0:00:51 > 0:00:56After advancing several days into Belgium and passing these
0:00:56 > 0:01:00refugees, many of them with their little dogcarts and piled with
0:01:01 > 0:01:05their pitiful possessions - prams, children and one thing and another -
0:01:05 > 0:01:10we found ourselves eventually going the same way as the refugees.
0:01:10 > 0:01:12So therefore we knew very well we were no longer
0:01:12 > 0:01:15advancing into Belgium.
0:01:15 > 0:01:20And, of course, our road got morecongested with refugees
0:01:20 > 0:01:25and we got mixed up with the infantry who in turn were
0:01:25 > 0:01:27getting more and more tired.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31These infantry, unfortunately,
0:01:31 > 0:01:34began to suffer with feet trouble.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37I've seen infantry there with their feet bleeding.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41I've seen infantry with their boots off and puttees wrapped round them.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45I've seen men sobbing and turning around asking our officers,
0:01:45 > 0:01:47"Why the hell can't we fight?
0:01:47 > 0:01:50"Why won't you let us fight?"
0:01:50 > 0:01:52We used to, as artillery, give them a lift
0:01:52 > 0:01:57whenever we could on the guns, or even on our officer's horse.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00Our officers have let infantry ride there,
0:02:00 > 0:02:04but eventually the day came when no longer could we let them
0:02:04 > 0:02:08ride on our horses, because our own horses were getting chafed.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11Now, in peacetime, they had a rest, but here there was no rest.
0:02:11 > 0:02:13No respite whatsoever, no let-up,
0:02:13 > 0:02:17the Germans were on our tail the whole time and so, therefore,
0:02:17 > 0:02:21we had to conserve the energy of the horses as well as the men.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25So the order was given, all gunners must walk
0:02:25 > 0:02:28and whereverpossible, a driver was takenoff his horse
0:02:28 > 0:02:29to lead his horse.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32So, therefore, the infantry didn't get their lift.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35And we mustn't forget they were carrying somewhere in the region
0:02:35 > 0:02:38of 100lbs on their back, the infantry,
0:02:38 > 0:02:40which we did not have.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43And so, therefore, their feet got worse and worse.
0:02:43 > 0:02:48A lot of it was due to the fact that a number of them were
0:02:48 > 0:02:53reservists and had been called up just prior to the outbreak of war.
0:02:53 > 0:02:55And, of course, the first thing that happened to them,
0:02:55 > 0:02:58they were fitted out with kit, including ammos.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02We called them ammos, but it's the old Army word for boots
0:03:02 > 0:03:03and they were very heavy.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06Well, before the war, we were able to break them in,
0:03:07 > 0:03:08but they didn't get time.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12They were put straight on a march which lasted for 150,
0:03:12 > 0:03:16160 miles with only a very,very few rests
0:03:16 > 0:03:18and if they got those bootsoff, they couldn't get them
0:03:18 > 0:03:23back on again. Consequently, their feet were bleeding and, of course,
0:03:23 > 0:03:27they had to either throw boots away or wrap them round with puttees.
0:03:27 > 0:03:28And that was the cause.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31But most of their trouble was frustration.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34Frustration. They just could not fight.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37They wouldn't care a damn about the pain, about the fatigue,
0:03:37 > 0:03:40about anything if they'd been allowed to fight.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43And it was only exceptional cases where perhaps there was
0:03:43 > 0:03:46a little rearguard action where they were allowed to get into action
0:03:46 > 0:03:48and have a real fight.
0:03:48 > 0:03:49And that bucked them up no end.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53But this went on and went on and, of course, all the time
0:03:53 > 0:03:56we were retiring, the Germanswere coming on
0:03:56 > 0:04:01and having all the food andthat imaginable from the houses
0:04:01 > 0:04:04and we were told then that we mustlive off the land.
0:04:04 > 0:04:06We must get everything we can from empty houses,
0:04:06 > 0:04:08otherwise the Germans would have it.
0:04:08 > 0:04:10Well, I remember seeing the Munsters once.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13They'd got, I think, about five cows in front of them
0:04:13 > 0:04:17and they tried to drive them along the road in front of them
0:04:17 > 0:04:19and I think they were going to kill them at night.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23That was only my surmise, but those cows knew more than the Munsters.
0:04:23 > 0:04:25First of all one wouldgo in a field one side
0:04:25 > 0:04:26and one would go in a field the other side.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30I don't know how many they got away with, but I was very lucky
0:04:30 > 0:04:32because I was on a telephone cart
0:04:32 > 0:04:35and I was able to get quite a bit of provisions to put in that
0:04:35 > 0:04:37telephone cart to share out amongst the others.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42I remember we went once to a house which we thought was empty
0:04:42 > 0:04:44and a pal of mine said, "Look,"
0:04:44 > 0:04:47he said, "There's some lovely rabbits there in those hutches.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50"Let's have some of them." I said, "Right-oh, we'll have them."
