Eng They Shall Not Grow Old (2018)

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<font color="#ffffff">This film contains some scenes which</font>
<font color="#ffffff">some viewers may find upsetting</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">I gave every part of my youth</font>
<font color="#ffffff">to do a job</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">and to go through a savage war.</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">It was a different war from</font>
<font color="#ffff00">year to year, and one's reactions</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">were completely different.</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">The intensity changed so much</font>
<font color="#ffff00">that anybody who'd been out in 1914</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">and went home and came back in 1917,</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">wouldn't recognise it</font>
<font color="#ffff00">as the same war.</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">I can only say one thing,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">I wouldn't have missed it.</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">It was terrible at times,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">but I wouldn't have missed it.</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">Oh, yes, if I could have</font>
<font color="#00ff00">my time again, I'd go through it</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">all over again because</font>
<font color="#00ff00">I enjoyed the service life.</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">I could only say that I have never</font>
<font color="#ffffff">been so excited in my life,</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">this was like a boy going</font>
<font color="#ffffff">to the play the first time.</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">I never realised there was</font>
<font color="#ffff00">anything unusual about it.</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">There was a job to be done</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and you just go on and did it.</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">We were all instilled with the idea</font>
<font color="#00ffff">that this was war</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">and that we've got to kill the</font>
<font color="#00ffff">Germans, and this is how we looked</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">at the thing.</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">I don't regret</font>
<font color="#00ff00">having experienced it.</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">I wish I hadn't, but I don't</font>
<font color="#00ff00">regret it because I'm safe.</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">HE LAUGHS</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">There were good times</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and bad times in France.</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">But you took the rough</font>
<font color="#ffffff">with the smooth.</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">I was twice wounded and gassed,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">but it was just war and you made</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">the best of it.</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">Just took it in its stride,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">like everybody else.</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">We were glad to be in it</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and we expected it to be rough,</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">and it WAS rough,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">but we didn't complain.</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">There was no real excitement</font>
<font color="#00ff00">about it.</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">You'd seen death so many times,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">you'd seen wounded so many times,</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">blood didn't excite you.</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">We were professionals</font>
<font color="#00ff00">and to us it was just a job of work.</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">It would be a fallacy to say</font>
<font color="#ffffff">that one enjoyed it,</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">but one got afterwards</font>
<font color="#ffffff">a nice, warm inner feeling that</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">one had been some use.</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">It didn't affect me very much</font>
<font color="#ffff00">because I wasn't</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">sufficiently open in the ways</font>
<font color="#ffff00">of the world, I was only a kid,</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">like other blokes there.</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">It was more like</font>
<font color="#ffff00">a great big game to be enjoyed,</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">apart from the actual killing</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and all that sort of thing.</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">It made me a man.</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">Yes, it did.</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">I don't think I should</font>
<font color="#00ffff">have ever been the man I am if it</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">hadn't been for having to serve.</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">You'd learn to look after yourself.</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">Whereas in your civilian life,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">your mother did all the chores.</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">You've got to learn</font>
<font color="#00ff00">how to cook for yourself,</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">darn your own socks,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">sew on your own buttons</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">and all the things like that.</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">It was just a day's work.</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">I knew that I was not alone,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">I knew I wasn't fighting the war</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">by myself and that what happened</font>
<font color="#ffffff">to other people might happen to me.</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">I had no regrets at all.</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">But, you see, I had no wife,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">no girl, no nothing.</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">No regrets, no horrors...</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">..because if you survive that,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">you can survive anything.</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">We was aware that there was</font>
<font color="#ffffff">sort of a nasty feeling</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">between England and Germany.</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">We knew of the Kaiser's ambition</font>
<font color="#ffffff">to expand his empire</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">and all that sort of thing.</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">During that summer, there was a lot</font>
<font color="#ffff00">of talk about trouble</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">going on in the Balkans,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">but we were a long way</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">from the Balkans</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and it didn't worry us at all.</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">It was that Serbia business,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">wasn't it?</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">Serbia, when that chap was shot.</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">I was paying attention</font>
<font color="#00ff00">to politics and I realised</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">that there was going to be trouble</font>
<font color="#00ff00">between England and Germany.</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">It was a lovely</font>
<font color="#ffffff">August the 4th morning.</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">We were all seated around the table</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and we were starting</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">the Rugby football dinner</font>
<font color="#ffff00">with the German team.</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">There was a German here,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">next to him was an Englishman,</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">and next to him was a German,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and so on and so on.</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">And a runner arrived into the middle</font>
<font color="#ffff00">of this dinner</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">with extraordinary news</font>
<font color="#ffff00">of outbreak of war.</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">There was a big placard -</font>
<font color="#00ffff">"War declared on Germany."</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">We didn't know what we ought to do.</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">Whether we got to seize</font>
<font color="#ffff00">a knife off the table</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">and plunge it into the German</font>
<font color="#ffff00">or what!</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">But, after a little bit</font>
<font color="#ffff00">of discussion, we decided</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">that as far as we were concerned,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">the war was going to start tomorrow,</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">and the party proceeded.</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">I'm proud of being a British hero.</font>
<font color="#ffffff">I mean, I think we're as good</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">a country as any in the world</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">and you've got to be prepared</font>
<font color="#ffffff">to fight for that.</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">There's no doubt about it -</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">in the First World War,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">we prepared for war.</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">The empire was strong,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">we weren't afraid of anyone.</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">Everybody bought little buttons</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and white flags and sang songs,</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">there was no feeling of despair</font>
<font color="#00ffff">about it at all.</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">England couldn't possibly lose,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">no matter how many Germans pushed</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">how many Englishmen into the</font>
<font color="#00ff00">Channel, that they'd get no further.</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">We couldn't possibly lose.</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">We were brought up to think that one</font>
<font color="#ffffff">Englishman was worth ten Germans.</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">I thought that any enemy</font>
<font color="#ffff00">of England was an enemy of mine</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">and I wanted to be in it.</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">Oh, 6 months or 12 months,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">it would be all over</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">and Bob's your uncle.</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">I went with a friend of mine</font>
<font color="#00ff00">to Shepherd's Bush Empire</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">to see the picture show there</font>
<font color="#00ff00">and they showed the fleet</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">saving the high seas and played</font>
<font color="#00ff00">"Britons never shall be slaves",</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">and one feels that little shiver run</font>
<font color="#00ff00">up their back and you know</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">you've got to do something.</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">A friend of mine said to me,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">"We're going to join up."</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">It was from the</font>
<font color="#ffffff">patriotic point of view,</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">and from the general excitement of</font>
<font color="#ffffff">the whole affair, I suppose.</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">I didn't believe in war</font>
<font color="#ffff00">to that extent, but I was prepared</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">to do my part.</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">You see, in those days, men weren't</font>
<font color="#00ffff">to think for themselves,</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">they just had to do what they were</font>
<font color="#00ffff">told and that's all there was to it.</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">Oh, my mother</font>
<font color="#00ff00">was very aggrieved about it.</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">But, you know, a young man,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">you decide you're going to go.</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">At lunchtime, I left the office,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">went along to Armoury House</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">and there was a queue of about</font>
<font color="#ffffff">1,000 people trying to enlist.</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">Everybody thought</font>
<font color="#ffff00">it would be a civilised war</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">and wanted to be fit enough to go.</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">Two of us decided to join up</font>
<font color="#00ffff">together, and when we told</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">the boss we were going to start</font>
<font color="#00ffff">training on Monday,</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">he was very annoyed.</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">He didn't make any promise</font>
<font color="#00ffff">at all that our jobs would be there</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">when we got back.</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">My mother, she said,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">"You wait until you're 19."</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">See, that was the age</font>
<font color="#00ff00">in those days, 19 to 35.</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">Well, it was supposed to be.</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">We were all lads together, you know,</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">full of excitement</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">and all this kind of thing.</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">I mean, I just wanted</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">to have a go at Jerry.</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">I just thought that I'd like</font>
<font color="#ffff00">to go and fight for the country.</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">This was the thing, you were proud</font>
<font color="#ffff00">of your country</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">and you'd do the best you could</font>
<font color="#ffff00">for it.</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">And this was what most of the</font>
<font color="#ffff00">young people thought of doing</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">in those days.</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">My mother, she said to me,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">"Look, we could stop you doing this</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">"because of your age."</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">I said, "Yes, I know you could,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">Mother, but I'm sure you won't."</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">Which they never did.</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">I just felt that all the young</font>
<font color="#00ff00">fellows of that age</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">were volunteering</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">and I thought it was</font>
<font color="#00ff00">my job to do the same.</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">I was desperately keen</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and a whole heap of us were.</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">I said, "Direct enlistment, please."</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">They were highly delighted</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">and pushed me in</font>
<font color="#ffffff">as quick as lightning.</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">Lots of the lads were</font>
<font color="#ffff00">joining the local regiments,</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">like the Bucks and the Middlesex.</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">Lads that I knew</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and had been to school with,</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">played football and cricket with,</font>

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<font color="#ffff00">we joined up, hoping for the best.</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">We were good friends, comrades</font>

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<font color="#00ffff">and it was a relief from rather</font>
<font color="#00ffff">boring jobs at home, you see.</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">I was walking down</font>
<font color="#00ff00">the Camden Town high street,</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">when two young ladies approached me,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">"Why aren't you in the Army?"</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">I said, "I'm only 17."</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">"Oh, they all say that here."</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">And to my amazement,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">she put her hand in her bag</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">and I put my hand up to sort of</font>
<font color="#00ff00">safeguard myself,</font>

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<font color="#00ff00">and this white feather</font>
<font color="#00ff00">finished up my nose.</font>

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<font color="#ffffff">As we marched to the station,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">some of the chaps had bowler hats,</font>

161
00:08:17,444 --> 00:08:21,861
<font color="#ffffff">some had straw hats, some had the</font>
<font color="#ffffff">regulation peaked Army cap.</font>

162
00:08:21,861 --> 00:08:24,278
<font color="#ffffff">Some would have tunics,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">some would be dressed</font>

163
00:08:24,278 --> 00:08:27,819
<font color="#ffffff">with their ordinary jackets</font>
<font color="#ffffff">with a pair of Army trousers.</font>

164
00:08:27,819 --> 00:08:30,320
<font color="#ffffff">Some had Army boots, some didn't.</font>

165
00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:32,986
<font color="#ffffff">And we really were a motley throng.</font>

166
00:08:32,986 --> 00:08:35,445
<font color="#ffff00">Some of them were obviously chaps</font>
<font color="#ffff00">who had hoped to live</font>

167
00:08:35,445 --> 00:08:38,320
<font color="#ffff00">in some comfort and brought</font>
<font color="#ffff00">suitcases with clothes with them,</font>

168
00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:39,778
<font color="#ffff00">which they never saw again.</font>

169
00:08:39,778 --> 00:08:41,695
<font color="#00ffff">We had to all get our hair cut.</font>

170
00:08:41,695 --> 00:08:42,987
<font color="#00ffff">"How would you like it, sir?"</font>

171
00:08:42,987 --> 00:08:45,279
<font color="#00ffff">And you'd say,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">"Short back and sides."</font>

172
00:08:45,279 --> 00:08:47,571
<font color="#00ffff">But the answer was,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">straight over the top</font>

173
00:08:47,571 --> 00:08:51,487
<font color="#00ffff">with horse clippers, and we looked</font>
<font color="#00ffff">more like convicts than soldiers.</font>

174
00:08:51,487 --> 00:08:53,738
<font color="#00ff00">As soon as war broke out,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">there was a call made</font>

175
00:08:53,738 --> 00:08:55,904
<font color="#00ff00">for all ex-soldiers to rejoin,</font>

176
00:08:55,904 --> 00:08:58,654
<font color="#00ff00">and they made them sergeants</font>
<font color="#00ff00">straight away.</font>

177
00:08:58,654 --> 00:09:01,780
<font color="#00ff00">So you got a lot of instructors</font>
<font color="#00ff00">that way.</font>

178
00:09:01,780 --> 00:09:04,946
<font color="#ffffff">The people who really carried us</font>
<font color="#ffffff">through was the old sweats</font>

179
00:09:04,946 --> 00:09:09,280
<font color="#ffffff">who'd had previous war experience</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and gave us a lot of wise advice</font>

180
00:09:09,280 --> 00:09:12,655
<font color="#ffffff">as to what to look for</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and what to dodge.</font>

181
00:09:12,655 --> 00:09:17,072
<font color="#ffff00">We were ordered down onto the parade</font>
<font color="#ffff00">ground and then we were allotted</font>

182
00:09:17,072 --> 00:09:19,614
<font color="#ffff00">to different platoons.</font>

183
00:09:19,614 --> 00:09:23,322
<font color="#00ffff">When they came to us,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">they were weedy, sallow,</font>

184
00:09:23,322 --> 00:09:26,656
<font color="#00ffff">skinny, frightened children.</font>

185
00:09:26,656 --> 00:09:30,740
<font color="#00ffff">The refuse of our industrial system</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and they were in very poor condition</font>

186
00:09:30,740 --> 00:09:32,990
<font color="#00ffff">and had to be made into soldiers.</font>

187
00:09:32,990 --> 00:09:36,990
<font color="#00ff00">Many of us had given</font>
<font color="#00ff00">our wrong ages to join the Army.</font>

188
00:09:36,990 --> 00:09:39,573
<font color="#ffffff">The agent walked down</font>
<font color="#ffffff">the lines and gave an order,</font>

189
00:09:39,573 --> 00:09:45,074
<font color="#ffffff">"Every man under the age of 19</font>
<font color="#ffffff">should take two paces forward."</font>

190
00:09:45,074 --> 00:09:47,574
<font color="#ffffff">Nobody moved.</font>

191
00:09:47,574 --> 00:09:51,532
<font color="#ffff00">I was a lad of 17 and</font>
<font color="#ffff00">they'd probably say I wasn't 19,</font>

192
00:09:51,532 --> 00:09:54,074
<font color="#ffff00">which you had to be to join up.</font>

193
00:09:54,074 --> 00:09:57,491
<font color="#ffff00">But he says, "How long</font>
<font color="#ffff00">do you want to sign on for?"</font>

194
00:09:57,491 --> 00:10:00,783
<font color="#00ffff">Everyone else was joining up so</font>
<font color="#00ffff">I called into the recruitment office</font>

195
00:10:00,783 --> 00:10:03,741
<font color="#00ffff">and he said to me, "How old</font>
<font color="#00ffff">are you?" I said, "17, sir."</font>

196
00:10:03,741 --> 00:10:07,075
<font color="#00ffff">Well, he said, "Go outside and</font>
<font color="#00ffff">come back and say you are 18."</font>

197
00:10:07,075 --> 00:10:10,158
<font color="#00ffff">So of course, I went outside</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and said we were 18.</font>

198
00:10:10,158 --> 00:10:12,033
<font color="#00ffff">I was straight up there.</font>

199
00:10:12,033 --> 00:10:14,742
<font color="#ffffff">The Sergeant said,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">"How old are you?"</font>

200
00:10:14,742 --> 00:10:16,075
<font color="#ffffff">I said, "I'm 18 and one month."</font>

201
00:10:16,075 --> 00:10:18,367
<font color="#ffffff">He said,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">"Do you mean 19 and one month?</font>

202
00:10:18,367 --> 00:10:20,367
<font color="#ffffff">So I thought for a moment,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">I said, "Yes, sir."</font>

203
00:10:20,367 --> 00:10:22,326
<font color="#ffffff">He said, "Right, sign here, please."</font>

204
00:10:22,326 --> 00:10:25,951
<font color="#ffff00">He asked me how old I was</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and I said I was 16 in March.</font>

205
00:10:25,951 --> 00:10:27,659
<font color="#ffff00">He said, "You're too young,</font>

206
00:10:27,659 --> 00:10:30,284
<font color="#ffff00">"you better go outside</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and have a birthday."</font>

207
00:10:30,284 --> 00:10:33,535
<font color="#00ffff">I was 16 years old in 1917</font>

208
00:10:33,535 --> 00:10:38,493
<font color="#00ffff">and I was six foot two tall</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and my father allowed me to go.</font>

209
00:10:38,493 --> 00:10:41,702
<font color="#00ffff">So I entered my age as 19 years old,</font>

210
00:10:41,702 --> 00:10:45,202
<font color="#00ffff">three years older</font>
<font color="#00ffff">than what I really was.</font>

211
00:10:45,202 --> 00:10:49,786
<font color="#00ff00">I was 15 years,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">just 2½ years short of 18,</font>

212
00:10:49,786 --> 00:10:53,411
<font color="#00ff00">and I got before this</font>
<font color="#00ff00">medical officer, who said,</font>

213
00:10:53,411 --> 00:10:55,994
<font color="#00ff00">"All right, you pass."</font>

214
00:10:55,994 --> 00:10:59,953
<font color="#ffffff">I had just turned 17 at the time</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and I went up to Whitehall</font>

215
00:10:59,953 --> 00:11:02,828
<font color="#ffffff">and enlisted in the 16th Lancers.</font>

216
00:11:02,828 --> 00:11:06,245
<font color="#ffff00">I was 15 and I thought</font>
<font color="#ffff00">I'd have a better chance</font>

217
00:11:06,245 --> 00:11:08,037
<font color="#ffff00">than when I were 14.</font>

218
00:11:08,037 --> 00:11:11,953
<font color="#ffff00">So I walked into the barracks</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and just said, "I'm 18,"</font>

219
00:11:11,953 --> 00:11:13,453
<font color="#ffff00">and that was it.</font>

220
00:11:13,453 --> 00:11:16,870
<font color="#00ffff">My parents wrote to the</font>
<font color="#00ffff">commanding officer and asked for me,</font>

221
00:11:16,870 --> 00:11:18,662
<font color="#00ffff">as I was underage, to be released.</font>

222
00:11:18,662 --> 00:11:22,579
<font color="#00ffff">And he said, "Your parents</font>
<font color="#00ffff">want you back - do you want to go?"</font>

223
00:11:22,579 --> 00:11:24,079
<font color="#00ffff">I said no.</font>

224
00:11:25,537 --> 00:11:28,663
<font color="#00ff00">The chaplain asked me my age,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">and I said I was 16.</font>

225
00:11:28,663 --> 00:11:33,538
<font color="#00ff00">He said, "Much too young.</font>
<font color="#00ff00">Would you like me to pray for you?"</font>

226
00:11:38,705 --> 00:11:42,580
<font color="#ffffff">The clothing came piecemeal</font>
<font color="#ffffff">into the quartermaster stores.</font>

227
00:11:44,622 --> 00:11:47,789
<font color="#ffff00">One lad said,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">"These boots don't fit me."</font>

228
00:11:47,789 --> 00:11:50,581
<font color="#ffff00">And the quartermaster said,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">"There isn't such a thing as boots</font>

229
00:11:50,581 --> 00:11:52,872
<font color="#ffff00">"that don't fit in the Army,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">it's your feet that don't</font>

230
00:11:52,872 --> 00:11:54,247
<font color="#ffff00">"fit the boots."</font>

231
00:11:54,247 --> 00:11:58,206
<font color="#00ffff">Some men would find a tunic</font>
<font color="#00ffff">to fit them or perhaps</font>

232
00:11:58,206 --> 00:11:59,706
<font color="#00ffff">a pair of trousers.</font>

233
00:11:59,706 --> 00:12:02,956
<font color="#00ffff">And so it went on</font>
<font color="#00ffff">for nearly a fortnight.</font>

234
00:12:02,956 --> 00:12:04,456
<font color="#00ffff">Just one uniform.</font>

235
00:12:04,456 --> 00:12:08,665
<font color="#00ffff">I was in the Army nearly four years,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">I only had one uniform.</font>

236
00:12:08,665 --> 00:12:11,540
<font color="#00ff00">We were all issued</font>
<font color="#00ff00">with these famous puttees,</font>

237
00:12:11,540 --> 00:12:14,957
<font color="#00ff00">which were news to all of us,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">and I personally could never quite</font>

238
00:12:14,957 --> 00:12:17,499
<font color="#00ff00">master the putting on of puttees.</font>

239
00:12:17,499 --> 00:12:21,707
<font color="#ffffff">The main reason for puttees were</font>
<font color="#ffffff">to support the legs in marching.</font>

240
00:12:21,707 --> 00:12:25,457
<font color="#ffff00">I was issued with a kilt</font>
<font color="#ffff00">but nothing to wear underneath it,</font>

241
00:12:25,457 --> 00:12:27,958
<font color="#ffff00">and I was given a slip of paper</font>
<font color="#ffff00">to say,</font>

242
00:12:27,958 --> 00:12:31,166
<font color="#ffff00">"This man has not</font>
<font color="#ffff00">been issued with underpants."</font>

243
00:12:31,166 --> 00:12:33,750
<font color="#ffff00">I was given strict instructions</font>
<font color="#ffff00">that I couldn't ride on top</font>

244
00:12:33,750 --> 00:12:36,833
<font color="#ffff00">of the tram car,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">had to ride downstairs.</font>

245
00:12:38,750 --> 00:12:42,417
<font color="#00ffff">Now, the pack was for</font>
<font color="#00ffff">everything that you own.</font>

246
00:12:42,417 --> 00:12:46,792
<font color="#00ffff">The overcoat had to be folded</font>
<font color="#00ffff">very, very neatly and tightly.</font>

247
00:12:46,792 --> 00:12:50,167
<font color="#00ffff">There was a needle, thread,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">spare buttons, knife,</font>

248
00:12:50,167 --> 00:12:57,543
<font color="#00ffff">fork, spoon, razor, shaving brush,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">toothbrush and also a half-pint mug.</font>

249
00:12:57,543 --> 00:13:02,959
<font color="#00ffff">One spare shirt and one spare pair</font>
<font color="#00ffff">of socks, and that was your kit.</font>

250
00:13:02,959 --> 00:13:06,501
<font color="#00ffff">The Army razor with which we were</font>
<font color="#00ffff">issued was absolutely useless,</font>

251
00:13:06,501 --> 00:13:09,752
<font color="#00ffff">but it came in handy</font>
<font color="#00ffff">for cutting up meat and so forth.</font>

252
00:13:09,752 --> 00:13:12,877
<font color="#00ffff">The toothbrush, that came in handy</font>
<font color="#00ffff">for cleaning buttons.</font>

253
00:13:12,877 --> 00:13:15,585
<font color="#00ffff">But one of the peculiarities</font>
<font color="#00ffff">about the Army was that,</font>

254
00:13:15,585 --> 00:13:18,335
<font color="#00ffff">though it was a crime</font>
<font color="#00ffff">to have dirty buttons,</font>

255
00:13:18,335 --> 00:13:20,585
<font color="#00ffff">you were never issued</font>
<font color="#00ffff">with the materials to clean</font>

256
00:13:20,585 --> 00:13:23,169
<font color="#00ffff">the buttons,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">you had to buy them yourself.</font>

257
00:13:23,169 --> 00:13:27,211
<font color="#00ffff">We were awakened by the bugle,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">which sounded Reveille.</font>

258
00:13:27,211 --> 00:13:30,128
<font color="#00ffff">Wash, shave, pack your bed up</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and pack your kit.</font>

259
00:13:30,128 --> 00:13:34,628
<font color="#00ffff">About half past six, and you would</font>
<font color="#00ffff">have an hour, PT before breakfast.</font>

260
00:13:34,628 --> 00:13:38,961
<font color="#00ff00">Press-ups and physical exercises,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">arms upward stretch.</font>

261
00:13:38,961 --> 00:13:42,628
<font color="#ffffff">They knew you were fresh</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and they tried to take it by stages,</font>

262
00:13:42,628 --> 00:13:45,545
<font color="#ffffff">there wasn't any bullying</font>
<font color="#ffffff">or anything like that.</font>

263
00:13:45,545 --> 00:13:49,462
<font color="#ffff00">Breakfast consisted</font>
<font color="#ffff00">of bread, butter,</font>

264
00:13:49,462 --> 00:13:52,587
<font color="#ffff00">one rasher of</font>
<font color="#ffff00">Lance Corporal Bacon.</font>

265
00:13:52,587 --> 00:13:55,421
<font color="#ffff00">It was streaky bacon,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">it had one stripe in it.</font>

266
00:13:55,421 --> 00:13:58,212
<font color="#00ffff">Well, there was jam and</font>
<font color="#00ffff">they seemed to make nothing</font>

267
00:13:58,212 --> 00:14:00,171
<font color="#00ffff">but plum and apple, you know?</font>

268
00:14:00,171 --> 00:14:03,504
<font color="#00ffff">If you got any other kind,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">it was a celebration event.</font>

269
00:14:05,213 --> 00:14:08,338
<font color="#00ff00">There were the Bruce Bairnsfather</font>
<font color="#00ff00">cartoons depicting that,</font>

270
00:14:08,338 --> 00:14:10,588
<font color="#00ff00">handing him a tin of plum</font>
<font color="#00ff00">and apple jam.</font>

271
00:14:10,588 --> 00:14:12,630
<font color="#00ff00">"When the 'ell is it</font>
<font color="#00ff00">going to be strawberry?"</font>

272
00:14:12,630 --> 00:14:14,547
<font color="#00ff00">It was wonderful, that jam.</font>

273
00:14:14,547 --> 00:14:18,130
<font color="#ffffff">Tickler's, the jam manufacturers,</font>

274
00:14:18,130 --> 00:14:22,422
<font color="#ffffff">they must have made millions of tins</font>
<font color="#ffffff">of P&A, plum and apple.</font>

275
00:14:22,422 --> 00:14:26,214
<font color="#ffffff"># Oh, oh, oh, it's a lovely war</font>

276
00:14:26,214 --> 00:14:28,964
<font color="#ffffff"># What do we want with eggs and ham</font>

277
00:14:28,964 --> 00:14:32,548
<font color="#ffffff"># When we've got bags</font>
<font color="#ffffff">of Tickler's Jam? #</font>

278
00:14:32,548 --> 00:14:36,340
<font color="#ffffff">And then it would be parade time</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and the Sergeant would take over</font>

279
00:14:36,340 --> 00:14:39,506
<font color="#ffffff">and you'd have a whole morning</font>
<font color="#ffffff">of marching</font>

280
00:14:39,506 --> 00:14:41,923
<font color="#ffffff">and you would learn all commands,</font>

281
00:14:41,923 --> 00:14:45,173
<font color="#ffffff">such as "about turn"</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and all that sort of thing.</font>

282
00:14:45,173 --> 00:14:48,840
<font color="#ffff00">Having been in the Boy Scouts,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">it was dead easy to me.</font>

283
00:14:48,840 --> 00:14:51,215
<font color="#ffffff">When you get the order</font>
<font color="#ffffff">"right dress",</font>

284
00:14:51,215 --> 00:14:54,049
<font color="#ffffff">you turn your head only,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">to the right.</font>

285
00:14:54,049 --> 00:14:56,257
<font color="#ffff00">Some of them managed to turn left,</font>

286
00:14:56,257 --> 00:14:59,382
<font color="#ffff00">which didn't exactly please</font>
<font color="#ffff00">the drill Sergeant.</font>

287
00:14:59,382 --> 00:15:01,674
<font color="#00ffff">We were all youngsters,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">we'd come from</font>

288
00:15:01,674 --> 00:15:04,216
<font color="#00ffff">fairly sheltered lives and so forth.</font>

289
00:15:04,216 --> 00:15:08,591
<font color="#00ffff">This Sergeant of ours</font>
<font color="#00ffff">was the loudmouth shouting type.</font>

290
00:15:08,591 --> 00:15:13,550
<font color="#00ff00">Coming up against</font>
<font color="#00ff00">military discipline was a shock,</font>

291
00:15:13,550 --> 00:15:17,925
<font color="#00ff00">being chased around from pillar</font>
<font color="#00ff00">to post by disciplinarian NCOs.</font>

