Description
Object description
British rifleman served with 1/5th Bn (London Rifle Bde) London Regt in GB and on Western Front, 1915-1916; served with London Regt in Salonika, Egypt and Palestine, 1916-1918
Content description
REEL 1: Background in Highgate, London, 1884-1915: family; daily life and living conditions; education; employment as office clerk with legal firm in City of London; story of enlistment with 1/5th Bn London Regt, 1/1915; uniform; reaction of parents; composition of Bn; problem of arriving late and punishment. Aspects of training with 1/5th Bn London Regt in GB, 1915: drill; billets; further training at camps in Wiltshire and Winchester; story of being posted to France, 3/1915; description of journey to Le Havre. Aspects of operations with 1/5th Bn London Regt on Western Front, 1915-1916: story of cathedral; description of trenches; duty at listening post in sap; memory of Germans singing; billets in cow sheds.
REEL 2 Continues: posted to Somme sector, 1916; description of conditions and casualties. Aspects of operations with London Regt in Salonika, Greece, 11/1916-6/1917: description of journey to Salonika via Marseilles aboard SS Hibernia, 1916; conditions aboard ship; camp and facilities; marched to mountains in Lake Doiran sector; memory of German air attacks; problem of cold and description of winter clothing; accommodation in mud huts at top of mountain; problem of personal hygiene; role on night patrols; relations with Bulgarians; story of German POW; relieved by Russian troops. Aspects of operations with London Regt in Egypt and Palestine, 1917-1918: voyage aboard SS Minnetonka to Egypt; posted to camp on Sinai Peninsular; problem of lack of medical supplies; preparations for attack on Beersheba, 10/1917; problem of marching over sand; description of terrain around Beersheba; seconded to Bn padre Captain McMurtrie and nature of duties; story of burying dead; story of illness and medical treatment; marched from hospital to rejoin Bn near Jerusalem; description of surrender of Jerusalem to Allenby, 12/1917.
REEL 3 Continues: four week rest period in Jerusalem; posted to camp near Ramallah, Palestine; memory of missionaries; story of guards asleep on duty; transferred to Indian Baluchi Bn; reason for secondment as clerk to General Shea's HQ and duties; marched to Arsuf and Nazareth; infantry ordered to cease fighting, 10/1918; posted as clerk with Army Remount Depot in Mustapaha Pasha camp, Alexandria; story of being attacked by women on tram; description of journey back to GB via Italy and France and demobilisation at Crystal Palace, London, 1919; story of two brothers killed on Western Front. Aspects of post-war life and employment.
REEL 4 Continues: Further aspects of post-war life and employment. Recites verses relating to military service.