0:04:50 > 0:04:53So in we went and he pulled one out and killed it.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55I said, "How do you kill them, then?"
0:04:55 > 0:04:57"Well," he said, "just like this.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00"Hold the hind legs and smack them on the back of the neck."
0:05:00 > 0:05:01OK.
0:05:01 > 0:05:05I'd just completed that and the door opened and a Damesoille cameout,
0:05:05 > 0:05:09my God, didn't we go through that hedge absolutely head first.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13Then again we got some chickens at one time
0:05:13 > 0:05:16and we thought we'd wrung their necks nicely, we put them in a sack,
0:05:16 > 0:05:18they went on the telephone cart.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20We hadn't gone, I suppose, a quarter of a mile,
0:05:20 > 0:05:21the sack had jumped off the cart.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23That was them gone west.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26But I think our greatest day came
0:05:26 > 0:05:29on September 5th, when we were
0:05:29 > 0:05:33told that tomorrow we might be able to advance, or we should advance.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37And then that was the time when you should have seen those infantrymen.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40Not only the artillerymen, but the infantry.
0:05:40 > 0:05:41You should have seen their faces.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43I mean, they were absolutely
0:05:43 > 0:05:45asthough they were going to a football match.
0:05:45 > 0:05:47At last, they were going to get what they wanted.
0:05:47 > 0:05:48They were going to fight the Germans
0:05:48 > 0:05:51and that's what they'd come out there for.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55Oh, we had some Germans fetched in
0:05:55 > 0:05:58in an ambulance once
0:05:58 > 0:06:00and they were talking to us in broken English and one of them
0:06:00 > 0:06:03said, "Oh," hesaid, "Belgian no good shot.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07"French no good shot. British, he too damn good shot."
0:06:07 > 0:06:12Now, what these Germans thought when our boys had opened up,
0:06:12 > 0:06:14our infantry openedup, that they were opposing
0:06:14 > 0:06:17nests of machine guns, but they weren't.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20All they were opposing was their rifles
0:06:20 > 0:06:24and all these boys were firing at 15 rounds a minute, which misled
0:06:24 > 0:06:28the Germans to think that they'd got big batteries of machine guns,
0:06:28 > 0:06:32and I believe the complement of a battalion was two machine guns only.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43That September, 1915, that September morning
0:06:43 > 0:06:46when we were planning the attack on Loos,
0:06:46 > 0:06:49it turned out a lovely morning, but we'd been up the trenches,
0:06:49 > 0:06:54my pal and I, getting the wire ready to lay out behind the infantry.
0:06:54 > 0:06:56The plan was to take Loos.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00We were almost in front of Hulluch and our objective was Hulluch.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03And right in front of our trench,
0:07:03 > 0:07:07the ground sloped upwards to theGerman's strong point,
0:07:07 > 0:07:09which was a rather terrifying sight from
0:07:09 > 0:07:13the front line because going awayin front of us
0:07:13 > 0:07:16up for a sheer almost800 yards
0:07:16 > 0:07:18and an incline all theway,
0:07:18 > 0:07:21right to the German trenches.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23And that's what theinfantrymen had to face.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27Well, we opened up with a terrificbombardment to try
0:07:27 > 0:07:31and break through the wire and then the gas was let loose.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35And our infantrymen, allclad in these Ku Klux Klan helmets
0:07:36 > 0:07:40just with a little thing to put in their mouth, went off.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43Well, they had this 800 yards with fixed bayonets
0:07:43 > 0:07:44and they had to charge.
0:07:44 > 0:07:46There was no loitering with those things.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50And what happened wasthat a lot of them
0:07:51 > 0:07:53thought that they were suffocating
0:07:53 > 0:07:55and they pulled their helmets off.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58Unfortunately, just at that moment,
0:07:58 > 0:08:00the wind saw fit to change,
0:08:00 > 0:08:03not only change, but to start to blow back
0:08:03 > 0:08:06and the gas cameback on our infantry and it caused
0:08:06 > 0:08:10terrible execution because I saw allthe bodies thereafter.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14But not only the gas on our front caused execution.