292
00:15:17,925 --> 00:15:20,050
<font color="#ffffff">Some of the sergeants were shockers.</font>

293
00:15:20,050 --> 00:15:23,425
<font color="#ffffff">They would cause a lot of trouble</font>
<font color="#ffffff">if you were out of step</font>

294
00:15:23,425 --> 00:15:26,384
<font color="#ffffff">or if you didn't keep time,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">or if you didn't handle</font>

295
00:15:26,384 --> 00:15:28,176
<font color="#ffffff">your rifle properly.</font>

296
00:15:28,176 --> 00:15:30,551
<font color="#ffffff">They were always having a go at you.</font>

297
00:15:30,551 --> 00:15:32,968
<font color="#ffff00">Most of them were all right,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">the shouting meant nothing,</font>

298
00:15:32,968 --> 00:15:34,884
<font color="#ffff00">but some of them never lost it.</font>

299
00:15:34,884 --> 00:15:39,926
<font color="#00ffff">One night I'd gone to bed and</font>
<font color="#00ffff">this pot was brought round to my bed</font>

300
00:15:39,926 --> 00:15:43,052
<font color="#00ffff">and they said,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">"Oh, you want to do a piss?"</font>

301
00:15:43,052 --> 00:15:45,302
<font color="#00ffff">So I did the business in the pot.</font>

302
00:15:45,302 --> 00:15:47,968
<font color="#00ffff">They'd rested this big, huge pot</font>

303
00:15:47,968 --> 00:15:50,969
<font color="#00ffff">which contained gallons,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">on the door.</font>

304
00:15:50,969 --> 00:15:55,344
<font color="#00ffff">And when this Sergeant came along</font>
<font color="#00ffff">to see that everybody</font>

305
00:15:55,344 --> 00:15:57,761
<font color="#00ffff">was in bed, this thing turned up</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and he was drenched</font>

306
00:15:57,761 --> 00:15:59,969
<font color="#00ffff">from top to bottom in fluid!</font>

307
00:15:59,969 --> 00:16:02,261
<font color="#ffffff">HE LAUGHS</font>

308
00:16:02,261 --> 00:16:05,344
<font color="#00ff00">First of all,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">I was full of enthusiasm.</font>

309
00:16:05,344 --> 00:16:08,428
<font color="#00ff00">But after about the first week,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">I wished I hadn't done it.</font>

310
00:16:08,428 --> 00:16:12,053
<font color="#00ff00">Because the discipline was so strict</font>
<font color="#00ff00">that I was beginning to get</font>

311
00:16:12,053 --> 00:16:15,053
<font color="#00ff00">a little bit nervous</font>
<font color="#00ff00">as to what was in store.</font>

312
00:16:15,053 --> 00:16:17,553
<font color="#ffffff">We weren't out dancing,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">anything like that.</font>

313
00:16:17,553 --> 00:16:19,304
<font color="#ffffff">We were getting ready for a war.</font>

314
00:16:19,304 --> 00:16:24,012
<font color="#ffff00">The thing was, you were in the Army,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">you had to do as you were told.</font>

315
00:16:24,012 --> 00:16:28,179
<font color="#ffff00">You had one master, or dozens,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">but you just had to get on with it</font>

316
00:16:28,179 --> 00:16:29,596
<font color="#ffff00">and that was it.</font>

317
00:16:29,596 --> 00:16:31,763
<font color="#00ff00">I did find that right</font>
<font color="#00ff00">through the Army,</font>

318
00:16:31,763 --> 00:16:34,596
<font color="#00ff00">if you behaved yourself,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">you'd nothing much to fear.</font>

319
00:16:34,596 --> 00:16:36,596
<font color="#ffffff">This was quite a new world to us.</font>

320
00:16:36,596 --> 00:16:39,055
<font color="#ffffff">I mean, you can imagine.</font>
<font color="#ffffff">I came out of civilian life,</font>

321
00:16:39,055 --> 00:16:41,346
<font color="#ffffff">like all the others did,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and we weren't in a position</font>

322
00:16:41,346 --> 00:16:43,472
<font color="#ffffff">to argue or object.</font>

323
00:16:43,472 --> 00:16:46,097
<font color="#ffff00">It was just a matter of doing</font>
<font color="#ffff00">what we were told.</font>

324
00:16:46,097 --> 00:16:47,472
<font color="#00ffff">I liked it.</font>

325
00:16:47,472 --> 00:16:51,222
<font color="#00ffff">I liked to be told what I had to do</font>
<font color="#00ffff">because there was a reason</font>

326
00:16:51,222 --> 00:16:55,472
<font color="#00ffff">for doing it, and later on I</font>
<font color="#00ffff">realised that was the best training</font>

327
00:16:55,472 --> 00:16:57,097
<font color="#00ffff">you could have.</font>

328
00:16:57,097 --> 00:17:00,472
<font color="#00ff00">The first week, our route march</font>
<font color="#00ff00">would be ten miles,</font>

329
00:17:00,472 --> 00:17:03,598
<font color="#00ff00">the second week it would be 12,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">and so on and so on.</font>

330
00:17:03,598 --> 00:17:08,015
<font color="#00ff00">It intensified, because</font>
<font color="#00ff00">it's of the utmost importance</font>

331
00:17:08,015 --> 00:17:11,848
<font color="#00ff00">that the infantry soldiers</font>
<font color="#00ff00">could march with a full kit.</font>

332
00:17:11,848 --> 00:17:14,765
<font color="#ffffff">What you had to carry was 109 lbs.</font>

333
00:17:14,765 --> 00:17:18,390
<font color="#ffff00">The marching was easy for me,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">but quite a lot of chaps</font>

334
00:17:18,390 --> 00:17:22,015
<font color="#ffff00">who were in sedentary jobs</font>
<font color="#ffff00">found it pretty hard.</font>

335
00:17:22,015 --> 00:17:27,349
<font color="#00ffff">It numbed and cramped my muscles</font>
<font color="#00ffff">on my thighs and calves</font>

336
00:17:27,349 --> 00:17:30,349
<font color="#00ffff">until they hurt very much indeed.</font>

337
00:17:30,349 --> 00:17:32,516
<font color="#00ff00">Oh, those Army boots.</font>

338
00:17:32,516 --> 00:17:34,016
<font color="#00ff00">I could have cried.</font>

339
00:17:34,016 --> 00:17:39,600
<font color="#00ff00">My feet and ankles with those heavy</font>
<font color="#00ff00">Army boots after civilian shoes.</font>

340
00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:43,475
<font color="#ffffff">So to get your boots made pliable,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">you used to urinate in them</font>

341
00:17:43,475 --> 00:17:45,600
<font color="#ffffff">and leave it overnight.</font>

342
00:17:45,600 --> 00:17:50,350
<font color="#ffff00">Quite a lot of men were clerks</font>
<font color="#ffff00">or they worked in shops,</font>

343
00:17:50,350 --> 00:17:54,725
<font color="#ffff00">and the very nature of their calling</font>
<font color="#ffff00">didn't make for fitness.</font>

344
00:17:54,725 --> 00:17:58,142
<font color="#ffff00">Well, they sent me to hospital</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and they gave me the cure</font>

345
00:17:58,142 --> 00:18:03,309
<font color="#ffff00">for hookworm and I found that</font>
<font color="#ffff00">I could stand the drill after that.</font>

346
00:18:03,309 --> 00:18:06,101
<font color="#00ff00">They used to march us</font>
<font color="#00ff00">all round the West End.</font>

347
00:18:06,101 --> 00:18:10,351
<font color="#00ff00">Crowds used to foregather, and</font>
<font color="#00ff00">some of the poor, deluded ones</font>

348
00:18:10,351 --> 00:18:13,726
<font color="#00ff00">fell for the con trick and</font>
<font color="#00ff00">lined up behind us</font>

349
00:18:13,726 --> 00:18:16,352
<font color="#00ff00">and we used to march</font>
<font color="#00ff00">them all down to Chelsea barracks,</font>

350
00:18:16,352 --> 00:18:17,810
<font color="#00ff00">where they got signed up.</font>

351
00:18:20,393 --> 00:18:23,602
<font color="#ffffff">Lunch would consist</font>
<font color="#ffffff">of inedible stew.</font>

352
00:18:23,602 --> 00:18:27,769
<font color="#ffffff">Now, you must remember the chaps</font>
<font color="#ffffff">in the cookhouse were by no means</font>

353
00:18:27,769 --> 00:18:30,311
<font color="#ffffff">experienced cooks,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">but anybody can make a stew,</font>

354
00:18:30,311 --> 00:18:32,144
<font color="#ffffff">and that's what they did.</font>

355
00:18:32,144 --> 00:18:37,186
<font color="#ffff00">Sometimes we got a bit of plum duff</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and milk puddings and tapioca rice.</font>

356
00:18:37,186 --> 00:18:39,936
<font color="#ffff00">It was the good old-fashioned,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">plain stuff</font>

357
00:18:39,936 --> 00:18:41,561
<font color="#ffff00">that I was brought up on.</font>

358
00:18:41,561 --> 00:18:43,895
<font color="#ffff00">I had no complaint about it.</font>

359
00:18:43,895 --> 00:18:49,103
<font color="#00ffff">In the afternoon, it could be</font>
<font color="#00ffff">a lecture on Vickers machine guns.</font>

360
00:18:49,103 --> 00:18:52,604
<font color="#00ffff">We used to strip the machinegun</font>
<font color="#00ffff">right down</font>

361
00:18:52,604 --> 00:18:54,520
<font color="#00ffff">and put it together again.</font>

362
00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:58,229
<font color="#00ffff">And, luckily, I seemed to cotton on</font>
<font color="#00ffff">to that quite quickly.</font>

363
00:18:58,229 --> 00:19:01,271
<font color="#00ff00">We were always told</font>
<font color="#00ff00">the man's best friend is his rifle,</font>

364
00:19:01,271 --> 00:19:02,979
<font color="#00ff00">and it was.</font>

365
00:19:02,979 --> 00:19:07,521
<font color="#ffffff">Our rifle was a short Lee-Enfield,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">a very good rifle indeed.</font>

366
00:19:07,521 --> 00:19:09,354
<font color="#ffffff">A real sturdy rifle.</font>

367
00:19:09,354 --> 00:19:13,646
<font color="#ffffff">You had your ammunition pouches</font>
<font color="#ffffff">on both sides of the chest,</font>

368
00:19:13,646 --> 00:19:15,855
<font color="#ffffff">to counterbalance the weight</font>
<font color="#ffffff">of the pack,</font>

369
00:19:15,855 --> 00:19:20,813
<font color="#ffffff">and those pouches carried 150 rounds</font>
<font color="#ffffff">of .303 ammunition.</font>

370
00:19:20,813 --> 00:19:23,480
<font color="#ffff00">We were supposed to hold</font>
<font color="#ffff00">the rifle up in one hand,</font>

371
00:19:23,480 --> 00:19:26,064
<font color="#ffff00">but I could never hold</font>
<font color="#ffff00">a rifle properly.</font>

372
00:19:26,064 --> 00:19:28,814
<font color="#ffff00">My right wrist wouldn't hold it up.</font>

373
00:19:28,814 --> 00:19:31,814
<font color="#00ffff">I'd never fired a rifle in my life,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">but on the first day we went</font>

374
00:19:31,814 --> 00:19:33,189
<font color="#00ffff">onto the rifle range,</font>

375
00:19:33,189 --> 00:19:35,773
<font color="#00ffff">and it was amazing</font>
<font color="#00ffff">the bull's-eyes I was getting.</font>

376
00:19:35,773 --> 00:19:39,564
<font color="#00ffff">So, the next thing, I was made</font>
<font color="#00ffff">a first-class rifleman.</font>

377
00:19:39,564 --> 00:19:42,023
<font color="#00ff00">Above all, we learned rapid-fire.</font>

378
00:19:42,023 --> 00:19:45,648
<font color="#00ff00">Ten rounds, get those ten rounds</font>
<font color="#00ff00">onto the target in one minute.</font>

379
00:19:45,648 --> 00:19:47,815
<font color="#00ff00">It was known as "the mad minute".</font>

380
00:19:47,815 --> 00:19:51,273
<font color="#ffffff">I'd never seen a dead man</font>
<font color="#ffffff">or anything of that kind,</font>

381
00:19:51,273 --> 00:19:54,024
<font color="#ffffff">and I wondered, if it came</font>
<font color="#ffffff">to my shooting a man,</font>

382
00:19:54,024 --> 00:19:56,065
<font color="#ffffff">whether I would be able to do this.</font>

383
00:19:56,065 --> 00:19:59,066
<font color="#ffff00">Plunge the bayonet into the sack,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">shout like hell.</font>

384
00:19:59,066 --> 00:20:01,399
<font color="#00ffff">And they would tell you</font>
<font color="#00ffff">where to put your bayonet.</font>

385
00:20:01,399 --> 00:20:03,899
<font color="#00ffff">Either into his left shoulder,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">his right shoulder,</font>

386
00:20:03,899 --> 00:20:06,024
<font color="#00ffff">in the chest or in the body.</font>

387
00:20:06,024 --> 00:20:08,233
<font color="#00ff00">We was told to make</font>
<font color="#00ff00">as much noise as we could.</font>

388
00:20:08,233 --> 00:20:10,399
<font color="#00ff00">I think that was</font>
<font color="#00ff00">to frighten the enemy.</font>

389
00:20:10,399 --> 00:20:14,066
<font color="#00ff00">It didn't seem to me to be a likely</font>
<font color="#00ff00">thing to do, but we used to shout.</font>

390
00:20:14,066 --> 00:20:17,233
<font color="#ffffff">When you train as a division,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">there's 12 battalions,</font>

391
00:20:17,233 --> 00:20:20,358
<font color="#ffffff">there's roughly 12,000 men</font>
<font color="#ffffff">who are on the move,</font>

392
00:20:20,358 --> 00:20:24,275
<font color="#ffffff">and you're a very small cog</font>
<font color="#ffffff">in a big wheel.</font>

393
00:20:24,275 --> 00:20:27,359
<font color="#ffff00">Saturday mornings we were let off,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">but we had to do</font>

394
00:20:27,359 --> 00:20:29,026
<font color="#ffff00">sometimes barrack duties.</font>

395
00:20:29,026 --> 00:20:32,484
<font color="#ffff00">And then, on Sundays, we were all</font>
<font color="#ffff00">marched down to church.</font>

396
00:20:32,484 --> 00:20:35,193
<font color="#ffff00">It didn't matter what religion</font>
<font color="#ffff00">you were, you all had to go,</font>

397
00:20:35,193 --> 00:20:36,734
<font color="#ffff00">and that was it.</font>

398
00:20:36,734 --> 00:20:39,359
<font color="#00ffff">Hardly a day passed</font>
<font color="#00ffff">without the shout</font>

399
00:20:39,359 --> 00:20:40,651
<font color="#00ffff">around the barrack-room,</font>

400
00:20:40,651 --> 00:20:43,026
<font color="#00ffff">"Has anybody here had</font>
<font color="#00ffff">any experience with horses?</font>

401
00:20:43,026 --> 00:20:45,610
<font color="#00ffff">"Can anybody here play</font>
<font color="#00ffff">any musical instruments?</font>

402
00:20:45,610 --> 00:20:48,235
<font color="#00ffff">"Anybody had an experience</font>
<font color="#00ffff">at so and so?"</font>

403
00:20:48,235 --> 00:20:51,860
<font color="#00ffff">So gradually, the thousand men</font>
<font color="#00ffff">who were joined up</font>

404
00:20:51,860 --> 00:20:56,444
<font color="#00ffff">as a motley throng, now became</font>
<font color="#00ffff">a transport man, a bandsman,</font>

405
00:20:56,444 --> 00:20:58,402
<font color="#00ffff">signalman and so on.</font>

406
00:20:58,402 --> 00:21:00,527
<font color="#00ff00">You didn't want to mess</font>
<font color="#00ff00">about on the parade ground</font>

407
00:21:00,527 --> 00:21:02,902
<font color="#00ff00">with heavy packs</font>
<font color="#00ff00">on the route marches.</font>

408
00:21:02,902 --> 00:21:06,653
<font color="#00ff00">Most of us wanted to go across</font>
<font color="#00ff00">and do some scrapping.</font>

409
00:21:06,653 --> 00:21:10,278
<font color="#ffffff">After good food,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">fresh air and physical exercise,</font>

410
00:21:10,278 --> 00:21:13,111
<font color="#ffffff">they changed so that their mothers</font>
<font color="#ffffff">wouldn't have recognised them.</font>

411
00:21:13,111 --> 00:21:17,445
<font color="#ffffff">They put on an average of one stone</font>
<font color="#ffffff">in weight and one inch in height.</font>

412
00:21:17,445 --> 00:21:20,820
<font color="#ffff00">Although we hated the sight and</font>
<font color="#ffff00">sound of our disciplinary sergeants,</font>

413
00:21:20,820 --> 00:21:24,612
<font color="#ffff00">this reflects greatly to their</font>
<font color="#ffff00">credit because they knocked us</font>

414
00:21:24,612 --> 00:21:27,320
<font color="#ffff00">into shape as regards</font>
<font color="#ffff00">to marching and foot drills.</font>

415
00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:30,821
<font color="#ffffff">But far more than that,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">they were handsome,</font>

416
00:21:30,821 --> 00:21:34,237
<font color="#ffffff">ruddy, upstanding,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">square-shouldered young men</font>

417
00:21:34,237 --> 00:21:36,904
<font color="#ffffff">who were afraid of nobody,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">not even the Sergeant Major.</font>

418
00:21:36,904 --> 00:21:39,529
<font color="#00ffff">After the six weeks,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">we were informed we were going</font>

419
00:21:39,529 --> 00:21:42,030
<font color="#00ffff">to be posted overseas.</font>

420
00:21:42,030 --> 00:21:46,113
<font color="#00ff00">They said, "You're leaving tomorrow</font>
<font color="#00ff00">morning for an unknown destination."</font>

421
00:21:46,113 --> 00:21:48,655
<font color="#ffffff">You were never told</font>
<font color="#ffffff">where you were heading for.</font>

422
00:21:48,655 --> 00:21:51,863
<font color="#ffff00">I just wanted to fight the Germans,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and as far as that was concerned,</font>

423
00:21:51,863 --> 00:21:54,655
<font color="#ffff00">it didn't matter tuppence to me</font>
<font color="#ffff00">where we went.</font>

424
00:21:54,655 --> 00:21:57,697
<font color="#ffffff">And when we pushed them</font>
<font color="#ffffff">through this crash programme</font>

425
00:21:57,697 --> 00:21:59,489
<font color="#ffffff">of military training,</font>

426
00:21:59,489 --> 00:22:01,572
<font color="#ffffff">they were pushed off to</font>
<font color="#ffffff">France in batches.</font>

427
00:22:01,572 --> 00:22:04,739
<font color="#ffff00">Before we left, the officer said,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">"well, you haven't had time</font>

428
00:22:04,739 --> 00:22:08,239
<font color="#ffff00">"to be made sergeants, so we'll give</font>
<font color="#ffff00">you a couple of stripes."</font>

429
00:22:08,239 --> 00:22:11,948
<font color="#ffff00">So they made us corporals,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and in less than no time</font>

430
00:22:11,948 --> 00:22:14,906
<font color="#ffff00">we were marched down to the station.</font>

431
00:22:14,906 --> 00:22:18,115
<font color="#00ffff">In my mind I wondered,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">"Shall I ever come back?"</font>

432
00:22:18,115 --> 00:22:20,198
<font color="#00ffff">I didn't think I would at the time.</font>

433
00:22:20,198 --> 00:22:22,490
<font color="#00ffff">I didn't worry about it.</font>

434
00:22:22,490 --> 00:22:26,199
<font color="#00ff00">Oh, they were all full of euphoria,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">they were all glad they were going.</font>

435
00:22:26,199 --> 00:22:28,032
<font color="#00ff00">Nobody was crying.</font>

436
00:22:28,032 --> 00:22:30,240
<font color="#ffffff">I wrote a postcard</font>
<font color="#ffffff">when I was in the train</font>

437
00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:33,157
<font color="#ffffff">and chucked it out of the window,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">hoping that it would be delivered</font>

438
00:22:33,157 --> 00:22:34,574
<font color="#ffffff">to my family.</font>

439
00:22:34,574 --> 00:22:37,408
<font color="#ffff00">We arrived at Folkestone</font>
<font color="#ffff00">in the evening.</font>

440
00:22:37,408 --> 00:22:41,074
<font color="#ffff00">We embarked on one of</font>
<font color="#ffff00">the old Thames pleasure boats.</font>

441
00:22:41,074 --> 00:22:45,241
<font color="#00ffff">Well, pretty crowded, but of course</font>
<font color="#00ffff">there's only 21 mile</font>

442
00:22:45,241 --> 00:22:47,866
<font color="#00ffff">from Dover to Calais on the boat.</font>

443
00:22:47,866 --> 00:22:50,908
<font color="#00ff00">There were talks by officers to us</font>
<font color="#00ff00">as to how to behave ourselves</font>

444
00:22:50,908 --> 00:22:54,033
<font color="#00ff00">on foreign soil, and that we've</font>
<font color="#00ff00">got to respect other people's</font>

445
00:22:54,033 --> 00:22:56,242
<font color="#00ff00">modes of conduct.</font>

446
00:22:56,242 --> 00:23:00,034
<font color="#ffffff">The biggest number of casualties</font>
<font color="#ffffff">were NCOs,</font>

447
00:23:00,034 --> 00:23:02,492
<font color="#ffffff">and we weren't all too keen</font>
<font color="#ffffff">about this.</font>

448
00:23:02,492 --> 00:23:06,076
<font color="#ffffff">So I went into the lavatory</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and my stripes came off</font>

449
00:23:06,076 --> 00:23:08,701
<font color="#ffffff">and they disappeared</font>
<font color="#ffffff">through the porthole.</font>

450
00:23:08,701 --> 00:23:11,784
<font color="#ffffff">And with that, I went back on deck</font>
<font color="#ffffff">as a private.</font>

451
00:23:15,701 --> 00:23:17,743
<font color="#ffff00">As our horses were brought</font>
<font color="#ffff00">down the gangways,</font>

452
00:23:17,743 --> 00:23:20,702
<font color="#ffff00">I noticed the expression</font>
<font color="#ffff00">on the men's faces.</font>

453
00:23:20,702 --> 00:23:23,535
<font color="#ffff00">There were no cheerful,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">smiling faces coming down</font>

454
00:23:23,535 --> 00:23:25,118
<font color="#ffff00">that gangway at all.</font>

455
00:23:27,369 --> 00:23:29,744
<font color="#00ffff">It was beautiful weather,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">very warm,</font>

456
00:23:29,744 --> 00:23:33,494
<font color="#00ffff">and every village and town</font>
<font color="#00ffff">we went through, people rushed out,</font>

457
00:23:33,494 --> 00:23:36,744
<font color="#00ffff">bottles of wine,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">yards of French bread, flowers.</font>

458
00:23:36,744 --> 00:23:39,369
<font color="#00ff00">The land flowed</font>
<font color="#00ff00">in every single aspect.</font>

459
00:23:39,369 --> 00:23:41,536
<font color="#00ff00">There were farmers</font>
<font color="#00ff00">going about their business,</font>

460
00:23:41,536 --> 00:23:43,411
<font color="#00ff00">the most lovely country.</font>

461
00:23:45,620 --> 00:23:48,370
<font color="#ffffff">If we passed a field of carrots,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">we used to raid the field</font>

462
00:23:48,370 --> 00:23:51,828
<font color="#ffffff">and walk along munching</font>
<font color="#ffffff">the carrots and turnips.</font>

463
00:23:55,995 --> 00:23:58,162
<font color="#ffff00">I was dead scared</font>
<font color="#ffff00">that the war would be over</font>

464
00:23:58,162 --> 00:23:59,579
<font color="#ffff00">before I got out to it.</font>

465
00:23:59,579 --> 00:24:01,204
<font color="#ffff00">When I got out to France,</font>

466
00:24:01,204 --> 00:24:03,787
<font color="#ffff00">I was terribly pleased,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">really keen.</font>

467
00:24:06,496 --> 00:24:09,454
<font color="#00ffff">You just marched and marched</font>
<font color="#00ffff">until roughly 20 miles</font>

468
00:24:09,454 --> 00:24:11,163
<font color="#00ffff">from the trenches.</font>

469
00:24:11,163 --> 00:24:13,871
<font color="#00ff00">We knew we were getting close</font>
<font color="#00ff00">to the line because the gunfire</font>

470
00:24:13,871 --> 00:24:16,038
<font color="#00ff00">was becoming more noisy.</font>

471
00:24:16,038 --> 00:24:18,705
<font color="#ffff00">I remember the first shell,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">I was delighted.</font>

472
00:24:21,455 --> 00:24:25,205
<font color="#ffffff">We went through towns, villages</font>
<font color="#ffffff">that were absolutely derelict.</font>

473
00:24:25,205 --> 00:24:28,705
<font color="#ffffff">So we never knew where we were,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">except that we were in Belgium.</font>

474
00:24:31,372 --> 00:24:34,664
<font color="#ffff00">The devastation was something</font>
<font color="#ffff00">I never could have imagined.</font>

475
00:24:34,664 --> 00:24:37,622
<font color="#ffff00">The whole place gave one</font>
<font color="#ffff00">the most eerie sensation.</font>

476
00:24:41,414 --> 00:24:45,123
<font color="#00ffff">There was stunted trees,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">torn to shreds with shellfire</font>

477
00:24:45,123 --> 00:24:49,040
<font color="#00ffff">and there was shell holes</font>
<font color="#00ffff">all over the place.</font>

478
00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:51,957
<font color="#00ff00">We were relieving men of the</font>
<font color="#00ff00">28th division,</font>

479
00:24:51,957 --> 00:24:55,373
<font color="#00ff00">and as they passed us, we would say,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">"What's it like up there?"</font>

480
00:24:55,373 --> 00:24:58,749
<font color="#00ff00">The reply invariably came back,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">"Bloody awful, mate."</font>

481
00:24:58,749 --> 00:25:02,290
<font color="#ffffff">The old sweats coming back</font>
<font color="#ffffff">got their tails up all right,</font>

482
00:25:02,290 --> 00:25:06,082
<font color="#ffffff">but I didn't know what to expect,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">just hadn't a clue.</font>

483
00:25:06,082 --> 00:25:09,541
<font color="#ffff00">It was deadly warfare,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">you were facing the Germans.</font>

484
00:25:13,791 --> 00:25:15,249
<font color="#00ffff">Follow me.</font>

485
00:25:17,916 --> 00:25:19,541
<font color="#00ff00">You got the order, "load".</font>

486
00:25:19,541 --> 00:25:23,500
<font color="#00ff00">You put nine in your magazine</font>
<font color="#00ff00">and one up the spout</font>

487
00:25:23,500 --> 00:25:25,250
<font color="#00ff00">and you put the safety catch on,</font>

488
00:25:25,250 --> 00:25:28,000
<font color="#00ff00">and you always went into the line</font>
<font color="#00ff00">prepared to use</font>

489
00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:29,625
<font color="#00ff00">your rifle immediately.</font>

490
00:25:31,459 --> 00:25:34,209
<font color="#ffffff">That's when you got rigid orders,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">no talking whatsoever,</font>

491
00:25:34,209 --> 00:25:35,834
<font color="#ffffff">keep your head down.</font>

492
00:25:35,834 --> 00:25:37,876
<font color="#ffffff">Single file, no smoking.</font>

493
00:25:37,876 --> 00:25:41,168
<font color="#ffffff">The captain would then direct you</font>
<font color="#ffffff">right to the front trenches.</font>

