Description
Object description
British NCO served as stretcher-bearer with 1/8th (Leeds Rifles) Bn, Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regt), 146th Bde, 49th (West Riding) Div and 2/5th Bn Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regt), 185th Bde, 62nd (2nd West Riding) Div on Western Front, 9/1917-9/1918
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Huddersfield, GB, 1894-1917: family; learning to shoot; apprenticeship as printer; reason for being rejected as unfit for military service; story of brother's service on Western Front; attitude to conscription; volunteering at Lichfield, 6/1917. Aspects of training as private and NCO with 3rd (Reserve) Bn Bn, Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regt at Whitley Bay in GB, 6/1917-9/1917: posting to battalion; description of training; drill, physical training; route marches and own fitness; promotion to lance-corporal, 7/1917; training with Mills Bomb; tactical use of Mills Bomb, Lee-Enfield Rifle and Lewis Gun; opinion of the Lewis Gun; company training and fieldcraft exercises; background to becoming a stretcher-bearer.
REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of operations as stretcher-bearer with 1/8th (Leeds Rifles) Bn, Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regt), 146th Bde, 49th (West Riding) Div and 2/5th Bn Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regt), 185th Bde, 62nd (2nd West Riding) Div on Western Front, 9/1917-9/1918: previous training in First Aid; reason for volunteering to be a stretcher-bearer and selection by medical officer; attitude to dangers of being a stretcher-bearer; story of inexperienced officer and receiving foot wound during attack, 1/9/1918; opinion of training instructors; story relating to brigadier.
REEL 3 Continues: opinion of training recieved in GB; attitude towards officers; opinion of Portugese Army troops; story relating to French Army Algerian Spahis Cavalry; problem of navigation through forest; amusing story of prisoners of war; problem of language; sight of charge by Algerian Spahis Cavalry; incident of headquarters being shelled and overrun by Germans, 3/1918; treatment of casualties including stretcher-bearers; story of wounded man left behind; problem of password; voyage to France and arrival at Etaples, 9/1917; opinion of camp and accommodation; opinion of Army food and problem of shortages; posting to 1/8th (Leeds Rifles) Bn, Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regt).
REEL 4 Continues: transport by railway and lorries; story of wounded German in shell hole and interrogation, 7/1918; opinion of Germans; description of role of stretcher-bearer and problem of prioritising wounded; question of physical strength and carrying wounded; general state of health in battalion; story of being gassed and treatment of gas casualties; communication with home and question of leave; description of rotation system in trenches and forward posts.
REEL 5 Continues: communication by runner; proximity of German trenches; incident of sniping; attitude towards Germans; rest and recreational activities; attitude towards French civilians; memories of refugees and abandoned houses; further comments on treatment to foot wound in hospital at Doullens, Somme, France.
REEL 6 Continues: returned to GB for further treatment for foot wound; discharge from military service, 12/1918; reaction to news of Armistice, 11/11/1918; effects of foot wound. Reflections on military service during First World War: question of adjusting to civilian life; employment in newspaper industry; attitude to army life and discipline; opinion of officers and NCOs; story of recovering wounded man; question of discipline in Regular and Territorial Army battalions; opinion of NCOs.