0:08:14 > 0:08:19As I went over some time later, we got to a sap that led straight
0:08:19 > 0:08:23up into the German trenches and at the head of that sap there was
0:08:23 > 0:08:29a German machine gunner handcuffedto his machine gun.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34Now, round by the side of him there seemed to be thousands
0:08:34 > 0:08:37and thousands of cartridge cases and in front of him,
0:08:37 > 0:08:41all the way up that sap, I saw our dead fellows.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44He caused terrible execution, but all I saw of him was his head
0:08:44 > 0:08:48bowed down on a machine gun and split open where one of our lads
0:08:48 > 0:08:51had caught him, probably caught him with the butt end of the rifle.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55Of course, those lads weren't moved for some days,
0:08:55 > 0:08:56the dead weren't moved -
0:08:56 > 0:08:59the wounded were - and for days after,
0:08:59 > 0:09:03when I was laying that wire out, I had to pass over those bodies
0:09:03 > 0:09:07whose faces were turning more and more blue and green, their buttons
0:09:07 > 0:09:10were blue and green, as a matter of fact, it was a terrible sight and we
0:09:11 > 0:09:13had one or two frosts those evenings,
0:09:13 > 0:09:15which made things much worse.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19Well, on the left of us there was the Hohenzollern Redoubt,
0:09:19 > 0:09:22one of the most... They called it one of the most strongpoints
0:09:22 > 0:09:25of the war at that time and I know our guards
0:09:25 > 0:09:29had two or three attempts to do it withoutany luck at all.
0:09:29 > 0:09:34I was told to lay a wire up to theHulluch crossroads.
0:09:34 > 0:09:36Well, I went over the first and second line of trenches
0:09:36 > 0:09:40and I got right up to where there were some German trenches had
0:09:40 > 0:09:44been captured and an officer came down, he said, "Where are you going?"
0:09:44 > 0:09:47I said, "Well,"I said, "I've got to laya wire to the crossroads,
0:09:47 > 0:09:50"Hulluch." He said, "You'd better bugger off.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54"You'd better get off back," he said, "we haven't captured it yet."
0:09:54 > 0:09:56So back we had to go and I wasn't sorry, either.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01- MAN: And cut. - Yes.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11Well, I suppose there's a limit to everything,
0:10:11 > 0:10:13but what with the mud of the Somme
0:10:13 > 0:10:17and the mud of Passchendaele, to seemen keep on sinking into
0:10:17 > 0:10:20the slime, dying in the slime,
0:10:20 > 0:10:24I thinkit absolutely finished me off.
0:10:24 > 0:10:29Because I knew for threemonths before I was wounded that
0:10:29 > 0:10:31I was going to get it. I knew jolly well.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33The only thing was I thought I was going to get killed
0:10:33 > 0:10:36and every time I wentout to mend a wire, I think
0:10:36 > 0:10:39I was the biggestcoward on God's earth.
0:10:39 > 0:10:43Of course, there were notimes of duty regarding mending
0:10:43 > 0:10:46telephone wires.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48Nobody knew when a wire would go,
0:10:48 > 0:10:50but we knew it had to be mended.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54The infantrymen's lives depended on these wires working and it didn't
0:10:55 > 0:10:58matter whether we'd had sleep, or whether we hadn't had sleep.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02We just had to keep those wires through.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06And there were many dayswhen, actually, I don't remember them.
0:11:06 > 0:11:11I don't remember what happened because I was so damned tired
0:11:11 > 0:11:13and there was mud, mud everywhere.
0:11:13 > 0:11:15Mud in the trenches, mud in front ofthe trenches,
0:11:15 > 0:11:17behind the trenches.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21Every shell hole wasa sea of filthy, oozing mud.
0:11:21 > 0:11:26And the fatigue in that mud wassomething terrible.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30The very fact of having to go eight and ten miles round those wires
0:11:30 > 0:11:32and try and pull your feet out.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36And as I say, as you pulled one foot out, the other one would sink down.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39And when you hadn't had sleep for several nights and when you
0:11:39 > 0:11:43hadn't had rest and sometimes hardlya meal,
0:11:43 > 0:11:44it did get you.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48And you reached a point where there was no beyond.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50You just could not go any further
0:11:50 > 0:11:53and that's the point I'd reached.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57It was somewhere near midnight, I think.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00I'd been out on the wires all day, all night.
0:12:00 > 0:12:04I hadn't had any sleep, itseemed, for weeks and no rest
0:12:04 > 0:12:08and it was very, very difficult to mend a telephone wire in this mud.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10You'd find one end and then you'd try
0:12:10 > 0:12:13and trudge through themud to find the other end
0:12:13 > 0:12:17and as you got one foot out, the other one would go down.
0:12:17 > 0:12:22I was tired of seeing infantry sinking back in that morass
0:12:22 > 0:12:24never to come out alive again.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27I was tired of all the carnage,
0:12:27 > 0:12:32of all the sacrifice that we had there, just to gain about 25 yards.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36And this night, I think I'd reached my lowest ebb.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39The Germans were sending over quitea barrage and I crouched
0:12:39 > 0:12:44down in one of these dirty shell holes and then I began to think
0:12:44 > 0:12:50of those poor devils who had been punished for self-inflicted wounds.
