Description
Object description
British officer served as Surgeon Probationer with Royal Navy in GB coastal waters, 7/1914-7/1915 and as Ship's Surgeon aboard SS Mombasa in Mediterranean, 1915; served with Royal Army Medical Corps in Mesopotamia and India, 1915-1916 and on Western Front, 1917-1918; POW in Germany, 1918; served as medical officer with Indian Medical Service in India, 10/1919-1924.
Content description
REEL 1: Recollection of period as medical student in London, GB, 1912-1914
REEL 2: Aspects of period as Surgeon Probationer with Royal Navy in GB coastal waters, 7/1914-7/1915: duties with Dover Patrol; story of being at sea when war declared, 4/Aug/1914; story of treating patient with septic leg at Heligoland and contracting septicaemia; description of medical treatment at hospital in GB, 11/1914; story of nurse crying over condition on Christmas Day; discharged from hospital and invalided out of Royal Navy, 7/1915. Aspects of period as Ship's Surgeon aboard SS Mombasa with British India Steam Navigation Company in Mediterranean, 1915: description of ship and cargo; story of encounter with U-58 off Malta; collected detachment of East African Rifles and sailed to Kenya; story about small European community in Lamu; story of meeting with former medical student Blenkinsop; returned to GB and enlisted with Royal Army Medical Corps. Aspects of period with Royal Army Medical Corps in GB, 1915-1916: marriage and honeymoon; posted to camp at Tweseldown for basic training and training as stretcher-bearer; sailed aboard SS Georgic from Liverpool to Basra, Mesopotamia. Aspects of operations with Royal Army Medical Corps in Mesopotamia and India, 1915-1916: posted to No.1 Camp, Margil; organisation of medical staff; description of medical equipment including large canvas bath used for heat stroke cases; story of driving patients in ambulance to Basra; posted to Field Ambulance at Sheikh Sa'ad under command of Col. Fleming; reaction to being appointed surgeon; story of operating on appendicitis case; attached to 32nd Bengal Lancers at Es Sinn; opinion of horse; role of orderly; messing arrangements; duties with Colonel and Adjutant; story of horse bolting towards enemy during engagement and reprimand from Colonel; description of daily routine and duties; problem of coming under friendly fire; number of miles covered; opinion of new horse; description of watching Madras miners' operations at Kut-el-Amar, 1916; story of receiving shrapnel wound in leg and evacuation aboard hospital ship to Bombay, India; billeted in Taj Mahal Hotel; story of attending New Year's Eve Ball, 12/1916; amusing story about Black Watch officer and kilt; returned to GB and passed fit for service. Aspects of operations with Royal Army Medical Corps on Western Front, 1917-4/1918: posted to hospital in Boulogne, 3/1917; entrained to Arras.
REEL 3 Continues: posted as Medical Officer with Field Ambulance attached to Gordon Highlanders; story of assembling in tunnels and moving into front line; description of watching shelling and machine gun fire; role in operations during Battle of Arras, 4/1917; story of setting up regimental aid post in pill box; description of dead horses in market square at Monchy-le-Preux; took shelter in cellar; story of shell blowing horse down cellar steps; amusing story about German POW and Mills bomb; story of riding in Divisional sports competition; posted to 2nd Bn Suffolk Regt; description of regimental aid post and medical staff; opinion of deaf batman; method of locating regimental aid post; opinion of living conditions in trenches; problem of trench feet and frostbite; sleeping arrangements for troops; medical personnel allowed own Primus stove and supply of brandy; daily routine and duties in trenches; role reporting casualties to CO every evening; story of dead body buried in parapet; problem of lice and rats; opinion of Padre Danvers; organised stretcher bearers from Field Ambulance to collect casualties; attitude to Germans shelling stretcher bearers; posted to Bullecourt; story about German warrant officer; story of night patrol finding crucified soldier; story of sending shell shocked soldier back to transport lines; marched to Ypres; story of 10 days leave in London; description of artillery formation at Ypres; role in operations during capture of Zonnebeke, Sep/1917; description of creeping barrage; story of captured Germans being trapped in dugout and left to starve as reprisal for crucified soldier; description of box barrage; story of being unhurt after shell burst in communication trench; story of soldier having clothes blown off by shell blast.