494
00:25:44,668 --> 00:25:47,210
<font color="#ffff00">Before a man goes into the trenches,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">he usually carries</font>

495
00:25:47,210 --> 00:25:51,960
<font color="#ffff00">a roll of barbed wire or a bag of</font>
<font color="#ffff00">bombs, besides his own equipment.</font>

496
00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:54,668
<font color="#ffff00">That's the way to get the stuff</font>
<font color="#ffff00">up to the front line.</font>

497
00:25:54,668 --> 00:25:57,460
<font color="#00ffff">Now,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">a guide would always be sent out.</font>

498
00:25:57,460 --> 00:26:00,169
<font color="#00ff00">Extend this part of</font>
<font color="#00ff00">the trench over there.</font>

499
00:26:00,169 --> 00:26:01,669
<font color="#ffffff">What, that way? </font><font color="#00ff00">That's it.</font>

500
00:26:01,669 --> 00:26:03,419
<font color="#00ffff">The trenches in France were a maze.</font>

501
00:26:03,419 --> 00:26:06,127
<font color="#00ffff">If you didn't have a guide,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">you could very soon get lost.</font>

502
00:26:06,127 --> 00:26:08,836
<font color="#ffff00">Smile, so your mother thinks</font>
<font color="#ffff00">I'm looking after you.</font>

503
00:26:11,419 --> 00:26:13,211
<font color="#00ff00">Coming up, coming up!</font>

504
00:26:17,670 --> 00:26:19,711
<font color="#ffffff">The trenches weren't</font>
<font color="#ffffff">in one straight line.</font>

505
00:26:19,711 --> 00:26:23,212
<font color="#ffffff">They were built on what they call</font>
<font color="#ffffff">a Travis System.</font>

506
00:26:23,212 --> 00:26:26,128
<font color="#ffff00">The Travis would break up</font>
<font color="#ffff00">the shellfire</font>

507
00:26:26,128 --> 00:26:29,462
<font color="#ffff00">and stop it spreading right along</font>
<font color="#ffff00">the trench.</font>

508
00:26:29,462 --> 00:26:31,212
<font color="#00ff00">There was a front line of trenches</font>

509
00:26:31,212 --> 00:26:33,587
<font color="#00ff00">and then there was a second line</font>
<font color="#00ff00">of trenches.</font>

510
00:26:33,587 --> 00:26:37,921
<font color="#00ffff">The support line would be about 50</font>
<font color="#00ffff">yards or more behind the front line.</font>

511
00:26:37,921 --> 00:26:40,587
<font color="#00ffff">In between, there would be</font>
<font color="#00ffff">communication trenches</font>

512
00:26:40,587 --> 00:26:43,004
<font color="#00ffff">so that they could move through</font>
<font color="#00ffff">if the front line</font>

513
00:26:43,004 --> 00:26:44,754
<font color="#00ffff">was under jeopardy.</font>

514
00:26:44,754 --> 00:26:48,130
<font color="#00ff00">First impression I got</font>
<font color="#00ff00">of the trenches was they were</font>

515
00:26:48,130 --> 00:26:50,171
<font color="#00ff00">very much lived in.</font>

516
00:26:50,171 --> 00:26:52,171
<font color="#ffffff">We had to take them</font>
<font color="#ffffff">as we found them.</font>

517
00:26:52,171 --> 00:26:55,838
<font color="#00ff00">You would see an overcoat</font>
<font color="#00ff00">hanging from a wooden peg.</font>

518
00:26:55,838 --> 00:26:59,547
<font color="#00ff00">You would see a mess tin</font>
<font color="#00ff00">with some tea in it.</font>

519
00:26:59,547 --> 00:27:02,672
<font color="#00ff00">A dugout, which had a piece</font>
<font color="#00ff00">of blanket in it,</font>

520
00:27:02,672 --> 00:27:04,839
<font color="#00ff00">a bed made of sandbags.</font>

521
00:27:04,839 --> 00:27:07,922
<font color="#ffff00">Our world was divided</font>
<font color="#ffff00">by no-man's-land,</font>

522
00:27:07,922 --> 00:27:09,714
<font color="#ffff00">a sort of Iron Curtain,</font>

523
00:27:09,714 --> 00:27:13,631
<font color="#ffff00">beyond which were bogey men who</font>
<font color="#ffff00">would kill you if they ever saw you.</font>

524
00:27:13,631 --> 00:27:16,798
<font color="#ffffff">As you look through your periscope,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">all you could see were hundreds</font>

525
00:27:16,798 --> 00:27:21,756
<font color="#ffffff">of shell holes, your barbed wire</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and the German barbed wire.</font>

526
00:27:21,756 --> 00:27:24,673
<font color="#00ffff">You could see dead bodies</font>
<font color="#00ffff">hanging on the barbed wire</font>

527
00:27:24,673 --> 00:27:27,715
<font color="#00ffff">and they may have been there</font>
<font color="#00ffff">for a long, long time.</font>

528
00:27:27,715 --> 00:27:30,757
<font color="#00ff00">It was one of the most desolate</font>
<font color="#00ff00">looking places in the world.</font>

529
00:27:30,757 --> 00:27:35,174
<font color="#00ff00">You never saw a sign of life,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">and yet you knew very well that,</font>

530
00:27:35,174 --> 00:27:39,632
<font color="#00ff00">within shouting range, there were</font>
<font color="#00ff00">hundreds and hundreds of men.</font>

531
00:27:39,632 --> 00:27:42,341
<font color="#ffff00">A platoon of about 50 men</font>
<font color="#ffff00">would have about 100 yards</font>

532
00:27:42,341 --> 00:27:45,841
<font color="#ffff00">of front line trenches</font>
<font color="#ffff00">as their responsibility.</font>

533
00:27:45,841 --> 00:27:48,091
<font color="#ffff00">There were signs</font>
<font color="#ffff00">all over the trenches,</font>

534
00:27:48,091 --> 00:27:51,675
<font color="#ffff00">Piccadilly Circus and Regent Street</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and all that sort of thing,</font>

535
00:27:51,675 --> 00:27:53,425
<font color="#ffff00">telling you where water points were</font>

536
00:27:53,425 --> 00:27:55,967
<font color="#ffff00">and which was the</font>
<font color="#ffff00">most dangerous part of the land</font>

537
00:27:55,967 --> 00:27:58,133
<font color="#ffff00">with regard to snipers.</font>

538
00:27:58,133 --> 00:28:00,800
<font color="#00ffff">You had to be extremely careful</font>
<font color="#00ffff">because a bullet could go</font>

539
00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:03,592
<font color="#00ffff">through one layer of</font>
<font color="#00ffff">sandbags quite easily.</font>

540
00:28:03,592 --> 00:28:06,176
<font color="#00ff00">I was talking to a bloke one day</font>
<font color="#00ff00">and, pop,</font>

541
00:28:06,176 --> 00:28:08,426
<font color="#00ff00">his head was bashed in like an egg.</font>

542
00:28:08,426 --> 00:28:11,717
<font color="#00ff00">He just happened to be in a place</font>
<font color="#00ff00">where a sniper could get an aim.</font>

543
00:28:13,134 --> 00:28:15,884
<font color="#ffffff">We used to do</font>
<font color="#ffffff">a four-day stint in a line.</font>

544
00:28:15,884 --> 00:28:20,385
<font color="#ffffff">We took with us sufficient food</font>
<font color="#ffffff">to last the four days.</font>

545
00:28:21,843 --> 00:28:23,718
<font color="#00ff00">Go on, lads, give our love to Jerry.</font>

546
00:28:23,718 --> 00:28:25,177
<font color="#ffff00">Mind yourselves out there.</font>

547
00:28:25,177 --> 00:28:29,302
<font color="#00ffff">Your day would start before dawn</font>
<font color="#00ffff">when NCOs would go round</font>

548
00:28:29,302 --> 00:28:32,344
<font color="#00ffff">this 100 yards and</font>
<font color="#00ffff">make sure everybody was alive.</font>

549
00:28:32,344 --> 00:28:35,969
<font color="#00ff00">Of a day in the trenches,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">you had two hours on, four off.</font>

550
00:28:35,969 --> 00:28:38,136
<font color="#ffffff">A third of the people</font>
<font color="#ffffff">were on sentry duty,</font>

551
00:28:38,136 --> 00:28:40,969
<font color="#ffffff">a third working</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and a third sleeping.</font>

552
00:28:40,969 --> 00:28:42,761
<font color="#ffff00">We just slept where we were.</font>

553
00:28:42,761 --> 00:28:45,386
<font color="#ffffff">No beds, just flopped down</font>
<font color="#ffffff">on the ground.</font>

554
00:28:45,386 --> 00:28:47,969
<font color="#00ff00">Been to the pictures, mate!</font>

555
00:28:47,969 --> 00:28:51,136
<font color="#ffff00">The trench was very wet</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and, wherever possible, we would try</font>

556
00:28:51,136 --> 00:28:52,720
<font color="#ffff00">and get above the water.</font>

557
00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:55,387
<font color="#00ffff">We were able to dig out</font>
<font color="#00ffff">the side of the trench</font>

558
00:28:55,387 --> 00:28:57,928
<font color="#00ffff">and that was when we used</font>
<font color="#00ffff">to steal our sleep</font>

559
00:28:57,928 --> 00:29:00,428
<font color="#00ffff">on the two-on and four-off stretch.</font>

560
00:29:00,428 --> 00:29:03,345
<font color="#00ff00">And then you'd have</font>
<font color="#00ff00">your couple of hours on the parapet</font>

561
00:29:03,345 --> 00:29:05,137
<font color="#00ff00">and then rest again.</font>

562
00:29:05,137 --> 00:29:08,304
<font color="#ffffff">If nothing untoward happened,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">there would be perhaps</font>

563
00:29:08,304 --> 00:29:11,971
<font color="#ffffff">two or three sentry groups</font>
<font color="#ffffff">in the whole company's front.</font>

564
00:29:11,971 --> 00:29:14,138
<font color="#ffffff">EXPLOSIONS BOOM IN DISTANCE</font>

565
00:29:23,638 --> 00:29:25,388
<font color="#ffff00">It was a job to keep awake.</font>

566
00:29:25,388 --> 00:29:28,347
<font color="#ffff00">Woe betide you</font>
<font color="#ffff00">if you were caught asleep.</font>

567
00:29:28,347 --> 00:29:31,472
<font color="#00ff00">If you are so tired,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">you can sleep standing up,</font>

568
00:29:31,472 --> 00:29:33,264
<font color="#00ff00">which I've done many times.</font>

569
00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:39,889
<font color="#ffffff">The first thing you did when you got</font>
<font color="#ffffff">into the line was to have a brew-up.</font>

570
00:29:39,889 --> 00:29:42,264
<font color="#ffff00">There was one thing</font>
<font color="#ffff00">about the Vickers gun,</font>

571
00:29:42,264 --> 00:29:44,056
<font color="#ffff00">it being a water-cooled weapon,</font>

572
00:29:44,056 --> 00:29:46,514
<font color="#ffff00">if you were continuously firing,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">you'd find that the water</font>

573
00:29:46,514 --> 00:29:49,389
<font color="#ffff00">would be boiling.</font>
<font color="#ffff00">You could disconnect the tube</font>

574
00:29:49,389 --> 00:29:50,890
<font color="#ffff00">and make a cup of tea.</font>

575
00:29:50,890 --> 00:29:53,806
<font color="#00ff00">The water came up</font>
<font color="#00ff00">in two-gallon petrol cans.</font>

576
00:29:53,806 --> 00:29:56,265
<font color="#ffffff">And we could taste the petrol in it</font>
<font color="#ffffff">because they couldn't</font>

577
00:29:56,265 --> 00:29:58,140
<font color="#ffffff">wash it completely out.</font>

578
00:30:01,098 --> 00:30:03,349
<font color="#ffff00">In every bay was a little fireplace.</font>

579
00:30:03,349 --> 00:30:07,807
<font color="#ffff00">You used tiny slivers of wood</font>
<font color="#ffff00">because if you made smoke</font>

580
00:30:07,807 --> 00:30:09,891
<font color="#ffff00">in the front line,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">over would come a shell.</font>

581
00:30:09,891 --> 00:30:11,141
<font color="#00ffff">I fancy a brew.</font>

582
00:30:11,141 --> 00:30:13,599
<font color="#00ff00">But save a drop of that tea</font>
<font color="#00ff00">to shave with.</font>

583
00:30:13,599 --> 00:30:16,058
<font color="#ffffff">Because we had to shave</font>
<font color="#ffffff">in the front line.</font>

584
00:30:16,058 --> 00:30:18,849
<font color="#00ffff">We used to put a lot of tins</font>
<font color="#00ffff">out on the parapet</font>

585
00:30:18,849 --> 00:30:22,266
<font color="#00ffff">if it rained. You daren't touch</font>
<font color="#00ffff">any of the other water.</font>

586
00:30:22,266 --> 00:30:25,100
<font color="#00ff00">We were scooping water</font>
<font color="#00ff00">out of shell holes,</font>

587
00:30:25,100 --> 00:30:27,183
<font color="#00ff00">there might have been</font>
<font color="#00ff00">dead bodies underneath.</font>

588
00:30:27,183 --> 00:30:29,267
<font color="#00ff00">We thought as long as</font>
<font color="#00ff00">we boiled it for a long time,</font>

589
00:30:29,267 --> 00:30:31,392
<font color="#00ff00">all the green stuff</font>
<font color="#00ff00">would come off the top.</font>

590
00:30:31,392 --> 00:30:34,100
<font color="#ffff00">Nice and gentle.</font>
<font color="#00ff00">Anyway, we'd made tea with it.</font>

591
00:30:34,100 --> 00:30:36,475
<font color="#ffffff">That's how I got</font>
<font color="#ffffff">my dose of dysentery.</font>

592
00:30:36,475 --> 00:30:39,059
<font color="#00ffff">Of course,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">there was no sanitary arrangements.</font>

593
00:30:39,059 --> 00:30:41,309
<font color="#00ffff">They'd dig a trench</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and stick a pole across,</font>

594
00:30:41,309 --> 00:30:45,059
<font color="#00ffff">and you'd get about seven</font>
<font color="#00ffff">or eight chaps on the pole.</font>

595
00:30:45,059 --> 00:30:47,268
<font color="#00ff00">God, to have a clear-out</font>
<font color="#00ff00">was terrible.</font>

596
00:30:47,268 --> 00:30:48,893
<font color="#ffffff">FLIES BUZZ</font>

597
00:30:48,893 --> 00:30:51,351
<font color="#00ff00">People used to go</font>
<font color="#00ff00">to the toilet with no privacy.</font>

598
00:30:51,351 --> 00:30:54,768
<font color="#00ffff">Being rather a shy nature,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">if I had pissed with somebody,</font>

599
00:30:54,768 --> 00:30:56,226
<font color="#00ffff">I felt a bit nervous.</font>

600
00:30:56,226 --> 00:30:59,185
<font color="#00ffff">But when you were in the Army,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">you got quite used to it.</font>

601
00:30:59,185 --> 00:31:01,852
<font color="#ffffff">Of course, it didn't matter a damn</font>
<font color="#ffffff">because there was no women</font>

602
00:31:01,852 --> 00:31:03,269
<font color="#ffffff">or anything like that.</font>

603
00:31:03,269 --> 00:31:05,894
<font color="#ffff00">The flies used to crawl</font>
<font color="#ffff00">over your bottom.</font>

604
00:31:05,894 --> 00:31:07,227
<font color="#ffff00">Most unpleasant.</font>

605
00:31:07,227 --> 00:31:09,102
<font color="#00ffff">And no such thing as toilet rolls.</font>

606
00:31:09,102 --> 00:31:11,269
<font color="#00ff00">You had to wipe your</font>
<font color="#00ff00">behind with your hand.</font>

607
00:31:11,269 --> 00:31:13,769
<font color="#ffff00">Your hands might have been</font>
<font color="#ffff00">in all sorts of things,</font>

608
00:31:13,769 --> 00:31:15,436
<font color="#ffff00">but you never washed.</font>

609
00:31:15,436 --> 00:31:17,103
<font color="#00ffff">Well, you heard a terrific shout...</font>

610
00:31:17,103 --> 00:31:18,769
<font color="#ffffff">MEN SHOUT AND YELL, LOUD THUD</font>

611
00:31:18,769 --> 00:31:21,686
<font color="#00ffff">..and the pole had snapped</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and the poor men</font>

612
00:31:21,686 --> 00:31:24,103
<font color="#00ffff">who were sitting on the bar</font>
<font color="#00ffff">fell down in the muck!</font>

613
00:31:24,103 --> 00:31:25,936
<font color="#ffffff">MEN LAUGH</font>

614
00:31:25,936 --> 00:31:28,937
<font color="#00ff00">There was always the humorous side</font>
<font color="#00ff00">of the war.</font>

615
00:31:28,937 --> 00:31:32,062
<font color="#00ffff">We had to put rifles down for them</font>
<font color="#00ffff">to hang onto,</font>

616
00:31:32,062 --> 00:31:36,937
<font color="#00ffff">and they came out like slimy rabbits</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and nobody wanted to go near them.</font>

617
00:31:39,395 --> 00:31:42,354
<font color="#ffffff">We had no spare clothes at all</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and you were living for weeks</font>

618
00:31:42,354 --> 00:31:45,312
<font color="#ffffff">without washing or getting a bath.</font>

619
00:31:45,312 --> 00:31:49,354
<font color="#ffff00">I personally became really badly</font>
<font color="#ffff00">infested and chatty,</font>

620
00:31:49,354 --> 00:31:52,021
<font color="#ffff00">as we used to call it,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">with these lice.</font>

621
00:31:52,021 --> 00:31:54,480
<font color="#00ffff">Oh, lice was a dreadful problem.</font>

622
00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:58,022
<font color="#00ff00">They were funny little things,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">like little monster sort of things,</font>

623
00:31:58,022 --> 00:32:01,105
<font color="#00ff00">with six legs, and they used</font>
<font color="#00ff00">to feed ten times a day.</font>

624
00:32:01,105 --> 00:32:02,772
<font color="#ffffff">You had to kill the bloody things.</font>

625
00:32:02,772 --> 00:32:05,147
<font color="#ffffff">My favourite way was burning them.</font>

626
00:32:05,147 --> 00:32:08,105
<font color="#ffff00">You would run the seams</font>
<font color="#ffff00">over the lighted candle</font>

627
00:32:08,105 --> 00:32:10,731
<font color="#ffff00">and you could hear the eggs going</font>
<font color="#ffff00">pop, pop, pop, pop.</font>

628
00:32:10,731 --> 00:32:12,439
<font color="#ffffff">POPPING</font>

629
00:32:12,439 --> 00:32:15,064
<font color="#00ffff">The sooner you got the shirt back</font>
<font color="#00ffff">again, the heat of the body</font>

630
00:32:15,064 --> 00:32:16,981
<font color="#00ffff">hatched the eggs that you'd missed.</font>

631
00:32:18,398 --> 00:32:21,023
<font color="#00ff00">And we was just as lousy</font>
<font color="#00ff00">the next day.</font>

632
00:32:23,773 --> 00:32:27,106
<font color="#ffffff">Each man prepared his own breakfast.</font>

633
00:32:27,106 --> 00:32:30,940
<font color="#ffff00">Bread and jam was about</font>
<font color="#ffff00">16 men to a loaf of bread.</font>

634
00:32:32,648 --> 00:32:34,982
<font color="#00ffff">There'd be a little bit of bacon</font>
<font color="#00ffff">which would suffice</font>

635
00:32:34,982 --> 00:32:37,107
<font color="#00ffff">for half a dozen men.</font>

636
00:32:37,107 --> 00:32:40,440
<font color="#00ff00">You'd put your rasher of bacon</font>
<font color="#00ff00">in your mess tin lid,</font>

637
00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:44,982
<font color="#00ff00">put a few more sticks on your fire</font>
<font color="#00ff00">and you would fry your bacon.</font>

638
00:32:44,982 --> 00:32:47,983
<font color="#00ff00">And then soak up the fat</font>
<font color="#00ff00">with a piece of biscuit</font>

639
00:32:47,983 --> 00:32:50,108
<font color="#00ff00">and then there you are</font>
<font color="#00ff00">with the breakfast.</font>

640
00:32:50,108 --> 00:32:52,816
<font color="#ffff00">Dinner time was mostly</font>
<font color="#ffff00">bully beef cut up and stewed,</font>

641
00:32:52,816 --> 00:32:55,858
<font color="#ffff00">along with all sorts</font>
<font color="#ffff00">of vegetables from tins.</font>

642
00:32:55,858 --> 00:32:59,150
<font color="#00ffff">Magonoghie's tinned stew was</font>
<font color="#00ffff">mixed up with the bully beef.</font>

643
00:32:59,150 --> 00:33:02,608
<font color="#00ff00">I've gone into French dugouts</font>
<font color="#00ff00">and eaten biscuits</font>

644
00:33:02,608 --> 00:33:05,275
<font color="#00ff00">which had been left by the troops</font>
<font color="#00ff00">two years previously,</font>

645
00:33:05,275 --> 00:33:09,609
<font color="#00ff00">and tasted the green mould in them,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">but it didn't do me any harm.</font>

646
00:33:09,609 --> 00:33:13,026
<font color="#ffffff">This was how it was. Anything's</font>
<font color="#ffffff">good, you know, when you're hungry.</font>

647
00:33:13,026 --> 00:33:15,442
<font color="#00ffff">And you were always hungry.</font>
<font color="#ffffff">HE LAUGHS</font>

648
00:33:16,734 --> 00:33:19,526
<font color="#00ff00">But any given moment,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">we could expect to be shelled.</font>

649
00:33:19,526 --> 00:33:21,651
<font color="#ffffff">SHELL WHIZZES AND BANGS</font>

650
00:33:21,651 --> 00:33:24,026
<font color="#00ff00">You had very little protection</font>
<font color="#00ff00">against that.</font>

651
00:33:24,026 --> 00:33:27,860
<font color="#ffffff">One would hear a mild pop</font>
<font color="#ffffff">as the gun fired five miles away.</font>

652
00:33:30,110 --> 00:33:32,860
<font color="#ffffff">And in the five or six seconds</font>
<font color="#ffffff">it took to come,</font>

653
00:33:32,860 --> 00:33:36,152
<font color="#ffffff">you can pass through quite a number</font>
<font color="#ffffff">of psychological changes.</font>

654
00:33:42,111 --> 00:33:44,736
<font color="#ffff00">I can't remember anything more</font>
<font color="#ffff00">nerve-racking</font>

655
00:33:44,736 --> 00:33:48,694
<font color="#ffff00">than the continuous shelling,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">without stop, went on day and night.</font>

656
00:33:48,694 --> 00:33:52,111
<font color="#ffffff">But we were always told that you</font>
<font color="#ffffff">never heard the shell that hit you</font>

657
00:33:52,111 --> 00:33:55,070
<font color="#ffffff">because most of them</font>
<font color="#ffffff">travelled faster than sound.</font>

658
00:33:55,070 --> 00:33:59,320
<font color="#ffffff">But you could literally feel your</font>
<font color="#ffffff">heart pounding against the ground.</font>

659
00:33:59,320 --> 00:34:01,903
<font color="#ffffff">The emotional strain</font>
<font color="#ffffff">was absolutely terrific.</font>

660
00:34:01,903 --> 00:34:04,195
<font color="#ffff00">Although a shell might burst</font>
<font color="#ffff00">50 yards away,</font>

661
00:34:04,195 --> 00:34:06,987
<font color="#ffff00">you might find a fragment</font>
<font color="#ffff00">of jagged iron,</font>

662
00:34:06,987 --> 00:34:09,112
<font color="#ffff00">really red hot</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and weighing half a pound,</font>

663
00:34:09,112 --> 00:34:11,362
<font color="#ffff00">arriving in your trench.</font>

664
00:34:11,362 --> 00:34:13,862
<font color="#00ffff">You see people blown to little bits.</font>

665
00:34:13,862 --> 00:34:16,237
<font color="#00ffff">I've actually had to put a man</font>
<font color="#00ffff">in a sandbag.</font>

666
00:34:16,237 --> 00:34:18,446
<font color="#00ff00">Every now and again,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">there would be a great roar</font>

667
00:34:18,446 --> 00:34:20,529
<font color="#00ff00">like an aeroplane</font>
<font color="#00ff00">coming in to land...</font>

668
00:34:20,529 --> 00:34:21,779
<font color="#ffffff">LOUD BANG</font>

669
00:34:21,779 --> 00:34:24,280
<font color="#00ff00">..and in a fifth of a second,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">your resolution would break</font>

670
00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:26,155
<font color="#00ff00">and you'd throw yourself down</font>
<font color="#00ff00">into the mud</font>

671
00:34:26,155 --> 00:34:28,446
<font color="#00ff00">and the other ones</font>
<font color="#00ff00">would laugh at you.</font>

672
00:34:28,446 --> 00:34:31,363
<font color="#ffffff">The shrapnel shell would burst</font>
<font color="#ffffff">in the air and spray bullets</font>

673
00:34:31,363 --> 00:34:32,947
<font color="#ffffff">on the troops below.</font>

674
00:34:34,780 --> 00:34:36,197
<font color="#ffffff">As if they were from a shotgun.</font>

675
00:34:38,114 --> 00:34:41,655
<font color="#ffff00">The bullets came down,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">whistling like all the hobs of hell.</font>

676
00:34:45,489 --> 00:34:48,364
<font color="#00ffff">Another one of the annoyances</font>
<font color="#00ffff">we had was the Germans</font>

677
00:34:48,364 --> 00:34:49,989
<font color="#00ffff">were very active with mining.</font>

678
00:34:51,989 --> 00:34:54,073
<font color="#00ffff">We crouched down underneath</font>
<font color="#00ffff">the front parapet</font>

679
00:34:54,073 --> 00:34:55,573
<font color="#00ffff">to dodge the debris falling,</font>

680
00:34:55,573 --> 00:34:59,323
<font color="#00ffff">and I got the men to open up</font>
<font color="#00ffff">rapid fire to prevent the Germans</font>

681
00:34:59,323 --> 00:35:02,907
<font color="#00ffff">from getting into that crater</font>
<font color="#00ffff">where they could bomb us.</font>

682
00:35:02,907 --> 00:35:05,823
<font color="#00ff00">If the front line gets damaged,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">it's got to be repaired.</font>

683
00:35:05,823 --> 00:35:07,532
<font color="#00ff00">Well,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">the people who are in the line,</font>

684
00:35:07,532 --> 00:35:09,282
<font color="#00ff00">they've got to get on with it.</font>

685
00:35:09,282 --> 00:35:13,741
<font color="#ffff00">I had in my mind that we expected</font>
<font color="#ffff00">big gunfire to light amongst</font>

686
00:35:13,741 --> 00:35:17,074
<font color="#ffff00">all us cavalry and absolutely</font>
<font color="#ffff00">swipe us off the face of the Earth.</font>

687
00:35:20,949 --> 00:35:22,866
<font color="#00ffff">I shouted, "Gallop!" like that.</font>

688
00:35:22,866 --> 00:35:25,158
<font color="#00ff00">They dropped 'em all at once,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">the horses.</font>

689
00:35:26,491 --> 00:35:28,741
<font color="#00ff00">Oh, a heck of a mess.</font>

690
00:35:28,741 --> 00:35:31,742
<font color="#ffffff">The horses were laying down,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">with their intestines hanging out,</font>

691
00:35:31,742 --> 00:35:34,783
<font color="#ffffff">and men with matter hanging out</font>
<font color="#ffffff">of theirs.</font>

692
00:35:34,783 --> 00:35:37,283
<font color="#ffff00">"And that, boys," they said,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">"the bloody Germans!"</font>

