Description
Object description
British private and NCO served with 7th Bn King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, 61st Bde, 20th (Light) Div in GB and on Western Front, 9/1914-2/1918
Content description
REEL 1 Background to enlistment in King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in GB, 8/1914: story of requesting permission from British Consulate in New York, United States of America to return to GB to enlist, 8/1914; reason for wanting to enlist; question of enlisting underage; working passage back to GB as steward aboard White Star Line passenger vessel, 8/1914; accommodation and duties; question of not being paid until arrival in GB; length of voyage and wages; disembarking in Liverpool; return to Sheffield to enlist, 29/8/1914. Aspects of training as private with 7th (Service) Bn King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, 61st Bde, 20th (Light) Div in GB, 9/1914-7/1915: move to Pontefract; training at Woking and Salisbury Plain; reaction to Lord Kitchener recruiting poster. Aspects of operations as private and NCO with D Coy, 7th Bn King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry on Western Front, 7/1915-2/1918: voyage from Southampton, GB to Le Havre, France, 7/1915; move to Hazebrouck then Armentières, France; sleeping on floor of cotton mill; organisation and command structure within 20th (Light) Div; move into front line; rotation in and out of line; casualties; move to Ypres Salient, Belgium; marched to Poperinghe, Belgium; billets; opinion of Toc H; description of estaminets; Christmas period, Ypres, Belgium, 12/1915; sleeping in dugouts along canal bank; took over line; heavy snow; rotation in and out of front line; shelling by Imperial German Army 9.2' Guns and minenwerfers and casualties; moved to Estaires, France, 4/1916; billets in cotton mill; returned to Ypres, Belgium; move as reinforcements to Somme, France, 7/1916; sleeping on ground in Happy Valley, Somme, France; attack on Beaumont-Hamel, France, 7/7/1916-8/7/1916; smell from bodies of Sheffield Pals killed on 1/7/1916; requesting permission to bury dead.
REEL 2: taking pay books from dead and buried bodies in shell hole; role in attack on wood on Somme; casualties and attitude to death; wounding in head by shrapnel at Ypres, Belgium and medical treatment; returned to line in Happy Valley, Somme, France; burial of dead; moved to Mailly-Maillet/Auchonvillers; opinion of dugouts; story of being rescued from dugout after steps collapsed; medical treatment in France and GB; rejoining battalion at Puchevillers; operations during Battle of Loos, 9/1915-10/1915; role of battalion on left flank holding line; story of being gassed and medical treatment; role in charge of machine gun section on Somme, France; wading across River Marne and return to trenches on Somme, France. Aspects of period as NCO with Headquarters, 20th (Light) Div in France, 2/1918-10/1918: obtaining role translating French film subtitles into English; incident of artillery shell exploding in front of lorry on way to Mauberge, France, 10/1918.
REEL 3: Aspects of hospitalisation for wounds in France and GB, 10/1918-11/1918: medical treatment for shrapnel wounds at Casualty Clearing Station and at base hospital; story of journey to British Red Cross run St John's Hospital in Hastings, GB; amusing story of roller skating; return to Sheffield, GB day before Armistice announced, 10/11/1918; memories of Armistice Day celebrations in Sheffield, GB, 11/11/1918; amusing story of attempting to speed up demobilisation; posting to camp in Mansfield for demobilisation; medical examination; offering of choice of civilian suit or £2 cash; friend who returned to claim a further £2. Reflections on service with 7th (Service) Bn King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, 61st Bde, 20th (Light) Div on Western Front, 7/1915-2/1918: memories of friends who enlisted at the same time; question of morale; attitude to deserters; story of Lewis Gun operator asleep on duty during attack by Imperial German Army Air Service aircraft.
REEL 4: comments on deserters and being reported missing in action; attitude to shell shock cases; story of sheltering in Imperial German Army dugout during artillery shelling and helping wounded German soldier; attitude towards Germans; role in charge of Lewis Gun team during attack on village of Combles, France; method of loading and firing Lewis Gun; description of village and terrain; reaction to Lewis Gun operator opening fire on Imperial German Army fleeing from houses; opinion of politicians and responsibility for war; attitude to patriotism in 1914; opinion of Imperial German Army soldier.
REEL 5: reflections on First and Second World Wars.