0:12:50 > 0:12:51Some had even been shot,
0:12:51 > 0:12:54and I began towonder how I could get out of it.
0:12:55 > 0:12:57And I sat there and kept thinking,
0:12:57 > 0:13:01and it's very lonely when you're on your own.
0:13:01 > 0:13:06And then in the distance, I heard the rattle of harness.
0:13:06 > 0:13:08I didn't hear much of the wheels,
0:13:08 > 0:13:11but I knew there were ammunition wagons coming up
0:13:11 > 0:13:13and I thought tomyself,
0:13:13 > 0:13:16"Well, here's a way out.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18"When they get level with me, I'll ease out
0:13:18 > 0:13:22"and put my leg under the wheel.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25"I shall bound to get away andI can plead it was an accident."
0:13:25 > 0:13:28Well, I waited and the sound of theharness
0:13:28 > 0:13:31got nearer and nearer.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35Eventually, I saw the leading horses'heads in front of me
0:13:35 > 0:13:37and I thought, "This is it".
0:13:38 > 0:13:41And I began to ease my way out
0:13:41 > 0:13:44and eventually the first wagonreached me.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47And do you know, I never even hadthe guts to do that.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51I found myself wishing to do it,
0:13:51 > 0:13:54but hadn't got the guts to do it.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56Well, I went on, I finished my wire,
0:13:56 > 0:13:59I found the other end and mended it.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02I was out twice more that night. I was out the next day.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06And the next night, my palcame out with me,
0:14:06 > 0:14:09he wasn't busy on the other wires.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13And after the Germans had stopped shelling a littlewhile,
0:14:13 > 0:14:16we heard one of their big ones coming over
0:14:16 > 0:14:20and normally, withinreason, you could tell if one wasgoing to land
0:14:20 > 0:14:23anywhere near or not.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26If it was, the normal procedure wasto throw yourself down
0:14:26 > 0:14:29and avoid the shell fragments.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31This one we knew was going to drop near.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35My pal shouted and threw himself down.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40I was too damned tired even to fall down.
0:14:40 > 0:14:42I stood there.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46Next, I had a terrificpain in the back and the chest
0:14:46 > 0:14:49and I found myself facedownwards in the mud.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52My pal came to me.
0:14:52 > 0:14:56He tried to lift me up and I said to him,
0:14:56 > 0:14:58"Don't touch me, leave me, I've had enough.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00"Just leave me."
0:15:00 > 0:15:05The next thing, I found myself sinking down in the mud
0:15:05 > 0:15:09and, this time, I didn't worry about the mud.
0:15:09 > 0:15:10I didn't hate it any more.
0:15:10 > 0:15:14It seemed like a protective blanket covering me.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18And I thought to myself, "Well, if this is death, it's not so bad".
0:15:19 > 0:15:23And then I found myself being bumped about.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28And I realised that I was on a stretcher
0:15:28 > 0:15:31and I thought, "Poor devils, thesestretcher-bearers.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34"I wouldn't be a stretcher-bearer for anything."
0:15:35 > 0:15:37And then something else happened.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39I suddenly realised that I wasn't dead.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42I realised that I was alive.
0:15:44 > 0:15:49I realised that if these wounds didn't prove fatal, that I should get
0:15:49 > 0:15:52back to my parents, to my sister,
0:15:52 > 0:15:55tothe girl that I was going to marry.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58The girl that had sent me aletter every day, practically,
0:15:58 > 0:16:00from the beginning of the war.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04Then...the dressing station.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06Morphia.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10And I must then have had that sleep that I so badly needed...
0:16:10 > 0:16:16for I didn't recollect any more until I found myself in a bed
0:16:16 > 0:16:20with white sheets and I heard the lovely,
0:16:20 > 0:16:24wonderful voices of our nurses -
0:16:24 > 0:16:27English, Scotch and Irish.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30And I thinkthen I completely broke down.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35Next, the padre wassitting beside the bedside.
0:16:36 > 0:16:37He was trying to comfort me,
0:16:38 > 0:16:41he toldme I'd had an operation andhe told me
0:16:41 > 0:16:45that he had some relatives out there that had been out there
0:16:45 > 0:16:48rightfrom the beginning and, by God'sgrace,
0:16:48 > 0:16:50they hadn't had a scratch.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54He said, "They've been lucky, haven't they?"
0:16:54 > 0:16:57I thought to myself, "Lucky?
0:16:57 > 0:16:58"Poor devils."