693
00:35:37,283 --> 00:35:40,284
<font color="#ffff00">To lose a horse was</font>
<font color="#ffff00">like losing a friend.</font>

694
00:35:40,284 --> 00:35:43,075
<font color="#ffff00">The Brigadier turned</font>
<font color="#ffff00">to our captain and he says,</font>

695
00:35:43,075 --> 00:35:45,076
<font color="#ffff00">"See that the boy has</font>
<font color="#ffff00">two or three days' rest.</font>

696
00:35:45,076 --> 00:35:46,701
<font color="#ffff00">"When a boy likes an animal</font>
<font color="#ffff00">like that,</font>

697
00:35:46,701 --> 00:35:49,159
<font color="#ffff00">"there's not a lot wrong with him."</font>

698
00:35:49,159 --> 00:35:51,784
<font color="#00ffff">Over the whole of the front line,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">there was a smell.</font>

699
00:35:51,784 --> 00:35:54,034
<font color="#00ffff">It wasn't a complicated smell,</font>

700
00:35:54,034 --> 00:35:57,076
<font color="#00ffff">it was the smell</font>
<font color="#00ffff">of decaying corpses.</font>

701
00:35:57,076 --> 00:35:59,285
<font color="#00ff00">Nasty, sickly smell.</font>

702
00:35:59,285 --> 00:36:00,868
<font color="#00ff00">You never forgot that smell.</font>

703
00:36:00,868 --> 00:36:03,452
<font color="#ffffff">FLIES BUZZ</font>

704
00:36:03,452 --> 00:36:05,077
<font color="#ffffff">It was the smell of death.</font>

705
00:36:05,077 --> 00:36:09,327
<font color="#ffffff">If you've ever smelt a dead mouse,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">it was like that, but hundreds</font>

706
00:36:09,327 --> 00:36:11,285
<font color="#ffffff">and hundreds of times worse.</font>

707
00:36:13,160 --> 00:36:14,619
<font color="#ffff00">It seemed to cling to everything.</font>

708
00:36:14,619 --> 00:36:18,286
<font color="#ffff00">When you was having your food,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">you could taste it.</font>

709
00:36:18,286 --> 00:36:23,328
<font color="#00ffff">The awful stench and bits of</font>
<font color="#00ffff">human bodies laying about,</font>

710
00:36:23,328 --> 00:36:25,911
<font color="#00ffff">it became an everyday thing.</font>

711
00:36:25,911 --> 00:36:29,120
<font color="#00ffff">We thought, well, it'll be you</font>
<font color="#00ffff">too next, what does it matter?</font>

712
00:36:31,245 --> 00:36:35,453
<font color="#00ff00">Wherever there was a grave</font>
<font color="#00ff00">or a body, there were rats.</font>

713
00:36:35,453 --> 00:36:36,662
<font color="#00ff00">They were all big fat ones</font>

714
00:36:36,662 --> 00:36:39,329
<font color="#00ff00">and we knew where they got</font>
<font color="#00ff00">the fat from.</font>

715
00:36:39,329 --> 00:36:44,704
<font color="#ffffff">Unpleasant animals, because of</font>
<font color="#ffffff">the filtration into the graves.</font>

716
00:36:44,704 --> 00:36:48,079
<font color="#00ffff">They used to feed on the dead</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and come in the dugouts,</font>

717
00:36:48,079 --> 00:36:49,621
<font color="#00ffff">pick up scraps in there.</font>

718
00:36:49,621 --> 00:36:51,621
<font color="#00ff00">I woke up in the bottom</font>
<font color="#00ff00">of the trench</font>

719
00:36:51,621 --> 00:36:54,079
<font color="#00ff00">and felt something warm on my face.</font>

720
00:36:54,079 --> 00:36:57,080
<font color="#00ff00">And a little heart</font>
<font color="#00ff00">going bang, bang, bang.</font>

721
00:36:57,080 --> 00:36:59,746
<font color="#00ff00">The devil scratched my face</font>
<font color="#00ff00">with the claws of his hind feet</font>

722
00:36:59,746 --> 00:37:00,913
<font color="#00ff00">as he took off.</font>

723
00:37:00,913 --> 00:37:03,330
<font color="#ffffff">We used to try and shoot them,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">hit them, kill them,</font>

724
00:37:03,330 --> 00:37:04,830
<font color="#ffffff">chase them, do anything.</font>

725
00:37:04,830 --> 00:37:06,372
<font color="#ffffff">GUNSHOTS AND BANGING, RATS SQUEAK</font>

726
00:37:06,372 --> 00:37:08,413
<font color="#ffff00">Then you've got gas.</font>

727
00:37:08,413 --> 00:37:11,539
<font color="#00ffff">We saw this green cloud</font>
<font color="#00ffff">coming towards us.</font>

728
00:37:11,539 --> 00:37:13,580
<font color="#00ffff">Just rolling slowly</font>
<font color="#00ffff">along the ground.</font>

729
00:37:13,580 --> 00:37:15,164
<font color="#00ff00">They'd shout "gas"...</font>
<font color="#ffffff">MEN SHOUT</font>

730
00:37:15,164 --> 00:37:17,372
<font color="#00ff00">..and you had to take your mask out</font>
<font color="#00ff00">and stick it on</font>

731
00:37:17,372 --> 00:37:18,914
<font color="#00ff00">in two, three seconds.</font>

732
00:37:18,914 --> 00:37:23,248
<font color="#ffffff">Yes, it was phosgene gas,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">later on there was mustard gas.</font>

733
00:37:23,248 --> 00:37:25,164
<font color="#ffffff">That was very effective.</font>

734
00:37:25,164 --> 00:37:28,331
<font color="#ffffff">I never saw a slightly gassed man.</font>

735
00:37:28,331 --> 00:37:31,456
<font color="#ffff00">If you couldn't get your gas mask,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">you were to pee on your handkerchief</font>

736
00:37:31,456 --> 00:37:33,707
<font color="#ffff00">and stuff this round</font>
<font color="#ffff00">your nose and mouth.</font>

737
00:37:33,707 --> 00:37:36,207
<font color="#00ffff">I don't mind admitting that</font>
<font color="#00ffff">I didn't think much of the</font>

738
00:37:36,207 --> 00:37:39,248
<font color="#00ffff">urinating on the handkerchief,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">so I went into one of</font>

739
00:37:39,248 --> 00:37:42,790
<font color="#00ffff">the trench's latrines</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and I stuck my head in a bucket.</font>

740
00:37:42,790 --> 00:37:45,040
<font color="#00ffff">But I'll tell you, I couldn't</font>
<font color="#00ffff">hold my breath any more,</font>

741
00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:48,041
<font color="#00ffff">came up, took a good breath of air,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">down again.</font>

742
00:37:48,041 --> 00:37:50,207
<font color="#00ff00">We were very soon</font>
<font color="#00ff00">enveloped in this thick,</font>

743
00:37:50,207 --> 00:37:51,999
<font color="#00ff00">yellow, filthy cloud.</font>

744
00:37:51,999 --> 00:37:55,291
<font color="#ffffff">The more we tried to get rid</font>
<font color="#ffffff">of the sting in our eyes,</font>

745
00:37:55,291 --> 00:37:56,958
<font color="#ffffff">the worse it got.</font>

746
00:37:59,041 --> 00:38:01,250
<font color="#ffff00">And I thought deeply</font>
<font color="#ffff00">of what the effect of blindness</font>

747
00:38:01,250 --> 00:38:02,916
<font color="#ffff00">was going to be.</font>

748
00:38:02,916 --> 00:38:06,875
<font color="#00ffff">The extraction of clotted blood</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and the injection of saline</font>

749
00:38:06,875 --> 00:38:09,042
<font color="#00ffff">could alleviate a lot</font>
<font color="#00ffff">of the trouble.</font>

750
00:38:09,042 --> 00:38:12,084
<font color="#00ffff">And as I was gassed myself,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">I can speak from experience.</font>

751
00:38:14,375 --> 00:38:17,084
<font color="#00ff00">In the winter time,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">as the weather deteriorated,</font>

752
00:38:17,084 --> 00:38:20,292
<font color="#00ff00">so the trenches got</font>
<font color="#00ff00">more and more sodden with water</font>

753
00:38:20,292 --> 00:38:22,584
<font color="#00ff00">until they just became ditches.</font>

754
00:38:22,584 --> 00:38:25,293
<font color="#ffffff">The water was swirling</font>
<font color="#ffffff">about our feet and rising higher</font>

755
00:38:25,293 --> 00:38:28,751
<font color="#ffffff">and higher</font>
<font color="#ffffff">until it reached our chests.</font>

756
00:38:28,751 --> 00:38:31,668
<font color="#ffffff">Our difficulty was frostbite.</font>

757
00:38:31,668 --> 00:38:35,418
<font color="#ffffff">Our gumboots filled with water,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and in the mornings we could not</font>

758
00:38:35,418 --> 00:38:39,210
<font color="#ffffff">split them off because</font>
<font color="#ffffff">they were frozen to our feet.</font>

759
00:38:39,210 --> 00:38:41,419
<font color="#ffff00">When you're talking</font>
<font color="#ffff00">about trench feet,</font>

760
00:38:41,419 --> 00:38:43,002
<font color="#ffff00">you're talking about gangrene.</font>

761
00:38:43,002 --> 00:38:47,336
<font color="#ffff00">Send him straight down the line,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">hack the legs off.</font>

762
00:38:47,336 --> 00:38:49,211
<font color="#00ff00">Give us a hand with that, will you?</font>

763
00:38:49,211 --> 00:38:53,378
<font color="#00ffff">When the water had soaked into the</font>
<font color="#00ffff">earth, the floors of the trenches</font>

764
00:38:53,378 --> 00:38:58,294
<font color="#00ffff">were just paved with liquid mud,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and that became like glue.</font>

765
00:38:58,294 --> 00:39:02,420
<font color="#ffffff">It was a curious</font>
<font color="#ffffff">sucking kind of mud.</font>

766
00:39:02,420 --> 00:39:05,003
<font color="#ffffff">Very disgusting indeed,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">very tenacious.</font>

767
00:39:05,003 --> 00:39:06,670
<font color="#ffffff">It stuck to you.</font>

768
00:39:06,670 --> 00:39:10,253
<font color="#ffff00">If one had to go</font>
<font color="#ffff00">to the rear for rations,</font>

769
00:39:10,253 --> 00:39:12,670
<font color="#ffff00">well, that was just</font>
<font color="#ffff00">a nightmare journey.</font>

770
00:39:12,670 --> 00:39:14,420
<font color="#ffff00">Slithering about.</font>

771
00:39:14,420 --> 00:39:17,754
<font color="#00ffff">When it was pouring with rain</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and on slippery duck boards,</font>

772
00:39:17,754 --> 00:39:20,212
<font color="#00ffff">the language was really edifying.</font>

773
00:39:20,212 --> 00:39:23,004
<font color="#00ffff">You heard words that</font>
<font color="#00ffff">you never dream existed.</font>

774
00:39:23,004 --> 00:39:26,213
<font color="#00ff00">And if you slipped off the duck</font>
<font color="#00ff00">boards, you just sank into the mud</font>

775
00:39:26,213 --> 00:39:29,421
<font color="#00ff00">of decomposed bodies</font>
<font color="#00ff00">of humans and mules,</font>

776
00:39:29,421 --> 00:39:31,755
<font color="#00ff00">and that was the end of you.</font>

777
00:39:31,755 --> 00:39:35,130
<font color="#ffffff">The boy, he was in the middle</font>
<font color="#ffffff">of this huge sea of mud, struggling,</font>

778
00:39:35,130 --> 00:39:36,755
<font color="#ffffff">and we couldn't do a thing.</font>

779
00:39:36,755 --> 00:39:38,255
<font color="#ffffff">There was no hope of getting to him.</font>

780
00:39:38,255 --> 00:39:41,047
<font color="#ffffff">The look on the lad's face,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and he was a mere boy,</font>

781
00:39:41,047 --> 00:39:43,089
<font color="#ffffff">was really pathetic.</font>
<font color="#ffffff">COUGHING AND SPLUTTERING</font>

782
00:39:43,089 --> 00:39:46,755
<font color="#ffff00">I've seen men sinking into the mud</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and dying in the slime.</font>

783
00:39:46,755 --> 00:39:49,422
<font color="#ffff00">I think it absolutely</font>
<font color="#ffff00">finished me off.</font>

784
00:39:50,964 --> 00:39:53,464
<font color="#00ffff">It was supposed to be quiet and</font>
<font color="#00ffff">then you might get</font>

785
00:39:53,464 --> 00:39:56,381
<font color="#00ffff">some drunken German saying, "I'm</font>
<font color="#00ffff">going to give them hell today,"</font>

786
00:39:56,381 --> 00:39:58,048
<font color="#00ffff">and opened up with all</font>
<font color="#00ffff">his batteries</font>

787
00:39:58,048 --> 00:40:00,048
<font color="#00ffff">and catch hundreds of people</font>
<font color="#00ffff">in the line-up.</font>

788
00:40:00,048 --> 00:40:03,590
<font color="#00ffff">And that was what they called</font>
<font color="#00ffff">holding the line.</font>

789
00:40:03,590 --> 00:40:07,382
<font color="#00ff00">We were in conditions that isolated</font>
<font color="#00ff00">us completely from civilisation.</font>

790
00:40:07,382 --> 00:40:11,757
<font color="#00ff00">We got so generate,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">so isolated living in this mud.</font>

791
00:40:11,757 --> 00:40:15,507
<font color="#ffff00">And you could sympathise</font>
<font color="#ffff00">with how a rabbit must feel</font>

792
00:40:15,507 --> 00:40:18,757
<font color="#ffff00">because we were hunted by mankind,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">just the same as a rabbit.</font>

793
00:40:18,757 --> 00:40:21,257
<font color="#00ffff">You knew your lives were in</font>
<font color="#00ffff">one another's hands</font>

794
00:40:21,257 --> 00:40:23,924
<font color="#00ffff">and it united you very closely</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and you didn't let anything</font>

795
00:40:23,924 --> 00:40:25,924
<font color="#00ffff">interfere with that.</font>

796
00:40:25,924 --> 00:40:28,341
<font color="#00ff00">You knew what was going</font>
<font color="#00ff00">on within your vision.</font>

797
00:40:28,341 --> 00:40:31,258
<font color="#00ff00">Beyond that, you hadn't got a clue.</font>
<font color="#ffffff">HARMONICA PLAYS</font>

798
00:40:31,258 --> 00:40:34,966
<font color="#ffffff">You didn't care how the war</font>
<font color="#ffffff">was going, whether we were winning.</font>

799
00:40:34,966 --> 00:40:37,008
<font color="#ffffff">You weren't bothered</font>
<font color="#ffffff">with that at all.</font>

800
00:40:37,008 --> 00:40:40,008
<font color="#ffff00">You lived like tramps,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">you didn't polish any buttons,</font>

801
00:40:40,008 --> 00:40:43,717
<font color="#ffff00">you wore any uniformed bits</font>
<font color="#ffff00">that you liked and nobody worried.</font>

802
00:40:43,717 --> 00:40:46,842
<font color="#ffff00">All they were concerned</font>
<font color="#ffff00">with was that you were fit to fight.</font>

803
00:40:46,842 --> 00:40:49,009
<font color="#00ffff">If nothing's happening,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">you chat about life,</font>

804
00:40:49,009 --> 00:40:51,259
<font color="#00ffff">where he came from</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and you came from.</font>

805
00:40:51,259 --> 00:40:52,551
<font color="#00ffff">Everything was friendly.</font>

806
00:40:52,551 --> 00:40:54,759
<font color="#00ffff">There was a terrific lot</font>
<font color="#00ffff">of kindness in a way,</font>

807
00:40:54,759 --> 00:40:56,218
<font color="#00ffff">to each person.</font>

808
00:40:56,218 --> 00:40:59,218
<font color="#00ff00">When the war was not very active,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">it was really rather fun</font>

809
00:40:59,218 --> 00:41:00,801
<font color="#00ff00">to be in the front line.</font>

810
00:41:00,801 --> 00:41:04,260
<font color="#ffffff">It was not very dangerous,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">the sort of outdoor camping holiday</font>

811
00:41:04,260 --> 00:41:09,052
<font color="#ffffff">with the boys, with a slight spice</font>
<font color="#ffffff">of danger to make it interesting.</font>

812
00:41:09,052 --> 00:41:12,760
<font color="#ffff00">We used to raid the trenches</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and get a prisoner if possible.</font>

813
00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:16,635
<font color="#00ffff">And a typical trench raid</font>
<font color="#00ffff">would be perhaps eight in passing.</font>

814
00:41:18,010 --> 00:41:20,261
<font color="#00ff00">If you was going to make a raid,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">somebody would cut</font>

815
00:41:20,261 --> 00:41:22,511
<font color="#00ff00">a passage through the wire</font>
<font color="#00ff00">at night-time.</font>

816
00:41:25,219 --> 00:41:27,469
<font color="#ffffff">The only way to do it</font>
<font color="#ffffff">was silently...</font>

817
00:41:29,636 --> 00:41:31,886
<font color="#ffffff">..to rush it,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and that was the arrangement.</font>

818
00:41:31,886 --> 00:41:34,178
<font color="#ffff00">We would bomb and bayonet</font>
<font color="#ffff00">the Germans coming out</font>

819
00:41:34,178 --> 00:41:36,803
<font color="#ffff00">on their hands and knees</font>
<font color="#ffff00">out the dugout, we'd smack them</font>

820
00:41:36,803 --> 00:41:39,387
<font color="#ffff00">over the head and throw</font>
<font color="#ffff00">in a couple of bombs.</font>

821
00:41:43,929 --> 00:41:46,429
<font color="#ffff00">And there were three ways</font>
<font color="#ffff00">of getting rid of him.</font>

822
00:41:46,429 --> 00:41:49,554
<font color="#ffff00">One was to knife him,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">garrotte him or to bayonet him.</font>

823
00:41:49,554 --> 00:41:52,762
<font color="#ffff00">Quietest was the quick wrap</font>
<font color="#ffff00">around the throat</font>

824
00:41:52,762 --> 00:41:54,262
<font color="#ffff00">and knife into the back.</font>

825
00:41:58,263 --> 00:42:00,554
<font color="#00ffff">I threw a revolver</font>
<font color="#00ffff">at poor little Rudolph,</font>

826
00:42:00,554 --> 00:42:01,888
<font color="#00ffff">he was only about 18.</font>

827
00:42:01,888 --> 00:42:03,471
<font color="#00ffff">I hit him in the face with it.</font>

828
00:42:03,471 --> 00:42:06,138
<font color="#00ffff">He screamed and came back at me,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and that's when I got him.</font>

829
00:42:06,138 --> 00:42:08,555
<font color="#00ffff">Got him with a Very pistol.</font>

830
00:42:08,555 --> 00:42:10,388
<font color="#00ff00">Well done, chaps! Good raid!</font>

831
00:42:10,388 --> 00:42:13,013
<font color="#00ffff">I always had a full flask</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and I gave him a drink.</font>

832
00:42:13,013 --> 00:42:14,972
<font color="#00ffff">I felt very sorry for him.</font>

833
00:42:14,972 --> 00:42:18,097
<font color="#00ffff">He said, "Danke schoen,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">das ist gut," and died.</font>

834
00:42:25,722 --> 00:42:29,098
<font color="#ffffff">And it was a very successful raid,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">they got two prisoners, I think,</font>

835
00:42:29,098 --> 00:42:31,348
<font color="#ffffff">which was all they all wanted.</font>

836
00:42:31,348 --> 00:42:34,265
<font color="#00ff00">By the way, the men</font>
<font color="#00ff00">who were captured on the trench raid</font>

837
00:42:34,265 --> 00:42:39,307
<font color="#00ff00">were the first Germans I saw</font>
<font color="#00ff00">on the Western Front.</font>

838
00:42:39,307 --> 00:42:42,515
<font color="#ffffff">A lot of the German troops,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">they were very good, very friendly.</font>

839
00:42:42,515 --> 00:42:46,349
<font color="#ffffff">In fact, some of those Bavarians</font>
<font color="#ffffff">were dammed good, decent people.</font>

840
00:42:46,349 --> 00:42:48,640
<font color="#ffffff">The snipers would fire</font>
<font color="#ffffff">but not hit anybody,</font>

841
00:42:48,640 --> 00:42:49,849
<font color="#ffffff">know what I mean?</font>

842
00:42:51,682 --> 00:42:54,057
<font color="#ffff00">They put up a sign - "Gott mit uns."</font>

843
00:42:54,057 --> 00:42:55,807
<font color="#ffff00">God is with us.</font>

844
00:42:55,807 --> 00:42:58,891
<font color="#ffff00">And we put a sign up in English -</font>
<font color="#ffff00">"We've got mittens too!"</font>

845
00:42:58,891 --> 00:43:01,516
<font color="#ffff00">We don't know if the Germans</font>
<font color="#ffff00">enjoyed that joke or not.</font>

846
00:43:01,516 --> 00:43:04,641
<font color="#00ffff">There was a wounded German,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">he was a Wartenberger, I think.</font>

847
00:43:04,641 --> 00:43:06,891
<font color="#00ffff">We did what we could for him,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">we gave him a bit of food</font>

848
00:43:06,891 --> 00:43:10,600
<font color="#00ffff">and that sort of thing, and</font>
<font color="#00ffff">he was cursing the Prussians.</font>

849
00:43:10,600 --> 00:43:14,850
<font color="#00ff00">The Saxons were in front of us</font>
<font color="#00ff00">and they gave us the warning</font>

850
00:43:14,850 --> 00:43:18,434
<font color="#00ff00">that there were going</font>
<font color="#00ff00">to be relieved by the Prussians.</font>

851
00:43:18,434 --> 00:43:21,476
<font color="#00ff00">And they said to us,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">"Give them hell."</font>

852
00:43:21,476 --> 00:43:23,684
<font color="#00ff00">They hated the Prussians.</font>

853
00:43:23,684 --> 00:43:25,601
<font color="#ffffff">The Prussians were cruel bastards.</font>

854
00:43:27,934 --> 00:43:29,893
<font color="#ffff00">Hurry up! </font><font color="#00ffff">This way.</font>
<font color="#ffff00">Schnell, schnell!</font>

855
00:43:29,893 --> 00:43:32,143
<font color="#00ffff">Watch yourself. </font><font color="#ffff00">Come along!</font>

856
00:43:32,143 --> 00:43:34,185
<font color="#00ff00">The Bavarians or the Saxonians,</font>

857
00:43:34,185 --> 00:43:36,560
<font color="#00ff00">they were the more civilised</font>
<font color="#00ff00">of the Germans.</font>

858
00:43:36,560 --> 00:43:38,351
<font color="#00ff00">Part English, if anything.</font>

859
00:43:41,435 --> 00:43:44,518
<font color="#ffffff">After a four-day spell</font>
<font color="#ffffff">in the front line,</font>

860
00:43:44,518 --> 00:43:48,269
<font color="#ffffff">we were relieved and we had to</font>
<font color="#ffffff">march back to the billets</font>

861
00:43:48,269 --> 00:43:50,602
<font color="#ffffff">a few miles behind the lines.</font>

862
00:43:50,602 --> 00:43:54,144
<font color="#ffff00">We were going for</font>
<font color="#ffff00">a supposed one-week's rest.</font>

863
00:43:54,144 --> 00:43:56,227
<font color="#00ffff">Everybody was dead whacked.</font>

864
00:43:56,227 --> 00:43:58,061
<font color="#00ffff">We were all pretty knocked up.</font>

865
00:43:58,061 --> 00:44:00,228
<font color="#00ff00">We extricated ourselves from the mud</font>

866
00:44:00,228 --> 00:44:03,269
<font color="#00ff00">to what was, somewhat ironically,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">called rest.</font>

867
00:44:03,269 --> 00:44:06,936
<font color="#ffffff">In the front line itself,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">you didn't criticise people</font>

868
00:44:06,936 --> 00:44:09,561
<font color="#ffffff">and if you had a chap</font>
<font color="#ffffff">who was a bit dicky,</font>

869
00:44:09,561 --> 00:44:12,020
<font color="#ffffff">you would keep an eye on him,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">just like in a family.</font>

870
00:44:12,020 --> 00:44:14,645
<font color="#ffffff">But when you got out of the line,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">you'd want nothing to do</font>

871
00:44:14,645 --> 00:44:16,062
<font color="#ffffff">with those people at all.</font>

872
00:44:16,062 --> 00:44:18,270
<font color="#ffffff">I mean, you can't call</font>
<font color="#ffffff">it comradeship exactly,</font>

873
00:44:18,270 --> 00:44:19,729
<font color="#ffffff">it was the way you did it.</font>

874
00:44:19,729 --> 00:44:22,562
<font color="#00ffff">Come and get your mail!</font>
<font color="#00ff00">Welcome back!</font>

875
00:44:22,562 --> 00:44:26,437
<font color="#ffffff">The thing which always struck me</font>
<font color="#ffffff">as being absolutely stupid</font>

876
00:44:26,437 --> 00:44:30,896
<font color="#ffffff">was the next morning,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">every man had to be spick and span,</font>

877
00:44:30,896 --> 00:44:32,479
<font color="#ffffff">not a trace of mud on him.</font>

878
00:44:34,396 --> 00:44:38,105
<font color="#ffff00">You'd brush off clothes or dry</font>
<font color="#ffff00">them off the best way you could</font>

879
00:44:38,105 --> 00:44:39,563
<font color="#ffff00">and clean your boots.</font>

880
00:44:39,563 --> 00:44:42,188
<font color="#ffff00">In other words, smarten yourself up.</font>

881
00:44:42,188 --> 00:44:45,272
<font color="#ffffff">THEY PLAY</font>
<font color="#ffffff">It's A Long Way To Tipperary</font>

882
00:44:54,981 --> 00:44:57,481
<font color="#ffff00">The men would always appear</font>
<font color="#ffff00">the same -</font>

883
00:44:57,481 --> 00:45:01,356
<font color="#ffff00">cheerful and, in the circumstances,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">happy as they could be,</font>

884
00:45:01,356 --> 00:45:03,314
<font color="#ffff00">making the best of everything.</font>

885
00:45:03,314 --> 00:45:05,856
<font color="#ffff00">You know, in true British fashion.</font>

886
00:45:07,065 --> 00:45:11,232
<font color="#00ffff">What? </font><font color="#00ff00">The Cockney wit was prevalent</font>
<font color="#00ff00">and we were all lads together,</font>

887
00:45:11,232 --> 00:45:14,357
<font color="#00ff00">you know, we didn't care about it.</font>

888
00:45:14,357 --> 00:45:18,482
<font color="#00ff00">We'd make a fuss about nothing,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">the little things that didn't matter</font>

889
00:45:18,482 --> 00:45:21,732
<font color="#00ff00">really, because it was something</font>
<font color="#00ff00">to fill the time in.</font>

890
00:45:21,732 --> 00:45:24,482
<font color="#00ffff">We used to have to make</font>
<font color="#00ffff">our own amusements.</font>

891
00:45:24,482 --> 00:45:25,774
<font color="#ffff00">Bloody bastard!</font>

892
00:45:25,774 --> 00:45:27,441
<font color="#00ff00">You laughed at the slightest things.</font>

893
00:45:27,441 --> 00:45:30,691
<font color="#00ff00">I think probably it was the</font>
<font color="#00ff00">general tension of the atmosphere</font>

894
00:45:30,691 --> 00:45:32,858
<font color="#00ff00">that used to make us like that,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">you know?</font>

895
00:45:34,941 --> 00:45:38,525
<font color="#ffffff">My mother sent me a parcel</font>
<font color="#ffffff">with a plum pudding, of all things,</font>

