizard; posted to Mosul; put up observation ladder; story about ammunition wagon.
REEL 2 Continues: [inaudible until 14'46"] sent down line by doctor to hospital; leaves hospital following end of war; sick parade and medical examination by doctors; returned to Battery; guarded supply dump; description of 18 day voyage from Bombay to Devonport; benefit of gargling; no potatoes to eat for 3 years; story about water cart; medals; description of 4.5" howitzer firing; detailed to dig gun pits; story about trooper forgetting water bottle; reason for leaving bandolier; description of unburied bodies decomposing.
REEL 3 Continues: description of guns stuck in mud during storm; story of falling into Turkish trench full of water; organisation of guns; story about starving Arab child; problem of going without sleep; story of men being too tired to drink tea; visibility in desert; camped outside of village; description of desert terrain; opinion of arak juice; story about drinking Asian beer in Bombay.