Description
Object description
British officer served with Guards Machine Gun Regt on Western Front, 1918-1919. Recollections read by his son, Ivor Noel Hume.
Content description
REEL: Aspects of period in GB, 1900-1917: family background and education at Eton; resident in Jersey; commissioned into Scots Guards, 1917; transferred to Guards Machine Gun Regt and posted to Epsom racecourse; messing arrangements; various memories of other officers; description of machine gun training; accommodation; joined mounted regiment at Grantham; opinion of CO Hon. Robert Lygon; posted to machine gun base camp at Camiers, France, 2/1918. Aspects of operations with Guards Machine Gun Regt on Western Front, 2-11/1918: under canvas for 7 weeks; moved to village of Agnez-les-Duisans near Arras; description of kite balloons; front line located near Scarpe Canal; opinion of lifestyle in Arras; description of German attack on 21/Mar/1918; story of taking bottle of Dom Perignon from ruins of BEF canteen; moved to village of Boiry-Saint-Martin and joined 3rd Coy; opinion of CO Monty Hocker and other officers; heavy casualties; story of spending 8 hours on horseback; description of smashing gramophone records prior to retreat from advancing Uhlans; story of firing on German cyclists; stayed in Army line; opinion of Bill Fraser and weaponry; organisation of Guards Machine Gun Regt; various memories of new CO Ralph Bigham; story of Monty Hocker delivering rations after 2 orderlies killed; description of German shelling; organisation of companies and officers; story about Bill Fraser drowning during voyage to Canada; story about German prisoners; use of pack mules to carry guns and tripods; question of mounted officers being more vulnerable; description of advance in command of 3rd Coy; story of shooting wounded horses; in Maubeuge when Armistice declared at 11am, 11/Nov/1918; question of some guns still firing after 11am; story about burning copy of Field Service Regulations to celebrate Armistice; story about murder of French female collaborator; marched to Cologne; contracted flu; description of journey on hospital train and problem of lice; admitted to 20th Field Hospital at Rouen; re-joined Coy in Cologne; employment of mess cook and waiter from top hotels; problem of increasing number of VD cases; methods of dealing with VD problem including setting up irrigations stations and having prostitutes medically examined; story of issuing yellow tickets to prostitutes free from infection and soldiers being punished for using prostitutes without yellow ticket; story of administering electrical purgative for VD during parade as warning to other soldiers; description of uniform and badge; story of journey back to GB and demobilization, spring 1919. Aspects of period with Guards Machine Gun Regt in GB, 1919: role in charge of transport; story of running horse riding school for officers; sporting activities and social life including organising camp concerts and playing piano in dance band; opinion of CO 'Chico' Leatham; story of hiring Savoy Hotel Orchestra for regimental dinner; story of march through London and falling off horse.