896
00:45:38,525 --> 00:45:41,150
<font color="#ffffff">and had no thought of</font>
<font color="#ffffff">not being able to cook it,</font>

897
00:45:41,150 --> 00:45:42,775
<font color="#ffffff">so we used it as a rugby ball.</font>

898
00:45:44,442 --> 00:45:47,359
<font color="#ffff00">We had this regimental sports day.</font>

899
00:45:47,359 --> 00:45:49,942
<font color="#ffff00">And I won't say</font>
<font color="#ffff00">I was the only sober one,</font>

900
00:45:49,942 --> 00:45:53,150
<font color="#ffff00">but most of them were merry</font>
<font color="#ffff00">about it.</font>

901
00:45:57,692 --> 00:45:59,609
<font color="#ffffff">MEN LAUGH AND SHOUT</font>

902
00:46:01,318 --> 00:46:03,943
<font color="#00ffff">I mean, you took part in everything</font>
<font color="#00ffff">because you had to fill</font>

903
00:46:03,943 --> 00:46:06,318
<font color="#00ffff">your time in, you know.</font>

904
00:46:06,318 --> 00:46:08,360
<font color="#00ffff">Otherwise all you did</font>
<font color="#00ffff">was sit about and smoke.</font>

905
00:46:08,360 --> 00:46:10,360
<font color="#ffffff">CHILDREN LAUGH</font>

906
00:46:12,485 --> 00:46:16,068
<font color="#ffff00">The only time we saw the artillery</font>
<font color="#ffff00">was when we was out of rest.</font>

907
00:46:16,068 --> 00:46:17,777
<font color="#00ffff">Fire!</font>

908
00:46:20,360 --> 00:46:22,902
<font color="#ffff00">They would be, say,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">two miles behind the line.</font>

909
00:46:24,611 --> 00:46:26,861
<font color="#00ffff">Fire!</font>

910
00:46:26,861 --> 00:46:29,694
<font color="#00ff00">We wanted to neutralise enemy</font>
<font color="#00ff00">batteries, so we were registering</font>

911
00:46:29,694 --> 00:46:31,528
<font color="#00ff00">our batteries on his.</font>
<font color="#00ffff">Fire!</font>

912
00:46:33,903 --> 00:46:35,903
<font color="#ffffff">We used to know the line</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and elevation</font>

913
00:46:35,903 --> 00:46:37,736
<font color="#ffffff">because it was done by aircraft.</font>

914
00:46:40,028 --> 00:46:43,195
<font color="#ffff00">It was pretty ghastly, but the idea</font>
<font color="#ffff00">was to kill as many German gunners</font>

915
00:46:43,195 --> 00:46:44,487
<font color="#ffff00">as you could.</font>

916
00:46:44,487 --> 00:46:45,737
<font color="#00ffff">Ready!</font>

917
00:46:47,653 --> 00:46:49,320
<font color="#00ffff">Fire!</font>

918
00:46:55,821 --> 00:46:58,862
<font color="#00ff00">There was no motorised transport</font>
<font color="#00ff00">for guns.</font>

919
00:46:58,862 --> 00:47:01,613
<font color="#00ff00">The guns used to be</font>
<font color="#00ff00">brought up by horses.</font>

920
00:47:01,613 --> 00:47:03,238
<font color="#ffffff">Eight horses to each gun team.</font>

921
00:47:03,238 --> 00:47:04,946
<font color="#ffffff">Four horses to each wagon team.</font>

922
00:47:04,946 --> 00:47:06,446
<font color="#ffffff">About 60 horses.</font>

923
00:47:07,988 --> 00:47:10,863
<font color="#ffff00">The gunners made a filthy noise,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">jingling and jingling</font>

924
00:47:10,863 --> 00:47:12,863
<font color="#ffff00">and the horses making</font>
<font color="#ffff00">noises both ends.</font>

925
00:47:12,863 --> 00:47:15,030
<font color="#ffff00">And it was always</font>
<font color="#ffff00">of great concern for those of us</font>

926
00:47:15,030 --> 00:47:16,655
<font color="#ffff00">who were going into battle.</font>

927
00:47:16,655 --> 00:47:19,364
<font color="#00ff00">Heave!</font>
<font color="#ffffff">MEN GRUNT, HORSES BRAY</font>

928
00:47:20,989 --> 00:47:22,405
<font color="#00ff00">Heave!</font>

929
00:47:27,447 --> 00:47:29,697
<font color="#00ffff">Each company officer</font>
<font color="#00ffff">paid his own company.</font>

930
00:47:29,697 --> 00:47:33,323
<font color="#00ffff">Now, it was generally the</font>
<font color="#00ffff">first morning after we were out</font>

931
00:47:33,323 --> 00:47:36,073
<font color="#00ffff">of the line, you got five francs.</font>

932
00:47:36,073 --> 00:47:38,906
<font color="#00ffff">A franc was worth 10p,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">so 50p was your pay</font>

933
00:47:38,906 --> 00:47:41,115
<font color="#00ffff">for a fortnight, 50p.</font>

934
00:47:41,115 --> 00:47:44,115
<font color="#00ffff">Now, that's a week</font>
<font color="#00ffff">of riotous living.</font>

935
00:47:44,115 --> 00:47:47,532
<font color="#00ff00">Every town of any size at all</font>
<font color="#00ff00">had a brothel</font>

936
00:47:47,532 --> 00:47:51,157
<font color="#00ff00">and that was where most</font>
<font color="#00ff00">of these boys learned a little bit</font>

937
00:47:51,157 --> 00:47:54,657
<font color="#00ff00">more about life than they would ever</font>
<font color="#00ff00">have done in normal civil life.</font>

938
00:47:54,657 --> 00:47:57,574
<font color="#00ff00">So although they were young</font>
<font color="#00ff00">in years, it wasn't long</font>

939
00:47:57,574 --> 00:48:00,199
<font color="#00ff00">before they were quite worldly men.</font>

940
00:48:00,199 --> 00:48:02,616
<font color="#ffff00">One of the lads said,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">"Let's go and have a look</font>

941
00:48:02,616 --> 00:48:05,283
<font color="#ffff00">"in the White Star.</font>
<font color="#ffff00">It's like a pub."</font>

942
00:48:05,283 --> 00:48:07,950
<font color="#ffff00">I'd led a very sheltered life.</font>

943
00:48:07,950 --> 00:48:11,783
<font color="#ffff00">And they were beautiful girls</font>
<font color="#ffff00">with just a piece of lace on,</font>

944
00:48:11,783 --> 00:48:16,075
<font color="#ffff00">and, oh, my word, I'd never seen</font>
<font color="#ffff00">anything like it before!</font>

945
00:48:16,075 --> 00:48:19,325
<font color="#00ffff">There was I, a young lad, knowing</font>
<font color="#00ffff">nothing about this, and off we go,</font>

946
00:48:19,325 --> 00:48:22,534
<font color="#00ffff">and these men were</font>
<font color="#00ffff">going up to see the girls.</font>

947
00:48:22,534 --> 00:48:24,909
<font color="#00ffff">I was very keen. I said</font>
<font color="#00ffff">to one of these fellas,</font>

948
00:48:24,909 --> 00:48:26,576
<font color="#00ffff">"I've only got a sixpence."</font>

949
00:48:26,576 --> 00:48:29,201
<font color="#00ffff">He said, "That's no good,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">it's a shilling."</font>

950
00:48:29,201 --> 00:48:32,034
<font color="#00ffff">That was my first experience</font>
<font color="#00ffff">of a brothel.</font>

951
00:48:32,034 --> 00:48:35,118
<font color="#00ff00">Anyway, we looked in there</font>
<font color="#00ff00">for a couple of minutes,</font>

952
00:48:35,118 --> 00:48:38,118
<font color="#00ff00">when four or five naked girls</font>
<font color="#00ff00">came running down the corridor.</font>

953
00:48:38,118 --> 00:48:40,368
<font color="#00ff00">We turned tail and ran!</font>

954
00:48:40,368 --> 00:48:42,493
<font color="#00ff00">It was an eye-opener to me.</font>

955
00:48:42,493 --> 00:48:44,868
<font color="#ffff00">There she stood, great, big woman,</font>

956
00:48:44,868 --> 00:48:47,410
<font color="#ffff00">with this little cane in her hand</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and she belted my backside</font>

957
00:48:47,410 --> 00:48:48,910
<font color="#ffff00">as if I was a little schoolboy.</font>

958
00:48:48,910 --> 00:48:51,244
<font color="#ffff00">Pelted Sergeant this</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and pelted Sergeant the other,</font>

959
00:48:51,244 --> 00:48:52,910
<font color="#ffff00">thump, thump, thump, thump, thump!</font>

960
00:48:52,910 --> 00:48:55,327
<font color="#ffffff">HE LAUGHS</font>

961
00:48:55,327 --> 00:48:56,869
<font color="#00ffff">Oh, gambling?</font>

962
00:48:56,869 --> 00:48:58,494
<font color="#00ffff">People were gambling all day long.</font>

963
00:48:58,494 --> 00:49:01,119
<font color="#00ffff">The Canadians and the Australians</font>
<font color="#00ffff">used a gamble terrific</font>

964
00:49:01,119 --> 00:49:02,536
<font color="#00ffff">amounts of money.</font>

965
00:49:02,536 --> 00:49:04,161
<font color="#00ffff">More money than any of us seen.</font>

966
00:49:07,703 --> 00:49:09,786
<font color="#00ff00">The beer was very thin indeed.</font>

967
00:49:09,786 --> 00:49:14,286
<font color="#00ff00">It was one and nine stuff -</font>
<font color="#00ff00">one pint, nine piddles.</font>

968
00:49:14,286 --> 00:49:17,495
<font color="#ffffff">Friday was always the issue day</font>
<font color="#ffffff">for cigarettes</font>

969
00:49:17,495 --> 00:49:20,370
<font color="#ffffff">and the cigarettes were</font>
<font color="#ffffff">Three Witches,</font>

970
00:49:20,370 --> 00:49:23,995
<font color="#ffffff">which soon became</font>
<font color="#ffffff">Three Bitches or Red Hue Tsars.</font>

971
00:49:23,995 --> 00:49:28,204
<font color="#ffffff">I think they were made</font>
<font color="#ffffff">from stable returns.</font>

972
00:49:28,204 --> 00:49:32,162
<font color="#ffffff">But generally, in good-sized</font>
<font color="#ffffff">villages, you could get Woodbines</font>

973
00:49:32,162 --> 00:49:38,413
<font color="#ffffff">and Player's, and they were far</font>
<font color="#ffffff">preferable to the issue cigarettes.</font>

974
00:49:38,413 --> 00:49:41,205
<font color="#00ff00">Of course, we were always</font>
<font color="#00ff00">bartering with the Frenchmen.</font>

975
00:49:41,205 --> 00:49:43,205
<font color="#00ff00">We used to barter some of our</font>
<font color="#00ff00">under-clothing</font>

976
00:49:43,205 --> 00:49:45,288
<font color="#00ff00">and get a loaf of bread with it.</font>

977
00:49:45,288 --> 00:49:48,913
<font color="#ffff00">We used to swap our British</font>
<font color="#ffff00">cigarettes for their French wine.</font>

978
00:49:48,913 --> 00:49:52,455
<font color="#ffffff">It could be just as tiring out</font>
<font color="#ffffff">of the line as in the line</font>

979
00:49:52,455 --> 00:49:54,205
<font color="#ffffff">and it was sometimes worse.</font>

980
00:49:54,205 --> 00:49:56,164
<font color="#ffff00">If you were chosen for fatigue,</font>

981
00:49:56,164 --> 00:49:59,164
<font color="#ffff00">you'd have to go</font>
<font color="#ffff00">on the working party.</font>

982
00:49:59,164 --> 00:50:03,373
<font color="#ffffff">You collected stores from a big dump</font>
<font color="#ffffff">three or four miles back.</font>

983
00:50:03,373 --> 00:50:05,998
<font color="#ffffff">Enormous bundles of sandbags,</font>

984
00:50:05,998 --> 00:50:09,581
<font color="#ffffff">many made-up duck boards</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and, worst of all, barbed wire.</font>

985
00:50:10,956 --> 00:50:12,581
<font color="#ffff00">It was always hard work.</font>

986
00:50:12,581 --> 00:50:16,123
<font color="#ffff00">You were a bonny labouring boy</font>
<font color="#ffff00">more than you were a fighter.</font>

987
00:50:16,123 --> 00:50:19,207
<font color="#00ffff">All the chaps were very tired,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">but it made no difference.</font>

988
00:50:19,207 --> 00:50:21,123
<font color="#ffffff">And they were mentally tired out.</font>

989
00:50:21,123 --> 00:50:23,249
<font color="#ffffff">They'd just come out of a</font>
<font color="#ffffff">trench tour for a rest</font>

990
00:50:23,249 --> 00:50:25,707
<font color="#ffffff">and this was</font>
<font color="#ffffff">the kind of rest they were getting.</font>

991
00:50:27,165 --> 00:50:31,416
<font color="#ffff00">You would be carrying stuff</font>
<font color="#ffff00">up on a light railway.</font>

992
00:50:31,416 --> 00:50:35,374
<font color="#00ffff">Yes, they laid a narrow gauge,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">light railway track.</font>

993
00:50:35,374 --> 00:50:39,208
<font color="#00ff00">It was the simplest of things,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">just platforms on wheels,</font>

994
00:50:39,208 --> 00:50:41,416
<font color="#00ff00">driven by light locomotives.</font>

995
00:50:49,542 --> 00:50:51,667
<font color="#ffff00">Light railways were always</font>
<font color="#ffff00">a blooming nuisance</font>

996
00:50:51,667 --> 00:50:54,667
<font color="#ffff00">because they were always</font>
<font color="#ffff00">coming off the track.</font>

997
00:50:54,667 --> 00:50:58,542
<font color="#00ffff">And they lost control of this truck</font>
<font color="#00ffff">going down a slight incline</font>

998
00:50:58,542 --> 00:51:00,792
<font color="#00ffff">and it would barge</font>
<font color="#00ffff">into the one in front,</font>

999
00:51:00,792 --> 00:51:05,126
<font color="#00ffff">which scattered the duck boards</font>
<font color="#00ffff">all over the place.</font>

1000
00:51:05,126 --> 00:51:08,543
<font color="#00ff00">We used to take our mess tins</font>
<font color="#00ff00">up to the engine driver</font>

1001
00:51:08,543 --> 00:51:11,876
<font color="#00ff00">and get some boiling water</font>
<font color="#00ff00">for our brew-up of tea.</font>

1002
00:51:14,960 --> 00:51:16,418
<font color="#ffffff">And another.</font>

1003
00:51:18,752 --> 00:51:23,252
<font color="#00ffff">The Germans could see the steam</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and smoke from the steam engine.</font>

1004
00:51:23,252 --> 00:51:25,919
<font color="#00ffff">So then it was mostly petrol engines</font>

1005
00:51:25,919 --> 00:51:28,419
<font color="#00ffff">which used to run up</font>
<font color="#00ffff">to the trenches.</font>

1006
00:51:31,294 --> 00:51:34,252
<font color="#ffff00">The light railway only went</font>
<font color="#ffff00">as far as the communication trench,</font>

1007
00:51:34,252 --> 00:51:36,961
<font color="#ffff00">and then we had to push the thing</font>
<font color="#ffff00">along by hand.</font>

1008
00:51:40,878 --> 00:51:43,211
<font color="#00ffff">Somebody came along and said,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">"This is it, we're going</font>

1009
00:51:43,211 --> 00:51:44,795
<font color="#00ffff">"to be home by Christmas!</font>

1010
00:51:44,795 --> 00:51:46,461
<font color="#00ffff">"We'll just go down the road</font>

1011
00:51:46,461 --> 00:51:48,837
<font color="#00ffff">"and look in a field there,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">you'll see."</font>

1012
00:51:48,837 --> 00:51:51,128
<font color="#00ffff">Wouldn't tell us why.</font>
<font color="#00ffff">Anyway, we went down.</font>

1013
00:51:51,128 --> 00:51:54,462
<font color="#00ff00">They were on the roadside covered</font>
<font color="#00ff00">with tarpaulin sheets.</font>

1014
00:51:54,462 --> 00:51:58,337
<font color="#00ff00">You could see nothing</font>
<font color="#00ff00">except a square outline.</font>

1015
00:51:58,337 --> 00:52:01,212
<font color="#ffffff">And then the officer said, "These</font>
<font color="#ffffff">are supposed to be hush-hush."</font>

1016
00:52:01,212 --> 00:52:04,254
<font color="#ffff00">When we asked what it was,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">the simple reply was "tanks".</font>

1017
00:52:04,254 --> 00:52:08,213
<font color="#ffff00">Knowing the shortage of water,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">we naturally assumed water tanks</font>

1018
00:52:08,213 --> 00:52:10,546
<font color="#ffff00">and thought that we were</font>
<font color="#ffff00">getting reserve supplies.</font>

1019
00:52:10,546 --> 00:52:12,963
<font color="#ffff00">It was one of the best-kept secrets.</font>

1020
00:52:12,963 --> 00:52:15,338
<font color="#00ffff">We were delighted because</font>
<font color="#00ffff">these wonderful machines</font>

1021
00:52:15,338 --> 00:52:16,671
<font color="#00ffff">were going to win the war.</font>

1022
00:52:18,172 --> 00:52:20,172
<font color="#00ff00">Soon everybody would be home again.</font>

1023
00:52:20,172 --> 00:52:22,213
<font color="#00ff00">Of course, it didn't</font>
<font color="#00ff00">happen like that.</font>

1024
00:52:25,005 --> 00:52:29,255
<font color="#ffffff">We were taken out of the line</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and had intensive training.</font>

1025
00:52:29,255 --> 00:52:33,547
<font color="#ffff00">Plunge the bayonet into the sack,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">shout like hell.</font>

1026
00:52:33,547 --> 00:52:37,131
<font color="#00ffff">It was to get used to plunging</font>
<font color="#00ffff">them into somebody's body.</font>

1027
00:52:37,131 --> 00:52:39,881
<font color="#ffff00">Then we fired our rifles</font>
<font color="#ffff00">on the rifle range.</font>

1028
00:52:47,173 --> 00:52:49,715
<font color="#00ffff">Firing rifle grenades</font>
<font color="#00ffff">is a specialist job.</font>

1029
00:52:51,840 --> 00:52:53,423
<font color="#00ff00">But they were clumsy.</font>

1030
00:52:54,632 --> 00:52:56,424
<font color="#00ff00">I didn't like them much.</font>

1031
00:52:58,007 --> 00:53:02,132
<font color="#ffffff">Forced marching, marching without</font>
<font color="#ffffff">a rest and also a frontal attack,</font>

1032
00:53:02,132 --> 00:53:04,549
<font color="#ffffff">right flank attack,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">left flank attack,</font>

1033
00:53:04,549 --> 00:53:06,883
<font color="#ffffff">both flanks attack,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">night attack,</font>

1034
00:53:06,883 --> 00:53:09,424
<font color="#ffffff">and we wondered what the devil</font>
<font color="#ffffff">all this training was for.</font>

1035
00:53:09,424 --> 00:53:12,341
<font color="#ffffff">BAGPIPES PLAY</font>

1036
00:53:12,341 --> 00:53:15,550
<font color="#ffff00">The corps commander said that</font>
<font color="#ffff00">he had just received instructions</font>

1037
00:53:15,550 --> 00:53:19,675
<font color="#ffff00">to go ahead with an operation</font>
<font color="#ffff00">to break through the German lines.</font>

1038
00:53:21,758 --> 00:53:24,508
<font color="#00ffff">Suddenly we were called to parade</font>
<font color="#00ffff">with full marching order,</font>

1039
00:53:24,508 --> 00:53:27,342
<font color="#00ffff">and we had to go back up the front,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and we'd only been out of the line</font>

1040
00:53:27,342 --> 00:53:28,759
<font color="#00ffff">a couple of days.</font>

1041
00:53:28,759 --> 00:53:32,592
<font color="#00ff00">We could see streams of supplies,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">mostly ammunition columns,</font>

1042
00:53:32,592 --> 00:53:34,926
<font color="#00ff00">going up toward the front.</font>

1043
00:53:34,926 --> 00:53:37,301
<font color="#ffffff">We didn't have a lot of notice,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">but we knew it was going</font>

1044
00:53:37,301 --> 00:53:38,759
<font color="#ffffff">to be a big advance.</font>

1045
00:53:53,135 --> 00:53:54,635
<font color="#ffff00">So batteries pushed forward,</font>

1046
00:53:54,635 --> 00:53:56,927
<font color="#ffff00">forward positions filled up</font>
<font color="#ffff00">with ammunition.</font>

1047
00:53:56,927 --> 00:53:59,469
<font color="#00ffff">Let's get these ladders up.</font>

1048
00:53:59,469 --> 00:54:03,469
<font color="#00ff00">As the great push drew nearer,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">the line livened up. It began to get</font>

1049
00:54:03,469 --> 00:54:06,136
<font color="#00ff00">much more dangerous</font>
<font color="#00ff00">and not nearly so much fun.</font>

1050
00:54:06,136 --> 00:54:09,011
<font color="#ffffff">And we learnt that</font>
<font color="#ffffff">a bayonet charge was to be made</font>

1051
00:54:09,011 --> 00:54:12,136
<font color="#ffffff">on German machine gunners.</font>

1052
00:54:12,136 --> 00:54:15,095
<font color="#ffff00">"I wish it to be impressed</font>
<font color="#ffff00">on all ranks, the importance</font>

1053
00:54:15,095 --> 00:54:17,803
<font color="#ffff00">"of the operations</font>
<font color="#ffff00">about to commence.</font>

1054
00:54:17,803 --> 00:54:20,553
<font color="#ffff00">"The Germans are now outnumbered</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and outgunned</font>

1055
00:54:20,553 --> 00:54:22,803
<font color="#ffff00">"and will soon go</font>
<font color="#ffff00">to pieces if every man goes</font>

1056
00:54:22,803 --> 00:54:24,928
<font color="#ffff00">"into the fight</font>
<font color="#ffff00">determined to get through</font>

1057
00:54:24,928 --> 00:54:27,012
<font color="#ffff00">"whatever the local difficulties</font>
<font color="#ffff00">may be.</font>

1058
00:54:27,012 --> 00:54:30,095
<font color="#ffff00">"I am confident that the brigade</font>
<font color="#ffff00">will distinguish itself in this,</font>

1059
00:54:30,095 --> 00:54:31,512
<font color="#ffff00">"its first battle.</font>

1060
00:54:31,512 --> 00:54:35,137
<font color="#ffff00">"Let every man remember</font>
<font color="#ffff00">that all England is watching him."</font>

1061
00:54:35,137 --> 00:54:38,846
<font color="#00ffff">We marched all through the night,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and it got so bad that officers</font>

1062
00:54:38,846 --> 00:54:42,596
<font color="#00ffff">at the side were pushing men back</font>
<font color="#00ffff">into line who were straggling out,</font>

1063
00:54:42,596 --> 00:54:46,180
<font color="#00ffff">and your legs just seemed</font>
<font color="#00ffff">to go automatically forward.</font>

1064
00:54:46,180 --> 00:54:48,680
<font color="#00ffff">I had a feeling that we were</font>
<font color="#00ffff">walking in our sleep.</font>

1065
00:54:48,680 --> 00:54:50,472
<font color="#ffffff">More men were brought into the line,</font>

1066
00:54:50,472 --> 00:54:53,472
<font color="#ffffff">regiments were crowded up</font>
<font color="#ffffff">closer together.</font>

1067
00:54:53,472 --> 00:54:57,597
<font color="#ffff00">We were filling up the trenches,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">packed in like sardines.</font>

1068
00:54:57,597 --> 00:55:01,514
<font color="#00ff00">Our captain was a splendid man.</font>
<font color="#00ff00">He would never bark an order at you,</font>

1069
00:55:01,514 --> 00:55:04,139
<font color="#00ff00">he would give an order</font>
<font color="#00ff00">in a conversational way.</font>

1070
00:55:04,139 --> 00:55:06,264
<font color="#00ff00">"We don't know exactly</font>
<font color="#00ff00">how far this trench is,</font>

1071
00:55:06,264 --> 00:55:09,139
<font color="#00ff00">"but between 200 and 300 yards.</font>

1072
00:55:09,139 --> 00:55:12,306
<font color="#00ff00">"I will go over with the first wave</font>
<font color="#00ff00">and you will be in the second wave.</font>

1073
00:55:12,306 --> 00:55:15,765
<font color="#00ff00">"And as soon as the curtain fire</font>
<font color="#00ff00">starts, we'll move.</font>

1074
00:55:15,765 --> 00:55:18,265
<font color="#00ff00">"Now, go along and tell</font>
<font color="#00ff00">your men to be ready."</font>

1075
00:55:18,265 --> 00:55:21,098
<font color="#00ff00">And this is the</font>
<font color="#00ff00">sort of order we got.</font>

1076
00:55:21,098 --> 00:55:24,182
<font color="#ffffff">I had two assorted companies,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">both ignorant of what their conduct</font>

1077
00:55:24,182 --> 00:55:25,890
<font color="#ffffff">would be when they got into action.</font>

1078
00:55:25,890 --> 00:55:28,765
<font color="#ffffff">So Captain Neville thought it</font>
<font color="#ffffff">might be helpful if he could furnish</font>

1079
00:55:28,765 --> 00:55:31,515
<font color="#ffffff">each platoon with a football</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and allow them to kick it forward</font>

1080
00:55:31,515 --> 00:55:32,891
<font color="#ffffff">and follow it.</font>

1081
00:55:32,891 --> 00:55:35,307
<font color="#ffffff">I think myself that it did help</font>
<font color="#ffffff">them enormously,</font>

1082
00:55:35,307 --> 00:55:37,182
<font color="#ffffff">it took their minds off it.</font>

1083
00:55:37,182 --> 00:55:40,474
<font color="#ffff00">We had an extra bandolier</font>
<font color="#ffff00">of ammunition around our necks,</font>

1084
00:55:40,474 --> 00:55:43,058
<font color="#ffff00">and if you didn't have a shovel,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">you had a pick.</font>

1085
00:55:43,058 --> 00:55:46,183
<font color="#00ffff">We got in the trenches</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and we waited for zero hour.</font>

1086
00:55:46,183 --> 00:55:48,933
<font color="#00ffff">All the watches were synchronised.</font>

1087
00:55:48,933 --> 00:55:51,308
<font color="#00ff00">I was what's called</font>
<font color="#00ff00">a first bayonet man,</font>

1088
00:55:51,308 --> 00:55:53,642
<font color="#00ff00">which meant that I carried</font>
<font color="#00ff00">the rifle with the bayonet</font>

1089
00:55:53,642 --> 00:55:55,142
<font color="#00ff00">in the attacking position,</font>

1090
00:55:55,142 --> 00:55:57,475
<font color="#00ff00">and the rest of the men</font>
<font color="#00ff00">carried bags of bombs.</font>

1091
00:55:59,934 --> 00:56:02,642
<font color="#ffffff">And we were warned to be ready</font>
<font color="#ffffff">to advance at any moment.</font>

1092
00:56:02,642 --> 00:56:05,851
<font color="#ffffff">"Any moment" was quite a long time</font>
<font color="#ffffff">coming and, of course, that added</font>

1093
00:56:05,851 --> 00:56:07,851
<font color="#ffffff">to the tension that we were feeling.</font>

1094
00:56:09,976 --> 00:56:13,393
<font color="#ffff00">My platoon had been told</font>
<font color="#ffff00">to go out and test the fire.</font>

1095
00:56:13,393 --> 00:56:16,268
<font color="#ffff00">We had to get out</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and walk towards the enemy.</font>

