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Description: | 237 ms letters and postcards, with partial ts transcription (15pp), written home to his family while serving with the 10th Battalion Royal Fusiliers (54th Brigade, 18th Division until March 1915, then 111th Brigade, 37th Division) in Colchester and Andover, United Kingdom, September 1914 - July 1915, describing their living conditions, recreational activities and training, Christmas celebrations, route marches, his billets in local homes, air raids, machine gun instruction, and the issue of clothing and equipment for active service; then with the Machine Gun Section of the 10th Battalion Royal Fusiliers (111th Brigade, 37th Division) on the Western Front, August 1915 - June 1916, where he refers to his billets and difficulties with the French language, life in the front line trenches, his dugout, the receipt of gifts from home, recreational activities including sport, the cold and wet weather conditions and precautions to avoid trenchfoot, war rumours, hygiene and baths, and infestations of vermin; then transfer to the 111th Company Machine Gun Corps on the Western Front, June - November 1916, referring to the poor drainage in the trenches, his appreciation of Army tea, the variable quality of their food, and the improved state of his billets; his evacuation with wounds to No 3 Australian General Hospital in Brighton, November 1916 - February 1917, and then to Seaside Convalescent Hospital at Seaford, Sussex, February - April 1917; and finally his return to duty at Alnwick Command Depot, Northumberland and the MGC Receiving Depot in Grantham, November 1917 - November 1918, describing his train journey to the camp and routine there, recreational activities, air raids back home, his medical board, and Victory celebrations. Also held with the collection are copies of two group photographs showing him in training and hospital; his service and demobilisation papers; 28 ms letters and postcards written to him by fellow soldiers and friends, 1914 - 1917; and two ts fictional stories by Arthur P Parnell, based upon real experiences of trench warfare, entitled 'He Who Hesitates' (9pp) and 'The Waif of Artois' (10pp).
Cataloguer APR
Catalogue date 2003-06-18 | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Wilkinson, G A | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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