Description
Object description
British NCO served with 2nd Bn Grenadier Guards on Western Front, 1914-1918
Content description
REEL 1: Background in GB, 1909-1914: story of enlistment with Grenadier Guards at Chelsea Barracks, London, 1909; trained as signaller and drummer; pay as NCO; duties as drummer at St James's Palace, London including funeral of King Edward VII; memories of camp at Purbright; description of uniform and kit; rifle training; memory of outbreak of war, 8/1914; drafted to France, 8/1914; arrived Le Havre; Recollection of operations as NCO with 2nd Bn Grenadier Guards on Western Front, 1914-1918: transported in cattle trucks; marched to Mons, Belgium; reaction to being under fire; description of retreat from Mons and nature of fighting; attitude to fear; role as range taker in company; description of being wounded in shoulder by shrapnel, 16/Sep/1914; medical treatment in France and GB; moved to, La Bassee area, France, 1/1915; memories of Prince of Wales; rotation out of line; living conditions; description of being blown up by shell, 5/1915; returned to GB, 5/1915-11/1916; posted back to Somme area, France, 11/1916; memories of leave in Amiens; description of being wounded in leg by machine gun, 8/1918.
REEL 2 Continues: returned to GB for medical treatment; memories of Armistice, 11/11/1918; opinion of rations; rum ration; description of going over top; description of conditions at Passchendaele, Belgium; question of fear; story of death of friend at Passchendaele, 31/Jul/1917; memories of German POWs; opinion of Germans; description of terrain in Somme area; memory of statute of Golden Virgin, Albert; description of German artillery shells; gas shells and gas masks; effects of gas; story of role in night trench raid to capture prisoners, 6/3/1918; awarded Military Medal ; proximity of German trenches; description of German offensive, 3/1918; memories of Jack Rose VC; comradeship.
REEL 3 Continues: popular songs; home leave; story of field post card; use of pocket book to record casualties; identification of dead; post-war reunions; attitude to war; opinion of Germans; machine guns; rapid rifle fire; description of German minenwerfer; story of skull; problem of lice and rats.