1096
00:56:16,268 --> 00:56:20,893
<font color="#ffff00">We went about 200 yards</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and then they called us back again.</font>

1097
00:56:20,893 --> 00:56:24,852
<font color="#00ffff">There was to be no preliminary</font>
<font color="#00ffff">bombardment the days beforehand,</font>

1098
00:56:24,852 --> 00:56:28,810
<font color="#00ffff">there was only one short, sharp</font>
<font color="#00ffff">barrage just before the battle.</font>

1099
00:56:30,852 --> 00:56:33,602
<font color="#00ff00">You've got to have</font>
<font color="#00ff00">the artillery preparation</font>

1100
00:56:33,602 --> 00:56:35,352
<font color="#00ff00">to smash their wire down.</font>

1101
00:56:35,352 --> 00:56:36,644
<font color="#ffff00">Fire!</font>

1102
00:56:36,644 --> 00:56:40,769
<font color="#ffffff">I ordered fire on possible enemy</font>
<font color="#ffffff">assembly and forming-up positions.</font>

1103
00:56:40,769 --> 00:56:45,228
<font color="#ffff00">The bombardment started</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and the ground shook.</font>

1104
00:56:47,061 --> 00:56:51,645
<font color="#ffff00">And we could see the hundreds</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and hundreds of gun flashes.</font>

1105
00:56:52,770 --> 00:56:54,395
<font color="#00ffff">Ready, fire!</font>

1106
00:57:03,645 --> 00:57:07,646
<font color="#ffff00">As soon as the bombardment started,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">the German retaliation came.</font>

1107
00:57:11,438 --> 00:57:13,813
<font color="#ffff00">For four hours, we had to sit</font>
<font color="#ffff00">there and take everything</font>

1108
00:57:13,813 --> 00:57:15,479
<font color="#ffff00">they slung at us.</font>

1109
00:57:16,896 --> 00:57:19,771
<font color="#00ffff">And first of all,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">a large number of tanks went in.</font>

1110
00:57:19,771 --> 00:57:22,980
<font color="#00ffff">We could hear them</font>
<font color="#00ffff">rumbling and rattling.</font>

1111
00:57:22,980 --> 00:57:25,647
<font color="#00ff00">320 tanks crawling along.</font>

1112
00:57:25,647 --> 00:57:28,605
<font color="#ffff00">We waited for the signal</font>
<font color="#ffff00">to move off.</font>

1113
00:57:28,605 --> 00:57:33,439
<font color="#ffff00">Already, everybody was anxious</font>
<font color="#ffff00">to go, but we waited and waited.</font>

1114
00:57:35,481 --> 00:57:37,689
<font color="#00ff00">We got no sleep at all that night,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">owing to the noise</font>

1115
00:57:37,689 --> 00:57:42,439
<font color="#00ff00">of our artillery barrage, which was</font>
<font color="#00ff00">continuous, the whole time.</font>

1116
00:57:42,439 --> 00:57:45,023
<font color="#ffff00">We was asked to hand over</font>
<font color="#ffff00">any personal belongings</font>

1117
00:57:45,023 --> 00:57:48,356
<font color="#ffff00">to our company officer,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">such as photographs and letters</font>

1118
00:57:48,356 --> 00:57:51,023
<font color="#ffff00">that we valued.</font>

1119
00:57:51,023 --> 00:57:54,232
<font color="#00ffff">I heard soft voices talking to one</font>
<font color="#00ffff">another quietly,</font>

1120
00:57:54,232 --> 00:57:57,232
<font color="#00ffff">and I wondered - how many are going</font>
<font color="#00ffff">to live to see the sun rise?</font>

1121
00:57:57,232 --> 00:58:00,107
<font color="#00ff00">In a man's pay book, there was</font>
<font color="#00ff00">provision for making a valid will</font>

1122
00:58:00,107 --> 00:58:02,649
<font color="#00ff00">if they were going into action</font>
<font color="#00ff00">for the first time.</font>

1123
00:58:02,649 --> 00:58:05,024
<font color="#00ff00">I didn't bother with it,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">I had nothing to leave anybody.</font>

1124
00:58:05,024 --> 00:58:06,816
<font color="#ffffff">HE LAUGHS</font>

1125
00:58:06,816 --> 00:58:09,649
<font color="#ffffff">The fellow next to you,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">he was your best friend.</font>

1126
00:58:09,649 --> 00:58:12,191
<font color="#ffffff">You perhaps didn't know him</font>
<font color="#ffffff">the day before.</font>

1127
00:58:12,191 --> 00:58:14,441
<font color="#ffffff">And then an hour to go,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">they were the longest</font>

1128
00:58:14,441 --> 00:58:17,149
<font color="#ffffff">and the shortest hours in life.</font>

1129
00:58:17,149 --> 00:58:19,525
<font color="#ffff00">We had unlimited time for thinking,</font>

1130
00:58:19,525 --> 00:58:22,691
<font color="#ffff00">and I know I found myself thinking</font>
<font color="#ffff00">much more deeply</font>

1131
00:58:22,691 --> 00:58:25,400
<font color="#ffff00">than I had ever thought before.</font>

1132
00:58:25,400 --> 00:58:27,400
<font color="#00ffff">Some people might be incapable</font>
<font color="#00ffff">of thinking,</font>

1133
00:58:27,400 --> 00:58:29,817
<font color="#00ffff">they might have regarded</font>
<font color="#00ffff">the situation as being such</font>

1134
00:58:29,817 --> 00:58:31,525
<font color="#00ffff">that they were incapable of thought.</font>

1135
00:58:31,525 --> 00:58:33,525
<font color="#00ff00">I don't think</font>
<font color="#00ff00">there was any feeling of fear,</font>

1136
00:58:33,525 --> 00:58:35,901
<font color="#00ff00">it was just</font>
<font color="#00ff00">that we were doing a job</font>

1137
00:58:35,901 --> 00:58:38,026
<font color="#00ff00">and if it came, it came.</font>

1138
00:58:38,026 --> 00:58:42,609
<font color="#ffffff">We realised that, sooner or later,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">we were going to get the chop.</font>

1139
00:58:42,609 --> 00:58:44,984
<font color="#ffffff">You were either going to be killed</font>
<font color="#ffffff">or wounded.</font>

1140
00:58:44,984 --> 00:58:48,193
<font color="#ffff00">I was not in the least frightened</font>
<font color="#ffff00">being killed,</font>

1141
00:58:48,193 --> 00:58:52,026
<font color="#ffff00">but I was terrified</font>
<font color="#ffff00">lest I should lose an arm or a leg.</font>

1142
00:58:52,026 --> 00:58:55,193
<font color="#00ffff">Waiting for an hour for an attack</font>
<font color="#00ffff">is not a very pleasant thing.</font>

1143
00:58:55,193 --> 00:58:59,443
<font color="#00ffff">We sort of chatted away, trying</font>
<font color="#00ffff">to keep the spirits up, you see.</font>

1144
00:58:59,443 --> 00:59:03,152
<font color="#00ffff">We told dirty stories</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and made crude remarks.</font>

1145
00:59:03,152 --> 00:59:06,027
<font color="#00ff00">We had 1,000 guns massed</font>
<font color="#00ff00">on a mile front behind us.</font>

1146
00:59:06,027 --> 00:59:08,361
<font color="#00ff00">Well, you can imagine all</font>
<font color="#00ff00">this stuff coming over you,</font>

1147
00:59:08,361 --> 00:59:10,402
<font color="#00ff00">we had the German stuff</font>
<font color="#00ff00">coming the other way.</font>

1148
00:59:10,402 --> 00:59:14,361
<font color="#ffffff">The noise rose to a crescendo</font>
<font color="#ffffff">such as I'd never heard before.</font>

1149
00:59:14,361 --> 00:59:16,403
<font color="#00ffff">You wouldn't hear a word.</font>

1150
00:59:16,403 --> 00:59:20,528
<font color="#ffff00">The shells were passing over you</font>
<font color="#ffff00">probably three foot, four foot.</font>

1151
00:59:20,528 --> 00:59:24,403
<font color="#ffff00">And the air, it was an inferno,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and your line was another inferno.</font>

1152
00:59:24,403 --> 00:59:26,695
<font color="#ffff00">Reason was completely blasted</font>
<font color="#ffff00">out of it.</font>

1153
00:59:26,695 --> 00:59:30,070
<font color="#ffffff">The bombardment created a sort</font>
<font color="#ffffff">of hysterical feeling.</font>

1154
00:59:30,070 --> 00:59:32,487
<font color="#00ff00">All of a sudden,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">one of our fellas started crying,</font>

1155
00:59:32,487 --> 00:59:35,404
<font color="#00ff00">really screaming and crying.</font>
<font color="#00ff00">The officer in charge telling</font>

1156
00:59:35,404 --> 00:59:39,154
<font color="#00ff00">the Sergeant, "Find that man</font>
<font color="#00ff00">and shoot him, shoot him!"</font>

1157
00:59:39,154 --> 00:59:41,654
<font color="#ffff00">It's difficult to explain</font>
<font color="#ffff00">the reaction of a man</font>

1158
00:59:41,654 --> 00:59:44,196
<font color="#ffff00">when he is in a big bombardment.</font>

1159
00:59:44,196 --> 00:59:47,946
<font color="#00ff00">He thought that this man's screaming</font>
<font color="#00ff00">and crying would be a danger</font>

1160
00:59:47,946 --> 00:59:49,738
<font color="#00ff00">to the rest of the men.</font>

1161
00:59:49,738 --> 00:59:52,155
<font color="#00ffff">As soon as it was light,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">we were given a ration of rum,</font>

1162
00:59:52,155 --> 00:59:54,530
<font color="#00ffff">any amount of it,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">as much as you can drink.</font>

1163
00:59:54,530 --> 00:59:56,863
<font color="#ffffff">And we got the order</font>
<font color="#ffffff">to fix bayonets.</font>

1164
00:59:56,863 --> 00:59:58,822
<font color="#ffff00">Fix bayonets! </font><font color="#00ff00">Fix bayonets!</font>

1165
00:59:58,822 --> 01:00:00,447
<font color="#00ffff">Bayonets fixed!</font>

1166
01:00:00,447 --> 01:00:04,655
<font color="#ffff00">It was a beautiful day, the way</font>
<font color="#ffff00">it dawned after a rainy night.</font>

1167
01:00:04,655 --> 01:00:06,030
<font color="#ffff00">A beautiful day.</font>

1168
01:00:06,030 --> 01:00:10,197
<font color="#ffffff">Five minutes to go, I remember those</font>
<font color="#ffffff">lads standing there, dead silent,</font>

1169
01:00:10,197 --> 01:00:11,739
<font color="#ffffff">couldn't make a noise.</font>

1170
01:00:11,739 --> 01:00:14,448
<font color="#00ffff">I was more frightened sitting,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">waiting to start.</font>

1171
01:00:14,448 --> 01:00:17,239
<font color="#00ffff">I was very frightened then,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">very frightened indeed.</font>

1172
01:00:17,239 --> 01:00:20,823
<font color="#00ff00">And an officer shouted along the</font>
<font color="#00ff00">line, "Is everybody ready?"</font>

1173
01:00:20,823 --> 01:00:23,823
<font color="#00ff00">And I called out, "I can't get my</font>
<font color="#00ff00">bayonet on my rifle, sir."</font>

1174
01:00:23,823 --> 01:00:26,240
<font color="#00ff00">And he said,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">"Damn you, mate, hurry up."</font>

1175
01:00:26,240 --> 01:00:28,490
<font color="#ffffff">I sent back a message</font>
<font color="#ffffff">to brigade headquarters</font>

1176
01:00:28,490 --> 01:00:29,990
<font color="#ffffff">to say we were all ready.</font>

1177
01:00:29,990 --> 01:00:32,324
<font color="#ffff00">But unfortunately</font>
<font color="#ffff00">a slight mistake occurred.</font>

1178
01:00:32,324 --> 01:00:35,365
<font color="#ffff00">The first thing they knew</font>
<font color="#ffff00">was a terrific tremor on the ground.</font>

1179
01:00:35,365 --> 01:00:38,407
<font color="#ffff00">We blew a mine, which should</font>
<font color="#ffff00">have been under the German trenches</font>

1180
01:00:38,407 --> 01:00:40,032
<font color="#ffff00">but it wasn't.</font>

1181
01:00:43,449 --> 01:00:46,158
<font color="#ffff00">It was in no-man's-land, and</font>
<font color="#ffff00">that gave the Germans five minutes</font>

1182
01:00:46,158 --> 01:00:48,324
<font color="#ffff00">to occupy the crater,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">which they did.</font>

1183
01:00:51,158 --> 01:00:54,783
<font color="#00ff00">Sergeant Moore, he was standing</font>
<font color="#00ff00">behind the trench with a revolver</font>

1184
01:00:54,783 --> 01:00:57,908
<font color="#00ff00">in his hand and he said, "Any boy</font>
<font color="#00ff00">goes back, I shoot them."</font>

1185
01:00:57,908 --> 01:01:01,283
<font color="#00ffff">So that if we didn't go one way,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">we wouldn't go the other.</font>

1186
01:01:01,283 --> 01:01:03,784
<font color="#ffffff">There wasn't a reluctance</font>
<font color="#ffffff">to go over the top,</font>

1187
01:01:03,784 --> 01:01:05,450
<font color="#ffffff">not with people I were with.</font>

1188
01:01:05,450 --> 01:01:07,075
<font color="#00ff00">Fire!</font>

1189
01:01:08,826 --> 01:01:10,201
<font color="#00ffff">Fire!</font>

1190
01:01:10,201 --> 01:01:13,409
<font color="#ffff00">They put a curtain of shells</font>
<font color="#ffff00">over you and you advanced.</font>

1191
01:01:14,701 --> 01:01:16,534
<font color="#ffff00">That was the theory, I think.</font>

1192
01:01:16,534 --> 01:01:18,326
<font color="#00ff00">Fire! Fire!</font>

1193
01:01:18,326 --> 01:01:21,243
<font color="#ffffff">I realised this was</font>
<font color="#ffffff">the moment of the assault.</font>

1194
01:01:21,243 --> 01:01:22,951
<font color="#00ffff">And then zero hour.</font>

1195
01:01:22,951 --> 01:01:25,993
<font color="#ffffff">Somebody shouted, "There they go!"</font>
<font color="#ffffff">BAGPIPES PLAY</font>

1196
01:01:25,993 --> 01:01:28,660
<font color="#ffffff">To the left were the</font>
<font color="#ffffff">London Scottish, running forward.</font>

1197
01:01:28,660 --> 01:01:31,243
<font color="#ffff00">I gave the order of "up the ladders,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">over the top".</font>

1198
01:01:31,243 --> 01:01:33,452
<font color="#ffffff">WHISTLE BLOWS</font>

1199
01:01:34,577 --> 01:01:37,577
<font color="#ffffff">And after this, you lived</font>
<font color="#ffffff">in a world of noise,</font>

1200
01:01:37,577 --> 01:01:39,536
<font color="#ffffff">simply noise for hours.</font>

1201
01:01:43,036 --> 01:01:45,744
<font color="#ffff00">As soon as you get over the top,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">fear has left you.</font>

1202
01:01:45,744 --> 01:01:48,703
<font color="#00ffff">You didn't run, there was</font>
<font color="#00ffff">no shouting nor cheering,</font>

1203
01:01:48,703 --> 01:01:50,745
<font color="#00ffff">everybody was deadly quiet.</font>

1204
01:01:50,745 --> 01:01:53,870
<font color="#00ff00">Just as I stepped into</font>
<font color="#00ff00">no-man's-land, somebody was shot</font>

1205
01:01:53,870 --> 01:01:57,078
<font color="#00ff00">through the head</font>
<font color="#00ff00">and his skull was splintered.</font>

1206
01:01:57,078 --> 01:01:59,828
<font color="#00ff00">It wasn't a good send-off,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">I can assure you.</font>

1207
01:01:59,828 --> 01:02:05,745
<font color="#ffff00">The barrage proceeded into the</font>
<font color="#ffff00">enemy lines in steps of 100 yards</font>

1208
01:02:05,745 --> 01:02:07,162
<font color="#ffff00">at a time.</font>

1209
01:02:07,162 --> 01:02:09,662
<font color="#00ff00">Fire!</font>

1210
01:02:09,662 --> 01:02:12,621
<font color="#00ffff">The line of British troops, fixed</font>
<font color="#00ffff">bayonets, walking quite steadily</font>

1211
01:02:12,621 --> 01:02:14,412
<font color="#00ffff">behind the barrage.</font>

1212
01:02:14,412 --> 01:02:16,204
<font color="#00ffff">It is a sight I shall never forget.</font>

1213
01:02:16,204 --> 01:02:19,288
<font color="#00ff00">To start with, we'd had</font>
<font color="#00ff00">the odd machinegun firing,</font>

1214
01:02:19,288 --> 01:02:22,955
<font color="#00ff00">but remarkably little, and it seemed</font>
<font color="#00ff00">almost too good to be true.</font>

1215
01:02:22,955 --> 01:02:27,080
<font color="#ffff00">We then realised the Germans</font>
<font color="#ffff00">had been containing their fire</font>

1216
01:02:27,080 --> 01:02:30,038
<font color="#ffff00">until they saw</font>
<font color="#ffff00">how far the attack was developing.</font>

1217
01:02:30,038 --> 01:02:33,789
<font color="#ffffff">Unknown to us, there was</font>
<font color="#ffffff">10 to 20 German machine guns.</font>

1218
01:02:33,789 --> 01:02:36,080
<font color="#00ff00">Then all hell broke loose.</font>

1219
01:02:36,080 --> 01:02:39,372
<font color="#ffffff">And, my God, he really</font>
<font color="#ffffff">opened up and he let us have it.</font>

1220
01:02:39,372 --> 01:02:40,997
<font color="#ffffff">It just swept us.</font>

1221
01:02:40,997 --> 01:02:42,997
<font color="#ffffff">MACHINE-GUNFIRE</font>

1222
01:02:42,997 --> 01:02:45,039
<font color="#ffffff">MEN SHOUT</font>

1223
01:02:46,956 --> 01:02:48,748
<font color="#ffff00">Keep moving, laddie!</font>

1224
01:02:53,706 --> 01:02:56,581
<font color="#ffffff">MEN SCREAM AND SHOUT</font>

1225
01:02:58,415 --> 01:03:01,748
<font color="#00ffff">Machinegun bullets came</font>
<font color="#00ffff">at us like hailstones.</font>

1226
01:03:01,748 --> 01:03:04,915
<font color="#00ff00">I didn't realise that it was</font>
<font color="#00ff00">swish, swish with bullets.</font>

1227
01:03:04,915 --> 01:03:07,707
<font color="#00ffff">I looked round and people were</font>
<font color="#00ffff">dropping all round you.</font>

1228
01:03:07,707 --> 01:03:11,041
<font color="#00ffff">I mean, they just faded away</font>
<font color="#00ffff">on either side of you.</font>

1229
01:03:11,041 --> 01:03:14,707
<font color="#ffff00">And I thought, what are</font>
<font color="#ffff00">they shooting at me for?</font>

1230
01:03:14,707 --> 01:03:18,416
<font color="#00ff00">I hadn't gone more than a few yards</font>
<font color="#00ff00">before I was shot in the thigh.</font>

1231
01:03:18,416 --> 01:03:20,999
<font color="#ffffff">There was a captain alongside me</font>
<font color="#ffffff">with his revolver out</font>

1232
01:03:20,999 --> 01:03:22,750
<font color="#ffffff">and, all of a sudden, he dropped.</font>

1233
01:03:22,750 --> 01:03:24,958
<font color="#ffffff">And then another chap,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">he was hit in the leg,</font>

1234
01:03:24,958 --> 01:03:29,792
<font color="#ffffff">but he continued with great bounds,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">hopping on one leg.</font>

1235
01:03:29,792 --> 01:03:33,042
<font color="#00ffff">When the bullets hit the tank,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">the metal flakes were whirling</font>

1236
01:03:33,042 --> 01:03:35,375
<font color="#00ffff">around like razor blades</font>
<font color="#00ffff">inside the tank.</font>

1237
01:03:35,375 --> 01:03:38,000
<font color="#00ff00">You could see men dropping,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">but you didn't take any notice.</font>

1238
01:03:38,000 --> 01:03:40,209
<font color="#00ff00">If you didn't get hit,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">you just carried on.</font>

1239
01:03:40,209 --> 01:03:42,834
<font color="#ffffff">I suddenly found myself with</font>
<font color="#ffffff">a terrible pain in my left hand</font>

1240
01:03:42,834 --> 01:03:45,917
<font color="#ffffff">as if someone had caned me,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and I found a big hole in it.</font>

1241
01:03:45,917 --> 01:03:49,459
<font color="#ffff00">A man was running across the front</font>
<font color="#ffff00">of me and he was shot to the body</font>

1242
01:03:49,459 --> 01:03:54,085
<font color="#ffff00">because the contents of his wallet</font>
<font color="#ffff00">were flung out forward of me.</font>

1243
01:03:54,085 --> 01:03:56,501
<font color="#00ff00">I felt a terrific bang</font>
<font color="#00ff00">on my right arm</font>

1244
01:03:56,501 --> 01:03:59,543
<font color="#00ff00">and the blood started running</font>
<font color="#00ff00">off the end of my hand.</font>

1245
01:03:59,543 --> 01:04:01,960
<font color="#00ffff">I just didn't think that this</font>
<font color="#00ffff">German machinegun would</font>

1246
01:04:01,960 --> 01:04:04,293
<font color="#00ffff">trouble to even fire at me,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">but the next thing I felt</font>

1247
01:04:04,293 --> 01:04:08,127
<font color="#00ffff">a shock of quite a number of bullets</font>
<font color="#00ffff">hitting the right side of my body.</font>

1248
01:04:08,127 --> 01:04:12,044
<font color="#ffffff">A hare crossed my path</font>
<font color="#ffffff">with eyes bulging in fear,</font>

1249
01:04:12,044 --> 01:04:15,419
<font color="#ffffff">but I felt that it couldn't have</font>
<font color="#ffffff">been half as frightened as I was.</font>

1250
01:04:15,419 --> 01:04:18,003
<font color="#ffff00">You could see your mates</font>
<font color="#ffff00">going down right and left,</font>

1251
01:04:18,003 --> 01:04:20,794
<font color="#ffff00">and you were face-to-face</font>
<font color="#ffff00">with the stark realisation</font>

1252
01:04:20,794 --> 01:04:22,294
<font color="#ffff00">that this was the end of it.</font>

1253
01:04:22,294 --> 01:04:25,545
<font color="#00ffff">The two in front of me went down</font>
<font color="#00ffff">wounded in the head and chest.</font>

1254
01:04:25,545 --> 01:04:28,295
<font color="#00ff00">Those bloody bullets got me</font>
<font color="#00ff00">in the leg and blew a great big hole</font>

1255
01:04:28,295 --> 01:04:31,378
<font color="#00ff00">in the back. It didn't hurt.</font>

1256
01:04:31,378 --> 01:04:33,628
<font color="#ffffff">Life was very, very hazardous indeed</font>

1257
01:04:33,628 --> 01:04:35,879
<font color="#ffffff">and we proceeded in this fashion,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">some getting hit</font>

1258
01:04:35,879 --> 01:04:37,379
<font color="#ffffff">and others carrying along.</font>

1259
01:04:37,379 --> 01:04:39,545
<font color="#ffff00">You hadn't got time</font>
<font color="#ffff00">to deliberate upon things.</font>

1260
01:04:39,545 --> 01:04:42,212
<font color="#ffff00">Machinegun bullets might be</font>
<font color="#ffff00">coming over, but they weren't</font>

1261
01:04:42,212 --> 01:04:45,046
<font color="#ffff00">hitting you and you just go on.</font>

1262
01:04:45,046 --> 01:04:48,171
<font color="#00ffff">They say your past comes up when you</font>
<font color="#00ffff">think you're going to die,</font>

1263
01:04:48,171 --> 01:04:50,921
<font color="#00ffff">but I hadn't got very much</font>
<font color="#00ffff">past at 19.</font>

1264
01:04:50,921 --> 01:04:53,296
<font color="#00ffff">And when I saw these bullets</font>
<font color="#00ffff">coming along,</font>

1265
01:04:53,296 --> 01:04:55,671
<font color="#00ffff">all I thought was -</font>
<font color="#00ffff">am I going to live?</font>

1266
01:04:55,671 --> 01:04:57,880
<font color="#00ff00">Of course, if the thing hits</font>
<font color="#00ff00">you fair and square</font>

1267
01:04:57,880 --> 01:05:00,547
<font color="#00ff00">and you die immediately,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">you don't feel anything at all,</font>

1268
01:05:00,547 --> 01:05:02,463
<font color="#00ff00">nothing to it.</font>

1269
01:05:02,463 --> 01:05:05,213
<font color="#ffff00">First wave were all</font>
<font color="#ffff00">absolutely wiped out.</font>

1270
01:05:05,213 --> 01:05:07,214
<font color="#ffff00">Everybody was either</font>
<font color="#ffff00">killed or wounded.</font>

1271
01:05:07,214 --> 01:05:09,797
<font color="#00ffff">There were so many dead laying</font>
<font color="#00ffff">about, it was hard to avoid</font>

1272
01:05:09,797 --> 01:05:11,172
<font color="#00ffff">treading on them.</font>

1273
01:05:11,172 --> 01:05:13,881
<font color="#00ff00">I was trying to step over them</font>
<font color="#00ff00">and the sergeant behind me said,</font>

1274
01:05:13,881 --> 01:05:15,881
<font color="#00ff00">"Go on, you mustn't take</font>
<font color="#00ff00">any notice of that,</font>

1275
01:05:15,881 --> 01:05:17,589
<font color="#00ff00">"you keep going."</font>

1276
01:05:17,589 --> 01:05:20,298
<font color="#ffff00">And we were literally</font>
<font color="#ffff00">walking over the dead bodies</font>

1277
01:05:20,298 --> 01:05:21,756
<font color="#ffff00">of our comrades.</font>

1278
01:05:21,756 --> 01:05:25,090
<font color="#ffff00">The carnage is just indescribable.</font>

1279
01:05:25,090 --> 01:05:28,215
<font color="#00ffff">I had in my path about 2,000 dead,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">British and German.</font>

1280
01:05:28,215 --> 01:05:31,882
<font color="#00ffff">An attempt to clear any dead man</font>
<font color="#00ffff">from our path was impossible</font>

1281
01:05:31,882 --> 01:05:35,798
<font color="#00ffff">because of the shelling</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and we ploughed over the lot.</font>

1282
01:05:35,798 --> 01:05:39,007
<font color="#00ff00">Any shell bursting within a few</font>
<font color="#00ff00">yards of the tank</font>

1283
01:05:39,007 --> 01:05:41,382
<font color="#00ff00">seemed to lift it up in the air</font>

1284
01:05:41,382 --> 01:05:45,174
<font color="#00ff00">and you felt a tremendous</font>
<font color="#00ff00">back pressure.</font>

1285
01:05:45,174 --> 01:05:47,841
<font color="#ffffff">The noise of battle when you're out</font>
<font color="#ffffff">in the middle of it</font>

1286
01:05:47,841 --> 01:05:51,424
<font color="#ffffff">is so terrific that you don't</font>
<font color="#ffffff">hear any individual shots even.</font>

1287
01:05:51,424 --> 01:05:54,383
<font color="#00ffff">And we had to stop in front</font>
<font color="#00ffff">of the German wire.</font>

1288
01:05:54,383 --> 01:05:57,216
<font color="#00ff00">It was quite impossible to advance</font>
<font color="#00ff00">any further because of the</font>

