Soldier Record

My late Father signed up in June 1915 with the Royal Garrison Artillery and I have a copy of his hand written account of the time he spent as a Battery Commander - 9.2battery -21Siege at 'Bailleue' arriving at the Battle of the Somme sometime after July 18,1915. Moved about - Douclou near Nieppe, then up to Lens and Vimy Ridge ["in spite of all the shelling and shooting, we could still hear the nighting gales "], back to the Somme and Bray and Carmoy. From July 1915 to January 1917 my Father's Battery continually bombarded the Germans - and was continually under severe shelling daily, nothing but mud and wounded, dying and dead soldiers - "the Valley of Death" - with flooding every where. His dugout was blown in on top of him by bombs dropped by German aircraft - he was seriously wounded - evacuated to to Birmingham Military Hospital.It was there he met my Mother who was Matron, later decorated with the Royal Red Cross at Buckingham Palace. After recovering, and after his marriage, my Father was posted as Commander of Queenstown Garrison, Spike Island, Cork, Ireland. He was released from active military duty from 22 January 1919.

My Father's description of his experiences of time spent on the Somme are both heartwarming and heartbreaking and portray first hand the dreadful conditions which existed and the lack of effective direction.