Description
Object description
British private served with 12th (Bristol) Bn Gloucestershire Regt on Western Front, 1915-1916 and with 6th Bn Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regt) on Western Front, 1916-1918
Content description
REEL 1: Aspects of period in GB, 1914-1915: army numbers; reaction of parents to joining up at 16; question of age for overseas service; story of enlisting with 12th Bn Gloucestershire Regt in Bristol, 8/1914; various memories of friends and relatives; story about death of station master serving as stretcher-bearer on Somme. Aspects of operations with 12th (Bristol) Bn Gloucestershire Regt on Western Front, 1915-1916: duties during rest periods including keeping village streets clean and with fatigue party building gun emplacement; amusing story about eating cherries; story about playing brag with friend George Barr in GB, 1917; story about execution of soldier in Bn for desertion; attitude to medals; attitude to alcohol including rum ration; story of being taken ill and forced by doctor to drink brandy; amusing story about saluting colonel after getting drunk on wine; description of gas mask; story about childhood injury to scalp and problem of wearing tin helmet; story about refusing to go into boxing ring because of scalp injury.
REEL 2 continues: amusing story about meeting Mr. Tickler on Temple Meads Station, Bristol; story of being wounded by shrapnel during Battle of the Somme and medical treatment, 1916; story about cooker and water cart being destroyed and death of two cooks; water ration on the march and use of grass to quench thirst; problem of marching on cobblestones and reason for putting feet up during rest periods; story about Col. Parsons allowing men to change files during march; opinion of Col. Parsons; attitude to alcohol including rum ration; posted from Signals School in GB to base camp at Mailly-Maillet, France, 3/1918. Aspects of operations with 6th Bn Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regt) on Western Front, 3-11/1918: story of meeting professional footballers at base camp; moved into line at Aveluy; allocated to guard duties at Bde HQ; first cases of influenza in Bn; moved to specially constructed trenches near Senlis for training; description of German artillery barrage and counter-barrage; casualties; attitude to salvaging material from own company; danger of salvaging shells and assistance from artillerymen; assessment of attack at Albert and role of Col. Willoughby; description of attack at Bray, 9/Aug/1918; taken by buses to Lens sector; comparison of trench warfare and open warfare; reduced capacity of German Army during last months of war; story of bringing surviving members of company out of sunken road; description of nightly bombing raids and casualties including brother; relieved by US troops at Epehy; description of watching Battle of Vimy Ridge from Arras, 4/1917; story of post-war visit to Vimy and Arras; use of sandbags to repair trenches; further memories of post-war visits to battlefields and memorials including Notre-Dame de Lorette.
REEL 3 Continues: comparison of pay between British and Commonwealth troops; treated by American doctor for infected arm; story of being given castor oil by doctor at Cartigny; various memories of fraternization with civilians during final advance, 1918; role in operations to capture Saint-Amand, 11/1918; story about receiving news of Armistice, 11/Nov/1918; description of Armistice night celebrations using Very lights as fireworks; story about brothers being treated for polio at Bristol General Hospital; story about sniper Pte Cross being killed; story about soldiers killed salvaging shells after the Armistice; opinion of Sgt-Major. Post-war life and employment: story about train journey across old Somme battlefields; story of meeting former sergeant from Etaples while working on railways; further memories of camp at Etaples; description of I, J and K centres near Arras; story about day trips to France.