1289
01:05:57,216 --> 01:05:59,883
<font color="#00ff00">barbed wire and the machinegun</font>
<font color="#00ff00">posts, which were about</font>

1290
01:05:59,883 --> 01:06:01,342
<font color="#00ff00">50 yards further on.</font>

1291
01:06:01,342 --> 01:06:03,633
<font color="#ffff00">The wire in front of us</font>
<font color="#ffff00">was quite uncut,</font>

1292
01:06:03,633 --> 01:06:05,592
<font color="#ffff00">despite the intense bombardment.</font>

1293
01:06:05,592 --> 01:06:07,592
<font color="#00ffff">You couldn't see anything</font>
<font color="#00ffff">but this wire,</font>

1294
01:06:07,592 --> 01:06:09,925
<font color="#00ffff">it seemed to be acres</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and acres of it.</font>

1295
01:06:09,925 --> 01:06:12,509
<font color="#00ff00">It was just black with rust.</font>

1296
01:06:12,509 --> 01:06:15,134
<font color="#00ff00">I don't think a rabbit</font>
<font color="#00ff00">could have got through it.</font>

1297
01:06:15,134 --> 01:06:18,301
<font color="#ffff00">Then our own artillery started</font>
<font color="#ffff00">dropping shells amongst us.</font>

1298
01:06:21,718 --> 01:06:23,509
<font color="#ffffff">SCREAMING</font>

1299
01:06:24,551 --> 01:06:27,051
<font color="#ffff00">Obviously they hadn't got</font>
<font color="#ffff00">their range or they didn't know</font>

1300
01:06:27,051 --> 01:06:29,135
<font color="#ffff00">where we were.</font>

1301
01:06:29,135 --> 01:06:32,552
<font color="#00ffff">I heard the first</font>
<font color="#00ffff">shrapnel shell burst above my head.</font>

1302
01:06:32,552 --> 01:06:35,135
<font color="#00ff00">There was a terrific whiz,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">that was the disappearance</font>

1303
01:06:35,135 --> 01:06:37,093
<font color="#00ff00">of my steel helmet.</font>

1304
01:06:37,093 --> 01:06:38,969
<font color="#00ff00">I never found it again.</font>

1305
01:06:38,969 --> 01:06:42,302
<font color="#ffffff">I got a bit off the cheek of</font>
<font color="#ffffff">my backside, a piece in my hip,</font>

1306
01:06:42,302 --> 01:06:45,636
<font color="#ffffff">a piece in my leg,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">then a piece right through my leg.</font>

1307
01:06:45,636 --> 01:06:48,261
<font color="#ffff00">The fellow to my left took</font>
<font color="#ffff00">the full blast of the shell</font>

1308
01:06:48,261 --> 01:06:50,678
<font color="#ffff00">and had half his head blown away.</font>

1309
01:06:50,678 --> 01:06:53,886
<font color="#00ff00">Bullets were catching us and</font>
<font color="#00ff00">shrapnel was coming down overhead</font>

1310
01:06:53,886 --> 01:06:57,095
<font color="#00ff00">and we had all the</font>
<font color="#00ff00">German artillery banging away at us</font>

1311
01:06:57,095 --> 01:06:59,011
<font color="#00ff00">and our own artillery going over.</font>

1312
01:06:59,011 --> 01:07:00,886
<font color="#ffff00">The shells were exploding</font>
<font color="#ffff00">all round you</font>

1313
01:07:00,886 --> 01:07:03,637
<font color="#ffff00">and it was a real good old battle</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and it got hold of you, sort of.</font>

1314
01:07:03,637 --> 01:07:06,220
<font color="#ffffff">BAGPIPES PLAY</font>

1315
01:07:06,220 --> 01:07:10,470
<font color="#00ffff">One had no sanity at all</font>
<font color="#00ffff">because the inferno was so blasting</font>

1316
01:07:10,470 --> 01:07:12,720
<font color="#00ffff">that you had no time to think.</font>

1317
01:07:12,720 --> 01:07:17,887
<font color="#00ff00">That din, that numbing din seemed</font>
<font color="#00ff00">to stop one doing the things</font>

1318
01:07:17,887 --> 01:07:21,471
<font color="#00ff00">that one would normally do, no</font>
<font color="#00ff00">matter how well-intentioned one was.</font>

1319
01:07:23,054 --> 01:07:24,638
<font color="#ffffff">You don't look, you see.</font>

1320
01:07:24,638 --> 01:07:26,305
<font color="#ffffff">You don't hear, you listen.</font>

1321
01:07:26,305 --> 01:07:28,638
<font color="#ffffff">You taste the top of your mouth,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">your nose is filled</font>

1322
01:07:28,638 --> 01:07:30,388
<font color="#ffffff">with fumes and death.</font>

1323
01:07:30,388 --> 01:07:33,722
<font color="#ffffff">The veneer of civilisation</font>
<font color="#ffffff">has dropped away.</font>

1324
01:07:33,722 --> 01:07:37,305
<font color="#ffff00">I was literally blown about 12 or 14</font>
<font color="#ffff00">yards and all that I could hear</font>

1325
01:07:37,305 --> 01:07:40,014
<font color="#ffff00">was the cries and screams</font>
<font color="#ffff00">from the survivors,</font>

1326
01:07:40,014 --> 01:07:42,639
<font color="#ffff00">sometimes in two,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">sometimes in three parts.</font>

1327
01:07:42,639 --> 01:07:45,347
<font color="#ffff00">Legs, arms all strewn</font>
<font color="#ffff00">all over the place</font>

1328
01:07:45,347 --> 01:07:47,972
<font color="#ffff00">and that arid smell of explosion.</font>

1329
01:07:47,972 --> 01:07:52,806
<font color="#ffff00">Well, all my romantic ideas</font>
<font color="#ffff00">of war completely vanished.</font>

1330
01:07:52,806 --> 01:07:56,056
<font color="#00ffff">A shell had hit this man,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">it knocked off his left arm,</font>

1331
01:07:56,056 --> 01:07:57,765
<font color="#00ffff">knocked off his left leg,</font>

1332
01:07:57,765 --> 01:08:00,181
<font color="#00ffff">his left eye was hanging</font>
<font color="#00ffff">on his cheek</font>

1333
01:08:00,181 --> 01:08:02,598
<font color="#00ffff">and he's calling out for Nanny.</font>

1334
01:08:02,598 --> 01:08:04,807
<font color="#00ffff">His bleeding eye was</font>
<font color="#00ffff">hanging on, pulsing.</font>

1335
01:08:06,348 --> 01:08:08,182
<font color="#00ffff">So I shot him.</font>

1336
01:08:08,182 --> 01:08:10,849
<font color="#00ffff">I had to, I had to shoot him.</font>

1337
01:08:10,849 --> 01:08:15,057
<font color="#00ffff">He'd have died in any case</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and it put him out of his misery.</font>

1338
01:08:15,057 --> 01:08:16,724
<font color="#ffffff">HE SOBS: </font><font color="#00ffff">It hurt me.</font>

1339
01:08:19,016 --> 01:08:20,974
<font color="#ffff00">I knew there was no hope</font>
<font color="#ffff00">of getting any orders</font>

1340
01:08:20,974 --> 01:08:23,183
<font color="#ffff00">because there was</font>
<font color="#ffff00">nobody to give any.</font>

1341
01:08:23,183 --> 01:08:26,808
<font color="#00ff00">All officers was killed</font>
<font color="#00ff00">and wounded, and most of the NCOs.</font>

1342
01:08:26,808 --> 01:08:28,516
<font color="#00ffff">I jumped into this big shell hole.</font>

1343
01:08:28,516 --> 01:08:31,391
<font color="#ffffff">You dropped down anywhere,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">shell holes, anywhere at all</font>

1344
01:08:31,391 --> 01:08:34,683
<font color="#ffffff">just to take cover</font>
<font color="#ffffff">until the barrage lifted.</font>

1345
01:08:34,683 --> 01:08:37,725
<font color="#ffff00">I'm not one of those heroes who want</font>
<font color="#ffff00">to take the German army on my own,</font>

1346
01:08:37,725 --> 01:08:40,309
<font color="#ffff00">so I went to work</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and I got down behind the lip</font>

1347
01:08:40,309 --> 01:08:42,392
<font color="#ffff00">of a big shell hole.</font>

1348
01:08:42,392 --> 01:08:45,434
<font color="#00ffff">Fortunately, I was able</font>
<font color="#00ffff">to drop into a shell hole.</font>

1349
01:08:45,434 --> 01:08:48,184
<font color="#00ff00">Used to call them shell hole</font>
<font color="#00ff00">droppers, they would drop down</font>

1350
01:08:48,184 --> 01:08:49,767
<font color="#00ff00">into a shell hole</font>

1351
01:08:49,767 --> 01:08:52,851
<font color="#00ff00">because of the barrage</font>
<font color="#00ff00">and seeing a few men killed.</font>

1352
01:08:52,851 --> 01:08:55,018
<font color="#ffff00">It's a pity they didn't all drop</font>
<font color="#ffff00">into shell holes.</font>

1353
01:08:55,018 --> 01:08:57,434
<font color="#ffff00">Before the barrage lifted,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">they were dead.</font>

1354
01:08:57,434 --> 01:08:58,935
<font color="#ffffff">SCREAMING</font>

1355
01:08:58,935 --> 01:09:02,101
<font color="#00ffff">And the bullets were hitting the</font>
<font color="#00ffff">back of the shell hole where I was.</font>

1356
01:09:02,101 --> 01:09:03,560
<font color="#00ffff">It was raining bullets.</font>

1357
01:09:03,560 --> 01:09:05,310
<font color="#00ffff">I don't know how I got missed.</font>

1358
01:09:05,310 --> 01:09:08,852
<font color="#00ff00">From behind the lip of this shell</font>
<font color="#00ff00">hole, the dirt was spraying down</font>

1359
01:09:08,852 --> 01:09:10,519
<font color="#00ff00">the back of my neck.</font>

1360
01:09:10,519 --> 01:09:13,185
<font color="#ffff00">There were three chaps in the</font>
<font color="#ffff00">shell hole and one of them said,</font>

1361
01:09:13,185 --> 01:09:15,185
<font color="#ffff00">"They're firing</font>
<font color="#ffff00">into a bloody shell hole."</font>

1362
01:09:15,185 --> 01:09:18,144
<font color="#ffff00">We looked round to see the bullets</font>
<font color="#ffff00">go right through his head.</font>

1363
01:09:18,144 --> 01:09:19,602
<font color="#ffff00">So that was the end of that.</font>

1364
01:09:19,602 --> 01:09:23,144
<font color="#00ffff">A sergeant came down into the</font>
<font color="#00ffff">shell hole on top of us</font>

1365
01:09:23,144 --> 01:09:25,061
<font color="#00ffff">and he was dead, he got it</font>
<font color="#00ffff">through the neck.</font>

1366
01:09:25,061 --> 01:09:27,978
<font color="#00ffff">Anyway, he had a lovely pair of</font>
<font color="#00ffff">field glasses round his neck</font>

1367
01:09:27,978 --> 01:09:30,645
<font color="#00ffff">and I nabbed them. Because things</font>
<font color="#00ffff">were so scarce,</font>

1368
01:09:30,645 --> 01:09:33,520
<font color="#00ffff">if there was anything like that,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">you'd collar it.</font>

1369
01:09:33,520 --> 01:09:37,853
<font color="#ffffff">Jerry slapped shell after shell</font>
<font color="#ffffff">into us until one shell penetrated</font>

1370
01:09:37,853 --> 01:09:39,728
<font color="#ffffff">the forward part of the tank.</font>

1371
01:09:39,728 --> 01:09:42,187
<font color="#ffffff">What happened then,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">I cannot tell you but I believe</font>

1372
01:09:42,187 --> 01:09:43,979
<font color="#ffffff">there was an explosion.</font>

1373
01:09:43,979 --> 01:09:47,062
<font color="#ffff00">These were fully trained soldiers,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">we always had the rifles loaded,</font>

1374
01:09:47,062 --> 01:09:49,604
<font color="#ffff00">but we stuck in the</font>
<font color="#ffff00">extra five rounds to make it</font>

1375
01:09:49,604 --> 01:09:51,396
<font color="#ffff00">a ten for rapid-fire.</font>

1376
01:09:51,396 --> 01:09:54,646
<font color="#00ffff">The Germans got up in their</font>
<font color="#00ffff">own trenches and fired at us.</font>

1377
01:09:54,646 --> 01:09:58,479
<font color="#00ffff">In my opinion, they were very brave,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">very brave men indeed.</font>

1378
01:09:58,479 --> 01:10:02,146
<font color="#00ff00">There was a German standing up</font>
<font color="#00ff00">on his parapet and flinging bombs.</font>

1379
01:10:02,146 --> 01:10:04,063
<font color="#00ff00">So I shot him.</font>

1380
01:10:04,063 --> 01:10:07,147
<font color="#ffffff">They officer gave us orders,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">"Open immediate rapid-fire."</font>

1381
01:10:07,147 --> 01:10:11,105
<font color="#ffffff">We all opened up as fast as we could</font>
<font color="#ffffff">go and continually fired.</font>

1382
01:10:11,105 --> 01:10:13,439
<font color="#ffffff">It was a real mad minute,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">I'll tell you.</font>

1383
01:10:13,439 --> 01:10:15,730
<font color="#00ffff">They stood up and I was picking</font>
<font color="#00ffff">the Germans off</font>

1384
01:10:15,730 --> 01:10:17,939
<font color="#00ffff">because I was a sniper.</font>

1385
01:10:17,939 --> 01:10:20,814
<font color="#00ff00">I was trying to pick a shot</font>
<font color="#00ff00">and something hit me</font>

1386
01:10:20,814 --> 01:10:23,439
<font color="#00ff00">between the eyes</font>
<font color="#00ff00">like a sledgehammer.</font>

1387
01:10:23,439 --> 01:10:25,106
<font color="#00ff00">I dissolved into unconsciousness</font>

1388
01:10:25,106 --> 01:10:28,064
<font color="#00ff00">with no pain, but with</font>
<font color="#00ff00">millions of golden stars</font>

1389
01:10:28,064 --> 01:10:30,106
<font color="#00ff00">in a dark blue heaven.</font>

1390
01:10:30,106 --> 01:10:32,231
<font color="#ffff00">After I'd used up a whole lot</font>
<font color="#ffff00">of bullets,</font>

1391
01:10:32,231 --> 01:10:34,773
<font color="#ffff00">I got down,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">I says, "You have a go, Bill."</font>

1392
01:10:34,773 --> 01:10:38,357
<font color="#ffff00">He didn't even fire a shot,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">he was killed immediately.</font>

1393
01:10:38,357 --> 01:10:39,982
<font color="#ffff00">That's how things were.</font>

1394
01:10:39,982 --> 01:10:42,649
<font color="#ffff00">You felt aggrieved,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">it was a pal of yours.</font>

1395
01:10:42,649 --> 01:10:47,399
<font color="#ffff00">But you took it casually because I</font>
<font color="#ffff00">suppose you become battle hardened.</font>

1396
01:10:47,399 --> 01:10:50,607
<font color="#00ffff">We kept up rapid-fire there</font>
<font color="#00ffff">as long as our rifles would work.</font>

1397
01:10:50,607 --> 01:10:52,357
<font color="#00ffff">They got too hot to fire any more.</font>

1398
01:10:52,357 --> 01:10:54,774
<font color="#00ff00">Fat was pouring out</font>
<font color="#00ff00">the woodwork of the rifles,</font>

1399
01:10:54,774 --> 01:10:57,066
<font color="#00ff00">the muzzles were</font>
<font color="#00ff00">beginning to extend.</font>

1400
01:10:57,066 --> 01:10:59,650
<font color="#ffff00">Then we got an order</font>
<font color="#ffff00">from the captain, we must make</font>

1401
01:10:59,650 --> 01:11:04,066
<font color="#ffff00">a barricade of the dead,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">the German dead and our own dead.</font>

1402
01:11:04,066 --> 01:11:07,483
<font color="#00ffff">My captain, at that time, was</font>
<font color="#00ffff">anxious to go on and keep it up,</font>

1403
01:11:07,483 --> 01:11:09,775
<font color="#00ffff">but I'm afraid he died.</font>

1404
01:11:09,775 --> 01:11:12,025
<font color="#00ff00">I had three men loading up</font>
<font color="#00ff00">these rifles with me</font>

1405
01:11:12,025 --> 01:11:13,609
<font color="#00ff00">and I peppered the whole line.</font>

1406
01:11:13,609 --> 01:11:17,734
<font color="#00ff00">And judging by the shouts and</font>
<font color="#00ff00">screams, I took a very good toll.</font>

1407
01:11:17,734 --> 01:11:21,192
<font color="#ffff00">There was machinegun spraying</font>
<font color="#ffff00">on the lip of our shell hole.</font>

1408
01:11:21,192 --> 01:11:23,526
<font color="#ffff00">I waited until</font>
<font color="#ffff00">the belt of that gun had fired</font>

1409
01:11:23,526 --> 01:11:25,901
<font color="#ffff00">and immediately carried on</font>
<font color="#ffff00">the advance.</font>

1410
01:11:25,901 --> 01:11:29,359
<font color="#00ffff">The sergeant said, "Follow me."</font>

1411
01:11:29,359 --> 01:11:31,235
<font color="#ffffff">I managed to crawl under the wire -</font>

1412
01:11:31,235 --> 01:11:34,110
<font color="#ffffff">a lot of us got through in</font>
<font color="#ffffff">that way - and gathered together</font>

1413
01:11:34,110 --> 01:11:36,402
<font color="#ffffff">on the German side of the wire.</font>

1414
01:11:36,402 --> 01:11:39,277
<font color="#ffff00">All the shells screamed</font>
<font color="#ffff00">over our heads onto the German posts</font>

1415
01:11:39,277 --> 01:11:40,735
<font color="#ffff00">and then suddenly stopped.</font>

1416
01:11:40,735 --> 01:11:43,152
<font color="#ffff00">"Come on, lads, give them hell,"</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and we just got up</font>

1417
01:11:43,152 --> 01:11:44,985
<font color="#ffff00">and rushed forward.</font>

1418
01:11:44,985 --> 01:11:47,777
<font color="#00ffff">In the bayonet charge,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">the majority of us always</font>

1419
01:11:47,777 --> 01:11:50,944
<font color="#00ffff">had a round up the spout,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">besides the magazine.</font>

1420
01:11:50,944 --> 01:11:53,611
<font color="#00ff00">There was a feeling of exultation</font>
<font color="#00ff00">that with a rifle, bayonet</font>

1421
01:11:53,611 --> 01:11:56,403
<font color="#00ff00">and a couple of Mills bombs in your</font>
<font color="#00ff00">pocket, we were going to be able</font>

1422
01:11:56,403 --> 01:11:59,153
<font color="#00ff00">to get stuck into the bastards</font>
<font color="#00ff00">that had been killing our mates.</font>

1423
01:11:59,153 --> 01:12:01,736
<font color="#ffffff">And we went like hell,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">straight into the Germans.</font>

1424
01:12:02,820 --> 01:12:05,695
<font color="#ffffff">SCREAMING AND RAPID GUNFIRE</font>

1425
01:12:10,278 --> 01:12:12,987
<font color="#00ffff">And we fired at anything that moved.</font>

1426
01:12:12,987 --> 01:12:15,195
<font color="#00ff00">I dropped down on my knees</font>
<font color="#00ff00">and the sergeant fired</font>

1427
01:12:15,195 --> 01:12:18,070
<font color="#00ff00">over my shoulder and hit the German.</font>

1428
01:12:18,070 --> 01:12:20,279
<font color="#00ff00">He was on the ground but</font>
<font color="#00ff00">still firing, so he went up</font>

1429
01:12:20,279 --> 01:12:21,487
<font color="#00ff00">and killed him.</font>

1430
01:12:21,487 --> 01:12:23,946
<font color="#ffff00">There was only one method</font>
<font color="#ffff00">of bayonet fighting, that is to</font>

1431
01:12:23,946 --> 01:12:26,196
<font color="#ffff00">shove your bayonet</font>
<font color="#ffff00">in as hard as you could.</font>

1432
01:12:26,196 --> 01:12:28,779
<font color="#ffffff">There was this German</font>
<font color="#ffffff">on the floor of the trench,</font>

1433
01:12:28,779 --> 01:12:30,321
<font color="#ffffff">and the poor bugger was dead scared.</font>

1434
01:12:30,321 --> 01:12:32,780
<font color="#ffffff">So one of them wondered</font>
<font color="#ffffff">whether to stick him or shoot him,</font>

1435
01:12:32,780 --> 01:12:35,238
<font color="#ffffff">the German jumped out away</font>
<font color="#ffffff">to my left, another one</font>

1436
01:12:35,238 --> 01:12:37,822
<font color="#ffffff">on the right, so I pinned</font>
<font color="#ffffff">this German down, then shot</font>

1437
01:12:37,822 --> 01:12:41,197
<font color="#ffffff">the German on the left,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">worked my bolt, put another one</font>

1438
01:12:41,197 --> 01:12:44,280
<font color="#ffffff">up the spout, and shot the German</font>
<font color="#ffffff">who was running away on the right.</font>

1439
01:12:44,280 --> 01:12:47,072
<font color="#ffff00">Quite a number of Germans</font>
<font color="#ffff00">came in a rush and we shot them,</font>

1440
01:12:47,072 --> 01:12:48,614
<font color="#ffff00">one by one.</font>

1441
01:12:48,614 --> 01:12:50,197
<font color="#ffff00">We probably killed the lot.</font>

1442
01:12:50,197 --> 01:12:54,614
<font color="#00ffff">Some chap said, "Poor old Dick got</font>
<font color="#00ffff">it," and I looked around and saw him</font>

1443
01:12:54,614 --> 01:12:56,864
<font color="#00ffff">lying with the top of his head off.</font>

1444
01:12:56,864 --> 01:13:00,198
<font color="#ffffff">On their right flank came a German</font>
<font color="#ffffff">with a canister on his back,</font>

1445
01:13:00,198 --> 01:13:02,781
<font color="#ffffff">squirting this</font>
<font color="#ffffff">liquid fire out of the hose.</font>

1446
01:13:02,781 --> 01:13:05,781
<font color="#ffff00">I looked towards jets of flame</font>
<font color="#ffff00">coming across the trench.</font>

1447
01:13:05,781 --> 01:13:07,531
<font color="#ffff00">We'd never heard of flame-throwers.</font>

1448
01:13:07,531 --> 01:13:09,323
<font color="#ffffff">Burnt 23 of our chaps to death.</font>

1449
01:13:09,323 --> 01:13:11,823
<font color="#ffffff">I plonked one into his chest,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">but it didn't stop him,</font>

1450
01:13:11,823 --> 01:13:14,532
<font color="#ffffff">he must have had an</font>
<font color="#ffffff">armour-plated waistcoat on.</font>

1451
01:13:14,532 --> 01:13:17,532
<font color="#ffff00">I got a bang in the arm</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and found I was bleeding.</font>

1452
01:13:17,532 --> 01:13:19,740
<font color="#ffff00">But I could bomb</font>
<font color="#ffff00">pretty well with my left arm</font>

1453
01:13:19,740 --> 01:13:21,616
<font color="#ffff00">as I could with my right.</font>

1454
01:13:21,616 --> 01:13:24,241
<font color="#ffffff">Somebody threw a Mills bomb,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and it burst behind him,</font>

1455
01:13:24,241 --> 01:13:26,616
<font color="#ffffff">and he wasn't armour-plated</font>
<font color="#ffffff">behind him, he went down.</font>

1456
01:13:26,616 --> 01:13:28,991
<font color="#00ffff">One German came</font>
<font color="#00ffff">running out of this trench,</font>

1457
01:13:28,991 --> 01:13:31,950
<font color="#00ffff">screaming his head off,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">he nearly knocked me over.</font>

1458
01:13:31,950 --> 01:13:34,533
<font color="#00ff00">Three Germans came out</font>
<font color="#00ff00">with their hands up,</font>

1459
01:13:34,533 --> 01:13:36,866
<font color="#00ff00">and they were young chaps</font>
<font color="#00ff00">about our own age,</font>

1460
01:13:36,866 --> 01:13:38,825
<font color="#00ff00">about 19 or 20.</font>

1461
01:13:38,825 --> 01:13:42,200
<font color="#ffff00">If Jerries came up with their</font>
<font color="#ffff00">hands up, we just waved them on,</font>

1462
01:13:42,200 --> 01:13:44,950
<font color="#ffff00">we didn't fire at them, obviously.</font>

1463
01:13:44,950 --> 01:13:47,450
<font color="#00ff00">Prisoners were a nuisance!</font>

1464
01:13:47,450 --> 01:13:49,742
<font color="#00ff00">We were shooing them back,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">you know, get rid of them.</font>

1465
01:13:49,742 --> 01:13:53,742
<font color="#00ffff">The only Germans we were really</font>
<font color="#00ffff">fighting were the machine gunners.</font>

1466
01:13:53,742 --> 01:13:55,909
<font color="#ffff00">They were firing belt</font>
<font color="#ffff00">after belt after us,</font>

1467
01:13:55,909 --> 01:13:57,493
<font color="#ffff00">and they never stopped firing.</font>

1468
01:13:57,493 --> 01:14:00,451
<font color="#ffff00">The bloody cartridge cases</font>
<font color="#ffff00">were piled up in a heap.</font>

1469
01:14:00,451 --> 01:14:02,910
<font color="#ffffff">They'd got all their</font>
<font color="#ffffff">best men on machine guns,</font>

1470
01:14:02,910 --> 01:14:04,451
<font color="#ffffff">and they fought to the death.</font>

1471
01:14:04,451 --> 01:14:07,326
<font color="#ffff00">The cog opened, and there</font>
<font color="#ffff00">was three Jerries there in front</font>

1472
01:14:07,326 --> 01:14:09,535
<font color="#ffff00">of the machinegun,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and of course the bloody gun</font>

1473
01:14:09,535 --> 01:14:13,910
<font color="#ffff00">was pointing at me, and I just swung</font>
<font color="#ffff00">the Lewis gun, I opened fire first.</font>

1474
01:14:15,077 --> 01:14:16,785
<font color="#ffff00">It was split-second stuff.</font>

1475
01:14:16,785 --> 01:14:19,202
<font color="#ffff00">Thankfully, I moved on.</font>

1476
01:14:19,202 --> 01:14:22,077
<font color="#ffffff">As the war progressed,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">it was inevitable that we developed</font>

1477
01:14:22,077 --> 01:14:24,911
<font color="#ffffff">the animal characteristic</font>
<font color="#ffffff">of killing.</font>

1478
01:14:24,911 --> 01:14:27,078
<font color="#00ffff">Well, we've got some</font>
<font color="#00ffff">young Lincolnshire lads,</font>

1479
01:14:27,078 --> 01:14:28,494
<font color="#00ffff">you know, the 18-year-olds.</font>

1480
01:14:28,494 --> 01:14:30,744
<font color="#00ffff">The machine gunners</font>
<font color="#00ffff">were putting their hands up -</font>

1481
01:14:30,744 --> 01:14:32,619
<font color="#00ffff">it didn't make any difference.</font>

1482
01:14:32,619 --> 01:14:33,828
<font color="#00ffff">They were killed.</font>

1483
01:14:35,620 --> 01:14:38,161
<font color="#ffffff">And I'm afraid there was</font>
<font color="#ffffff">a little bit of slaughter going on,</font>

1484
01:14:38,161 --> 01:14:40,537
<font color="#ffffff">until we got in some sort of order.</font>

1485
01:14:40,537 --> 01:14:44,745
<font color="#00ffff">Everybody was screaming,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">laying down, moaning and groaning,</font>

