Pope, Edwin Richard (Oral history)

British trooper served with C Sqdn, 1/1st West Kent Yeomanry (Queen's Own), South Eastern Mounted Bde in GB, 1912-1915; served with C Sqdn, 1/1st West Kent Yeomanry (Queen's Own), 42nd (East Lancashire) Div at Gallipoli, Turkey, 10/1915-1/1916; served with 1/1st West Kent Yeomanry (Queen's Own), 3rd Dismounted Bde and 10th (Royal East Kent and West Kent Yeomanry) Bn, Buffs (East Kent Regt), 230th Bde, 74th (Yeomanry) Div in Egypt and Palestine, 2/1916-5/1918; trained as pilot with Royal Air Force at RAF Heliopolis in Egypt, 5/1918-11/1918

REEL 1 Recollections of period as trooper with C Sqdn, 1/1st West Kent Yeomanry (Queen's Own) South Eastern Mounted Bde at Canterbury, GB, 8/1914-9/1915: pre-war service; commandeering horses; reaction to declaration of First World War, 4/8/1914; volunteering for overseas service; duties as trumpeter and bugler; method of commandeering horses; accommodation; muddy conditions; relations with officers. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Olympic from GB to Mudros, Lemnos Island, Greece, 9/1915-10/1915: conditions on board; story of narrow escape from torpedoing. Recollections of operations as trooper with C Sqdn, 1/1st West Kent Yeomanry (Queen's Own), 42nd (East Lancashire) Div in Gully Ravine sector, Cape Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey, 10/1915-1/1916: landing through SS River Clyde at V Beach; dugouts at W Beach; prior ignorance of Gallipoli posting; Gully Ravine route to front line; lice problem; contact with Royal Navy. REEL 2 Continues: types of shellfire encountered including Asiatic Annie and bugle warning; rations; washing dixies; assisting in mining operations; use of catapult bombing machine; story illustrating Turkish knowledge of imminent evacuation, 12/1915; role as signaller and opinion that Turks tapped telephone wire; suspicions as to loyalty of Greek labourers; situation; story illustrating state of health; story of periscope hit by sniper; shelling provoked by catapult bombing team; use of wire netting to catch bombs; nature of trenches; stand to and sentry duty; duties as signaller; periscopes; opinion of Turkish Ottoman Army troops; effects of evacuation of Suvla Bay; static nature of fighting. REEL 3 Continues: letter and parcel contact with GB; pipe smoking; flood in Gully Ravine; climate and uniform; latrines; insect pests and games with chameleons and scorpions; personal appearance; officers' wearing troopers uniforms; sea bathing; habits of Indian troops; relations with officers; rations; making candles from bacon fat; superior pay and rations of Australian troops on Lemnos Island, Greece and in Palestine, 1916-1917; Yeomanry troops present; stories illustrating lifestyle; evacuation from Gully Beach, 31/12/1915 including exchanging boots for food. REEL 4 Continues: question of secrecy and story illustrating thirst; move to Mudros, Lemnos Island, Greece, 1/1916; gramophone records played offshore by Royal Navy; toothache and extraction; medical provision; question of Gallipoli Campaign strategy; membership of Gallipoli Association, 1984 and Yeomanry Association during 1920s. Recollections of operations as trooper with 1/1st West Kent Yeomanry (Queen's Own), 3rd Dismounted Bde and 10th (Royal East Kent and West Kent Yeomanry) Bn, Buffs (East Kent Regt), 230th Bde, 74th (Yeomanry) Div in Egypt and Palestine, 2/1916-5/1918: defensive outpost duties during operations against Senussi at Mersa Matruh, Egypt; movements; capture of Beersheba, Palestine; effects of prior looting by Ottoman Army on entry into Jerusalem, Palestine, 12/1917; food and water rations; efforts to eliminate mosquitos; piped water from River Nile, Egypt; training exercises prior to capture of Jerusalem, Palestine. REEL 5 Continues: entry into Jerusalem, Palestine and illustration of religious importance, 12/1917; story of being wounded in buttocks by shell at Ramallah, Palestine, 3/1918; evacuation to Cairo, Egypt. Aspets of training as cadet with Royal Air Force at RAF Heliopolis, Egypt, 5/1918-11/1918: training aircraft; reason for joining Royal Air Force; air navigation skills; pay and problems in securing full rate as cadet on demobilisation as trooper on return to unit in France, 11/1918. Reflectons on military service during First World War: signalling methods and morse speed in Palestine, 1917-1918; effects of war experience.