Description
Object description
British NCO served with 1/5th (County of London) Bn London Regt (London Rifle Bde), 8th Bde, 3rd Div and 169th Bde, 56th (London) Div on Western Front, 1915-1917; trained with Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force in GB, 1917-1918
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Forest Gate, GB, 1894-1914: family; education; employment; reaction to outbreak of First World War, 4/8/1914. Aspects of enlistment and training as private with 1/5th (City of London) Bn London Regt (London Rifle Bde) in GB and France, 1914-1915: enlistment and question of height; drafting to France and further training in camp at Rouen. Recollections of operations as NCO with 1/5th (City of London) Bn London Regt (London Rifle Bde), 8th Bde, 3rd Div and 169th Bde, 56th (London) Div on Western Front, 1915-1917: march into line at Laventie, France, 8/1915; weather; description of conditions in trenches; rations; opinion of commanding officer; daily routine and duties; sentry duty; problem of mud and water in trenches; casualties; dugouts; uniform and kit; stand to; trench raids; problem of snipers; story of German spy; relations with Belgian civilians; rest periods out of line; opinion of rations; cooking food on Primus Stove; state of health; use of whale oil on feet; story of sandbags; preparations for Battle of Somme; France, 1916; march from Belgium to Somme, France; role as barbed wire cutter; trench digging; wounding by shrapnel, 1/7/1916; terrain and weather conditions; medical treatment in France and GB; return to unit in France, 12/1916; role in bombing raid at Arras, France, 25/12/1916; listening patrol; description of trenches at Arras, France; wounding and return to GB for medical treatment, 1917.
REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force in GB, 1917-1918: volunteering for Royal Flying Corps, 1917; interview and selection tests; medical; reaction to Armistice, 11/11/1918; demobilisation, 3/1919; post-war life and employment; reflections on military service and attitude to war.