REEL 4 Continues: description of billets in village near Bapaume; reaction to loss of young soldiers; question of high death rate among soldiers carrying rum ration; amusing story about Sgt Legget attempting suicide; story of being addressed by Divisional CO, 1/1918; moved into line at Warlincourt Heights; night patrols; story of vomiting into gas mask following phosgene gas attack; problem of rations not arriving; location of regimental aid post; reaction to heavy casualties; story of evacuating regimental aid post and giving wounded morphine injections; description of direct hits on regimental aid post and casualties; story of being captured by Germans, 4/1918. Aspects of period as POW in France and Germany, 4-11/1918: story of being shot in leg by German machine gunner for lighting pipe; description of medical treatment at German aid post; taken in ambulance to village church; problem of lack of food; transferred to German officers' ward; friendship with German night nurse who trained in London; story of suggesting German pilot with chest wound be allowed to sleep upright; problem of gas gangrene in leg; story of being court martialled and sent to punishment camp for refusing to allow leg to be amputated; description of train journey to Aachen, Germany; story of German Red Cross nurse throwing soup away after answering in English; admitted to hospital in Munster for further medical treatment; story of being court martialled for removing weights placed on patients' legs; description of plaster being removed and problem with swollen knee; story of walking to POW camp in Karlsruhe, Germany; opinion of living conditions in camp; interrogation; story of cashing cheque to show wife still alive; entrained to punishment camp at Graudenz, East Prussia; released from solitary confinement after 5 days and shared room with Irish officer; not allowed any books or games; story of POWs being taken into town on Sundays and hostile reaction from local people; role of senior officer in camp Col. Corfe planning escapes; description of living conditions and food in camp; messing arrangements; problem of parcels from home not arriving; opinion of contents of food parcels; problem of loss of weight; daily routine in camp; story of singing English songs to annoy camp guards; amusing story of throwing biscuits attached to string out of barrack window.
REEL 5 Continues: description of digging escape tunnel and method of disposing of earth; used planks from bed to reinforce tunnel; story of mass breakout by 120 POWs; reaction to Armistice in camp, 11/1918; story of volunteering to work as medical officer at POW camp in Kassel. Aspects of period in Germany, 1918: description of train journey to Kassel; relations with German civilians including offer of free meals and transport; story of meeting Field Marshal Hindenburg in Kassel and his role in organising ambulance trains for POWs; reaction of German civilians to troops eating white bread; arrived in Cologne, Christmas 1918; story of contracting typhus and returning to GB aboard hospital ship. Aspects of period in GB, 1919: attended Court of Enquiry into capture and medical board; story of being diagnosed with scurvy and having all teeth removed; description of duties at Venereal Diseases hospital in Chiseldon; attitude to VD patients being allowed out into town at weekends; story of accepting permanent commission with Indian Medical Service; awarded £150 gratuity for fractured leg; description of voyage from Liverpool to Karachi, India. Aspects of period as medical officer with Indian Medical Service in India, 10/1919-1924: arrived in Army transit camp, 10/Oct/1919; posted to station at Risalpur, North-West Frontier Province, early 1920; description of station and mixture of cavalry and RAF personnel; amusing story about Irish RAMC officer and daughters; opinion of DH-9X aircraft; various memories of RAF pilots; story about death of baby daughter; story of threatening to shoot pilot who flew over bungalow during wife's illness; story illustrating loyalty of bearer Ameer Khan; posted to hospital at Peshawar and billeted with parson; location of hospital on Khyber Pass and problem of bandits; story of Pathan tribesman removing parson's bed clothes while sleeping; raiding parties across border; story about arrival of ex-Khyber Rifles troops; posted back to Risalpur until Apr/1922; posted to Jandola in tribal territory; story about travel allowance.
REEL 6 Continues; description of duties with Casualty Staging Section; story of murder and mutilation of captured British convoy by local villagers; posted to Kalabagh; description of bungalow; allowed use of launch; amusing story of Pathan women bathing naked in river; story about parson and planchette board; posted to Bannu until 4/1924; posted to Station Hospital at Alipore, Calcutta; requested transfer back to North-West Frontier Province; posted as Second-in-Command at hospital in Nowshera until end of 1924; story about intervening in dispute between Regt CO and CO of hospital. [Recording ends here]