Haire, Ernest Hugh (Oral history)

British NCO served with 1/4th Bn Cheshire Regt at Gallipoli, Turkey, 1915-1915; officer served with 12th Bn Lancashire Fusiliers in Salonika, Greece, 1916-1917

REEL 1: Background in GB: pre-war military service with Territorial Army; memory of declaration of war, 8/1914; story of joining E Coy 1/4th Cheshire Regt in Birkenhead. Aspects of training with 1/4th Bn Cheshire Regt in GB, 1914-1915: posted to Shrewsbury; accommodation in tents; troop train to Northampton; opinion of billets and reason for sleeping on waste ground; food and recreational activities; posted to Stowmarket, Suffolk; duties digging trenches for coastal defences; billets in inn; posted to Ipswich; billets in Maltings; memory of singing folk songs; posted to Royston; amusing story of Grand National; leave in London; posted to Cambridge; marched to Bedford; story of billets in private house; embarkation leave; meeting with father; description of voyage to Mudros via Gibraltar, Malta and Egypt, 4/1915; shore leave in Alexandria; memory of bathing in Mediterranean. Aspects of operations as NCO with 1/4th Bn Cheshire Regt on Gallipoli, 1915: landed at Mudros and transferred to lighters; landed at Suvla Bay; description of beach; amusing story of naval rating; marched across salt lake in full kit; problem of tiredness; arrived at base of objective Chocolate Hill; story of naval guns destroying Turkish batteries; problem of eating with false teeth. REEL 2 Continues: story of being wounded on Chocolate Hill and medical treatment in Mudros; contracted dysentery and medical treatment in Gibraltar and GB. Aspects of period in GB, 1915-1916: opinion of military hospital in Bristol; memory of concerts; duties as platoon sergeant at base depot; amusing stories about Colonel Blood; training; problem of illness with shingles; commissioned and posted to Salonika, Greece, 6/1916. Aspects of operations as officer with 12th Bn Lancashire Fusiliers in Salonika, Greece, 1916-1917: description of voyage aboard Franconia; description of terrain and climate; role of 12th Bn on patrols and taking prisoners; comparison with Western Front; amusing story of general; problem of dysentery and medical treatment in Malta; sensitivity to sunlight and wearing dark glasses; further medical treatment in Sicily; returned to GB and enlisted with Royal Flying Corps, 1917; training in Ireland; memories of Armistice Day celebrations on aerodrome, 11/11/1918. Further comments on operations at Gallipoli: casualties in 1/4th Bn Cheshire Regt; death of Major Prentice; opinion of CO. REEL 3 Continues: death of friends at Gallipoli; opinion of Gurkhas; problem of lice and shortage of wate