1486
01:14:44,745 --> 01:14:47,870
<font color="#00ffff">and eventually there was silence.</font>

1487
01:14:47,870 --> 01:14:50,412
<font color="#ffff00">I found a German officer</font>
<font color="#ffff00">with his lung hanging out.</font>

1488
01:14:50,412 --> 01:14:52,662
<font color="#ffff00">He was still alive,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">but he wasn't conscious.</font>

1489
01:14:52,662 --> 01:14:56,829
<font color="#ffff00">You could see his lung was expanding</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and contracting as he was breathing.</font>

1490
01:14:56,829 --> 01:14:59,871
<font color="#ffff00">It was the nearest I ever came</font>
<font color="#ffff00">to shooting a man point-blank,</font>

1491
01:14:59,871 --> 01:15:02,288
<font color="#ffff00">but we had to go on.</font>

1492
01:15:02,288 --> 01:15:04,788
<font color="#ffffff">One dead German leaning</font>
<font color="#ffffff">against a shell wall,</font>

1493
01:15:04,788 --> 01:15:07,705
<font color="#ffffff">he was a handsome bloke,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">he reminded me of my father.</font>

1494
01:15:07,705 --> 01:15:12,455
<font color="#ffffff">A shell had dissected him nicely,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">it had taken the whole of the front</font>

1495
01:15:12,455 --> 01:15:16,414
<font color="#ffffff">of his chest down to his stomach,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">neatly cut aside.</font>

1496
01:15:16,414 --> 01:15:19,497
<font color="#ffffff">What a fantastic exhibition</font>
<font color="#ffffff">of anatomy.</font>

1497
01:15:21,622 --> 01:15:24,664
<font color="#ffff00">The real shooting was over</font>
<font color="#ffff00">in about ten minutes.</font>

1498
01:15:24,664 --> 01:15:28,664
<font color="#00ffff">There was about 100 of us coming</font>
<font color="#00ffff">out, instead of 600 who'd gone over,</font>

1499
01:15:28,664 --> 01:15:30,706
<font color="#00ffff">and a band came to meet us.</font>

1500
01:15:30,706 --> 01:15:32,581
<font color="#00ffff">It was a wonderful feeling.</font>

1501
01:15:32,581 --> 01:15:34,040
<font color="#00ffff">"I've been in a battle!</font>

1502
01:15:34,040 --> 01:15:37,290
<font color="#00ffff">"And I'm so very proud about it."</font>

1503
01:15:37,290 --> 01:15:38,748
<font color="#ffffff">Hang on.</font>

1504
01:15:41,082 --> 01:15:42,665
<font color="#ffffff">You got it? </font><font color="#ffff00">Yeah.</font>

1505
01:15:42,665 --> 01:15:45,040
<font color="#00ffff">And if you'd anybody</font>
<font color="#00ffff">wounded or killed...</font>

1506
01:15:45,040 --> 01:15:46,749
<font color="#ffffff">FLIES BUZZ</font>

1507
01:15:46,749 --> 01:15:50,540
<font color="#00ffff">..if you didn't get them out</font>
<font color="#00ffff">straight away, they went down</font>

1508
01:15:50,540 --> 01:15:53,916
<font color="#00ffff">in the soil and disappeared,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">it was so bad.</font>

1509
01:15:53,916 --> 01:15:55,416
<font color="#ffffff">That's it.</font>

1510
01:15:56,874 --> 01:16:01,541
<font color="#ffff00">Well, you had to ascertain</font>
<font color="#ffff00">whether a man was alive or not.</font>

1511
01:16:01,541 --> 01:16:06,875
<font color="#ffff00">If he was dead, then he</font>
<font color="#ffff00">was no trouble - medically.</font>

1512
01:16:06,875 --> 01:16:08,833
<font color="#ffff00">I can't put that any clearer!</font>

1513
01:16:09,916 --> 01:16:11,583
<font color="#00ff00">Keep him level.</font>

1514
01:16:12,958 --> 01:16:14,583
<font color="#00ff00">Give me some room!</font>

1515
01:16:14,583 --> 01:16:17,625
<font color="#00ffff">I felt some pain, I suppose</font>
<font color="#00ffff">about an hour later.</font>

1516
01:16:17,625 --> 01:16:21,417
<font color="#00ffff">I'd got these thigh boots on,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and the bullet had gone in sideways,</font>

1517
01:16:21,417 --> 01:16:25,126
<font color="#00ffff">all the way down the leg, in, out,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">in, out, and hit the ankle bone</font>

1518
01:16:25,126 --> 01:16:26,626
<font color="#00ffff">and turned upside down.</font>

1519
01:16:28,542 --> 01:16:31,043
<font color="#ffff00">Oh, God!</font>

1520
01:16:31,043 --> 01:16:32,376
<font color="#ffff00">Jesus!</font>

1521
01:16:34,084 --> 01:16:37,418
<font color="#ffffff">The Sergeant Major brought me</font>
<font color="#ffffff">a dixie of hot tea,</font>

1522
01:16:37,418 --> 01:16:41,168
<font color="#ffffff">which was just what I needed,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">it went down beautifully.</font>

1523
01:16:41,168 --> 01:16:44,252
<font color="#00ffff">And casualties started coming back,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">walking casualties,</font>

1524
01:16:44,252 --> 01:16:47,835
<font color="#00ffff">men with their arms smashed up,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">legs trawling, and they got back</font>

1525
01:16:47,835 --> 01:16:50,460
<font color="#00ffff">to different dressing stations</font>
<font color="#00ffff">the best way they could.</font>

1526
01:16:50,460 --> 01:16:53,127
<font color="#ffff00">The walking wounded, they were</font>
<font color="#ffff00">coming down in droves.</font>

1527
01:16:53,127 --> 01:16:56,169
<font color="#ffff00">Some were holding one another,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and some were walking on their own,</font>

1528
01:16:56,169 --> 01:16:58,794
<font color="#ffff00">a light wound in the hand or arm,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">but some were hobbling along,</font>

1529
01:16:58,794 --> 01:17:00,794
<font color="#ffff00">and some were looking</font>
<font color="#ffff00">quite cheerful as</font>

1530
01:17:00,794 --> 01:17:02,836
<font color="#ffff00">they'd been free of something.</font>

1531
01:17:02,836 --> 01:17:04,211
<font color="#00ff00">Hello, Mum!</font>

1532
01:17:05,628 --> 01:17:08,003
<font color="#ffffff">My officer had said,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">"Are you all right, Kane?"</font>

1533
01:17:08,003 --> 01:17:10,336
<font color="#ffffff">And I said, "Oh, yes,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">sir, I can still walk."</font>

1534
01:17:10,336 --> 01:17:13,795
<font color="#ffffff">And he said, "But you've been hit</font>
<font color="#ffffff">in the back of the head."</font>

1535
01:17:13,795 --> 01:17:16,753
<font color="#ffffff">And he handed me</font>
<font color="#ffffff">quite a dose of rum.</font>

1536
01:17:18,920 --> 01:17:24,004
<font color="#ffff00">The worst cases were those</font>
<font color="#ffff00">who were shot through the chest.</font>

1537
01:17:24,004 --> 01:17:27,296
<font color="#ffff00">Well, the difficulty of breathing,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">you see, you only had</font>

1538
01:17:27,296 --> 01:17:30,754
<font color="#ffff00">field dressings,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">which every man carried.</font>

1539
01:17:30,754 --> 01:17:32,754
<font color="#00ff00">Yeah, we'll have a better look</font>
<font color="#00ff00">at it.</font>

1540
01:17:32,754 --> 01:17:34,213
<font color="#00ffff">Who's waiting, boys?</font>

1541
01:17:34,213 --> 01:17:36,963
<font color="#ffff00">You got a bottle of iodine</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and they'd tip it in the hole.</font>

1542
01:17:36,963 --> 01:17:39,713
<font color="#ffff00">Oh, the pain was terrific.</font>

1543
01:17:39,713 --> 01:17:41,088
<font color="#ffffff">Well done.</font>

1544
01:17:43,922 --> 01:17:46,838
<font color="#00ffff">How about that for luck, chum?</font>
<font color="#00ffff">Shot right through it.</font>

1545
01:17:50,047 --> 01:17:54,256
<font color="#ffffff">I was not in very good shape at all,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and I was getting somewhere near</font>

1546
01:17:54,256 --> 01:17:57,547
<font color="#ffffff">the end of my tether, I don't think</font>
<font color="#ffffff">I could go on much longer.</font>

1547
01:17:57,547 --> 01:18:02,006
<font color="#ffffff">Every soldier, I suppose,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">had this breaking strain.</font>

1548
01:18:05,298 --> 01:18:07,631
<font color="#ffff00">The medics will be waiting for you.</font>

1549
01:18:07,631 --> 01:18:10,131
<font color="#00ff00">Well done, lads, well done.</font>

1550
01:18:10,131 --> 01:18:11,923
<font color="#00ffff">That's it.</font>

1551
01:18:11,923 --> 01:18:16,715
<font color="#ffffff">We had some remarkable doctors</font>
<font color="#ffffff">who worked day and night</font>

1552
01:18:16,715 --> 01:18:21,590
<font color="#ffffff">in various stations on the British</font>
<font color="#ffffff">front, looking after the wounded.</font>

1553
01:18:23,132 --> 01:18:24,549
<font color="#00ff00">Nice cup of Rosie Lee.</font>

1554
01:18:24,549 --> 01:18:26,174
<font color="#00ff00">You all right, Jack?</font>

1555
01:18:26,174 --> 01:18:30,132
<font color="#ffffff">They seemed never to need any sleep,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">so what they hadn't got in numbers</font>

1556
01:18:30,132 --> 01:18:32,091
<font color="#ffffff">they made up in effort.</font>

1557
01:18:32,091 --> 01:18:33,966
<font color="#00ffff">We need a shell dressing.</font>

1558
01:18:36,049 --> 01:18:40,008
<font color="#ffff00">Both my officers, all my sergeants</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and three quarters of my men</font>

1559
01:18:40,008 --> 01:18:42,341
<font color="#ffff00">were killed or wounded.</font>

1560
01:18:42,341 --> 01:18:46,217
<font color="#ffffff">Their ranks were made up with lads</font>
<font color="#ffffff">of 18 from England</font>

1561
01:18:46,217 --> 01:18:48,467
<font color="#ffffff">who'd been pushed out of factories.</font>

1562
01:18:48,467 --> 01:18:50,175
<font color="#00ffff">Easy, that's it.</font>

1563
01:18:51,342 --> 01:18:52,842
<font color="#ffffff">BIRDS SQUAWK</font>

1564
01:18:52,842 --> 01:18:54,967
<font color="#ffff00">Bloody birds! Get out of it!</font>

1565
01:18:54,967 --> 01:18:56,384
<font color="#ffff00">Go on!</font>

1566
01:18:57,592 --> 01:19:01,634
<font color="#ffffff">My mob were helping</font>
<font color="#ffffff">the battalion to bury these...</font>

1567
01:19:01,634 --> 01:19:05,468
<font color="#ffffff">..only little kids, they were,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">17 or 18 years of age.</font>

1568
01:19:05,468 --> 01:19:08,593
<font color="#00ffff">In sure and certain hope</font>
<font color="#00ffff">of the resurrection to eternal life</font>

1569
01:19:08,593 --> 01:19:10,385
<font color="#00ffff">through our Lord Jesus Christ.</font>

1570
01:19:15,343 --> 01:19:18,010
<font color="#ffffff">A lot of those kids,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">it was their first action,</font>

1571
01:19:18,010 --> 01:19:20,260
<font color="#ffffff">and they never knew any more.</font>

1572
01:19:20,260 --> 01:19:23,302
<font color="#ffff00">So we'd wrapped them up in blankets,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">dug a little shallow grave</font>

1573
01:19:23,302 --> 01:19:24,677
<font color="#ffff00">and put them in there.</font>

1574
01:19:27,802 --> 01:19:30,886
<font color="#00ffff">I was putting a dressing on</font>
<font color="#00ffff">a German, and he was very shaky</font>

1575
01:19:30,886 --> 01:19:33,719
<font color="#00ffff">and fearful of what we were</font>
<font color="#00ffff">going to do to him.</font>

1576
01:19:33,719 --> 01:19:35,886
<font color="#00ffff">But they were more</font>
<font color="#00ffff">frightened than we were.</font>

1577
01:19:35,886 --> 01:19:38,178
<font color="#00ffff">And we were frightened,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">I don't mind telling you!</font>

1578
01:19:38,178 --> 01:19:41,261
<font color="#ffff00">Mostly, they were just boys,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">as we were.</font>

1579
01:19:41,261 --> 01:19:44,303
<font color="#ffff00">They seemed glad to be captured,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">they were out of it.</font>

1580
01:19:44,303 --> 01:19:45,470
<font color="#00ff00">Is this yours?</font>

1581
01:19:45,470 --> 01:19:47,678
<font color="#00ffff">Mein.</font>
<font color="#ffffff">This is his. </font><font color="#00ff00">Ah, it's yours.</font>

1582
01:19:47,678 --> 01:19:49,762
<font color="#00ff00">Put it in your pocket.</font>

1583
01:19:49,762 --> 01:19:52,262
<font color="#ffffff">There was a little German fella,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">I gave him a cigarette,</font>

1584
01:19:52,262 --> 01:19:55,512
<font color="#ffffff">and he was terrified,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and I was very, very sorry for him,</font>

1585
01:19:55,512 --> 01:19:57,887
<font color="#ffffff">really, you know.</font>
<font color="#ffffff">He was only about 16.</font>

1586
01:19:57,887 --> 01:20:00,596
<font color="#ffffff">And we had a chinwag,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and I just took his pocket watch,</font>

1587
01:20:00,596 --> 01:20:02,221
<font color="#ffffff">you know, it was a normal thing.</font>

1588
01:20:02,221 --> 01:20:03,846
<font color="#ffffff">We used to rob them, you see?</font>

1589
01:20:03,846 --> 01:20:05,221
<font color="#ffff00">Right, let's go.</font>

1590
01:20:06,263 --> 01:20:10,180
<font color="#00ffff">Yes, they were underfed,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and they were in very poor shape.</font>

1591
01:20:10,180 --> 01:20:11,555
<font color="#00ff00">Come on, come on now, lads.</font>

1592
01:20:11,555 --> 01:20:12,930
<font color="#00ff00">Pick him up. Come on!</font>

1593
01:20:12,930 --> 01:20:15,722
<font color="#ffffff">And funnily enough, five or six</font>
<font color="#ffffff">German prisoners came along,</font>

1594
01:20:15,722 --> 01:20:19,013
<font color="#ffffff">and they helped carry me,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and I got another six watches,</font>

1595
01:20:19,013 --> 01:20:22,014
<font color="#ffffff">because I robbed these fellas</font>
<font color="#ffffff">who helped me down.</font>

1596
01:20:22,014 --> 01:20:26,222
<font color="#ffff00">Every time we captured prisoners,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">a number of German prisoners</font>

1597
01:20:26,222 --> 01:20:28,806
<font color="#ffff00">would immediately</font>
<font color="#ffff00">take up stretcher duty.</font>

1598
01:20:28,806 --> 01:20:31,972
<font color="#ffff00">Now, I'm sure the Geneva Convention</font>
<font color="#ffff00">never required them to do that.</font>

1599
01:20:31,972 --> 01:20:33,348
<font color="#00ffff">There you go, lads.</font>

1600
01:20:33,348 --> 01:20:35,139
<font color="#00ffff">I've got him. Steady.</font>

1601
01:20:36,514 --> 01:20:37,848
<font color="#00ff00">You're all right, chum.</font>

1602
01:20:37,848 --> 01:20:39,431
<font color="#00ffff">That's it. Keep going.</font>

1603
01:20:39,431 --> 01:20:42,431
<font color="#ffffff">I took about</font>
<font color="#ffffff">a dozen prisoners back with me,</font>

1604
01:20:42,431 --> 01:20:45,015
<font color="#ffffff">they were all unarmed</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and I just had my old gun.</font>

1605
01:20:45,015 --> 01:20:48,348
<font color="#ffff00">In some cases, there were</font>
<font color="#ffff00">a whole lot of Germans without even</font>

1606
01:20:48,348 --> 01:20:50,598
<font color="#ffff00">a Tommy with them.</font>

1607
01:20:50,598 --> 01:20:56,432
<font color="#ffffff">Oh, they were really cowed,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">they were, yes, very subdued.</font>

1608
01:20:58,474 --> 01:21:03,474
<font color="#ffffff">I slept next to a German man</font>
<font color="#ffffff">who'd been wounded in the arm,</font>

1609
01:21:03,474 --> 01:21:08,224
<font color="#ffffff">and to my amazement he started</font>
<font color="#ffffff">talking to me in English.</font>

1610
01:21:08,224 --> 01:21:10,600
<font color="#ffffff">And he said he'd been</font>
<font color="#ffffff">a waiter at the Savoy.</font>

1611
01:21:14,308 --> 01:21:18,100
<font color="#ffff00">I mean, I don't think the average</font>
<font color="#ffff00">British soldier ever had</font>

1612
01:21:18,100 --> 01:21:21,433
<font color="#ffff00">any deep feelings regarding revenge</font>
<font color="#ffff00">against the German.</font>

1613
01:21:21,433 --> 01:21:23,225
<font color="#ffff00">He admired him and respected him.</font>

1614
01:21:24,392 --> 01:21:25,809
<font color="#00ffff">Go on, show him.</font>

1615
01:21:25,809 --> 01:21:28,517
<font color="#ffffff">As the war went on,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">I felt as much sympathy for them</font>

1616
01:21:28,517 --> 01:21:30,434
<font color="#ffffff">as I did for myself.</font>

1617
01:21:30,434 --> 01:21:32,976
<font color="#ffff00">The German I always thought</font>
<font color="#ffff00">was a good fighter.</font>

1618
01:21:32,976 --> 01:21:36,059
<font color="#ffff00">I'd sooner have him on my side</font>
<font color="#ffff00">than on the opposite side.</font>

1619
01:21:36,059 --> 01:21:39,018
<font color="#ffffff">I think some of the Germans thought</font>
<font color="#ffffff">we ought to have been fighting</font>

1620
01:21:39,018 --> 01:21:42,768
<font color="#ffffff">with them against the French</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and the Russians, but none of them</font>

1621
01:21:42,768 --> 01:21:44,643
<font color="#ffffff">thought we ought to be</font>
<font color="#ffffff">fighting each other.</font>

1622
01:21:44,643 --> 01:21:46,060
<font color="#00ffff">Keep on moving forward!</font>

1623
01:21:46,060 --> 01:21:50,435
<font color="#ffff00">You see, the German</font>
<font color="#ffff00">had been an unknown horde</font>

1624
01:21:50,435 --> 01:21:53,060
<font color="#ffff00">with their coal-scuttle helmets,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and then we met them.</font>

1625
01:21:53,060 --> 01:21:55,852
<font color="#ffffff">Well, the German soldier,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">he was a very nice fellow as a rule.</font>

1626
01:21:55,852 --> 01:21:58,227
<font color="#ffffff">You know, I think he was</font>
<font color="#ffffff">really a barber or a shopkeeper</font>

1627
01:21:58,227 --> 01:22:01,561
<font color="#ffffff">or something, and, the same as us,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">he was stuck in uniform.</font>

1628
01:22:01,561 --> 01:22:04,769
<font color="#00ff00">You're too tall.</font>
<font color="#00ff00">Get you next time, Jerry!</font>

1629
01:22:04,769 --> 01:22:07,478
<font color="#ffff00">We got on very well together,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">actually, and they used to</font>

1630
01:22:07,478 --> 01:22:08,811
<font color="#ffff00">mix in with us.</font>

1631
01:22:08,811 --> 01:22:10,770
<font color="#00ffff">Want your hat back?</font>

1632
01:22:10,770 --> 01:22:12,520
<font color="#00ff00">Here, give it him back!</font>

1633
01:22:12,520 --> 01:22:15,478
<font color="#ffff00">They were decent,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">sort of family people</font>

1634
01:22:15,478 --> 01:22:18,562
<font color="#ffff00">and thought a great deal</font>
<font color="#ffff00">of their children.</font>

1635
01:22:20,270 --> 01:22:23,645
<font color="#ffffff">They didn't seem to bear</font>
<font color="#ffffff">any malice against us.</font>

1636
01:22:23,645 --> 01:22:26,187
<font color="#ffffff">They'd had to do what</font>
<font color="#ffffff">they were told, like us.</font>

1637
01:22:27,979 --> 01:22:30,062
<font color="#00ffff">Go on, go on tracking...</font>

1638
01:22:30,062 --> 01:22:33,062
<font color="#ffff00">I couldn't speak German,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">but some could, and the Germans,</font>

1639
01:22:33,062 --> 01:22:34,771
<font color="#ffff00">some of them could speak English.</font>

1640
01:22:34,771 --> 01:22:36,771
<font color="#ffff00">Anyhow, we could</font>
<font color="#ffff00">understand each other.</font>

1641
01:22:36,771 --> 01:22:39,688
<font color="#ffffff">The general agreement</font>
<font color="#ffffff">when we were talking to Germans</font>

1642
01:22:39,688 --> 01:22:44,230
<font color="#ffffff">was how useless war was</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and why did it have to happen.</font>

1643
01:22:47,022 --> 01:22:49,480
<font color="#ffff00">When you're passing bodies</font>
<font color="#ffff00">all day long,</font>

1644
01:22:49,480 --> 01:22:52,897
<font color="#ffff00">it's bound to have an effect</font>
<font color="#ffff00">on whoever it is, isn't it?</font>

1645
01:22:52,897 --> 01:22:54,980
<font color="#ffffff">This big fat German</font>
<font color="#ffffff">was lying in a street...</font>

1646
01:22:54,980 --> 01:22:56,189
<font color="#ffffff">FLIES BUZZ</font>

1647
01:22:56,189 --> 01:22:58,647
<font color="#ffffff">..you know, his stomach</font>
<font color="#ffffff">was all gassed up,</font>

1648
01:22:58,647 --> 01:23:01,439
<font color="#ffffff">his intestines</font>
<font color="#ffffff">lying out on his belly.</font>

1649
01:23:01,439 --> 01:23:04,356
<font color="#ffffff">And somebody had stuck</font>
<font color="#ffffff">a pipe in his mouth!</font>

1650
01:23:04,356 --> 01:23:07,523
<font color="#ffffff">Yeah, we all told him to get up!</font>
<font color="#ffffff">HE CHUCKLES</font>

1651
01:23:08,939 --> 01:23:12,898
<font color="#ffff00">German troops were very brave</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and very stubborn.</font>

1652
01:23:12,898 --> 01:23:16,356
<font color="#00ffff">The Germans fought rearguard actions</font>
<font color="#00ffff">almost back to the Rhine,</font>

1653
01:23:16,356 --> 01:23:20,232
<font color="#00ffff">and regiment after regiment</font>
<font color="#00ffff">was smashed up and cut about.</font>

1654
01:23:20,232 --> 01:23:23,940
<font color="#00ff00">We had an idea that they were</font>
<font color="#00ff00">beginning to crack.</font>

1655
01:23:25,940 --> 01:23:28,732
<font color="#ffff00">I would say that they were,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">if anything, rather despondent.</font>

1656
01:23:28,732 --> 01:23:30,607
<font color="#ffff00">They knew they had lost the war.</font>

1657
01:23:30,607 --> 01:23:34,482
<font color="#00ffff">We, as front-line soldiers,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">knew they were giving up.</font>

1658
01:23:34,482 --> 01:23:39,024
<font color="#ffffff">Quite frankly, the Germans</font>
<font color="#ffffff">were fed up with the whole thing.</font>

1659
01:23:39,024 --> 01:23:42,941
<font color="#00ff00">And, gradually, that is how</font>
<font color="#00ff00">the war itself came to an end.</font>

1660
01:23:42,941 --> 01:23:46,108
<font color="#00ffff">I got the impression that most</font>
<font color="#00ffff">of the German soldiers</font>

1661
01:23:46,108 --> 01:23:50,275
<font color="#00ffff">couldn't care less who won</font>
<font color="#00ffff">as long as the war finished.</font>

1662
01:23:50,275 --> 01:23:52,775
<font color="#ffffff">Of course, that's what everybody</font>
<font color="#ffffff">was thinking about then -</font>

1663
01:23:52,775 --> 01:23:54,650
<font color="#ffffff">we'd had enough.</font>

1664
01:23:54,650 --> 01:23:58,275
<font color="#ffff00">And after a time,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">perhaps nobody cared.</font>

1665
01:23:58,275 --> 01:24:00,109
<font color="#00ffff">All right, boys, here it comes.</font>

1666
01:24:00,109 --> 01:24:01,692
<font color="#00ffff">We're in the pictures!</font>

1667
01:24:02,817 --> 01:24:05,442
<font color="#ffffff">There was a fella in</font>
<font color="#ffffff">the war called Rumour,</font>

1668
01:24:05,442 --> 01:24:08,526
<font color="#ffffff">he knows everything, you see,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and Mr Rumour told us</font>

1669
01:24:08,526 --> 01:24:12,026
<font color="#ffffff">that the Germans were also</font>
<font color="#ffffff">negotiating for an Armistice.</font>

1670
01:24:12,026 --> 01:24:14,068
<font color="#ffff00">There was a huge poster,</font>

1671
01:24:14,068 --> 01:24:18,985
<font color="#ffff00">"All hostilities will cease</font>
<font color="#ffff00">on the Western Front at 11 o'clock</font>

1672
01:24:18,985 --> 01:24:22,110
<font color="#ffff00">"on the 11th of November 1918."</font>

1673
01:24:22,110 --> 01:24:24,485
<font color="#ffff00">So we said to each other,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">"What day is it?"</font>

1674
01:24:24,485 --> 01:24:28,944
<font color="#ffff00">And somebody discovered</font>
<font color="#ffff00">it was November the 11th!</font>

1675
01:24:28,944 --> 01:24:32,236
<font color="#ffffff">And then we had to shine our boots,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">clean our buttons,</font>

1676
01:24:32,236 --> 01:24:34,902
<font color="#ffffff">we knew the war was over then,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and we were quite confident</font>

1677
01:24:34,902 --> 01:24:37,319
<font color="#ffffff">that we would be</font>
<font color="#ffffff">there when it ended.</font>

1678
01:24:37,319 --> 01:24:41,736
<font color="#00ffff">This proclamation was read out,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">stating that the hostilities</font>

1679
01:24:41,736 --> 01:24:45,403
<font color="#00ffff">would cease from 11 that morning,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and actually there wasn't</font>

1680
01:24:45,403 --> 01:24:48,695
<font color="#00ffff">a cheer of any kind</font>
<font color="#00ffff">raised when that was read out.</font>

1681
01:24:48,695 --> 01:24:53,070
<font color="#ffff00">At 11 o'clock, the noise</font>
<font color="#ffff00">of the gunfire just rolled away,</font>

1682
01:24:53,070 --> 01:24:55,362
<font color="#ffff00">like a peal of thunder,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">in the distance.</font>

1683
01:24:55,362 --> 01:24:58,737
<font color="#ffffff">SHELLFIRE AND GUNFIRE FADES OUT</font>

1684
01:25:03,446 --> 01:25:06,529
<font color="#ffffff">BIRDSONG, SOLDIERS CHATTER</font>

1685
01:25:07,613 --> 01:25:09,321
<font color="#ffff00">Never heard it being quiet.</font>

1686
01:25:09,321 --> 01:25:12,238
<font color="#ffff00">Now it was dead silent.</font>

1687
01:25:12,238 --> 01:25:15,363
<font color="#ffffff">You were so dazed that you could</font>
<font color="#ffffff">stand up straight and not be shot.</font>

1688
01:25:15,363 --> 01:25:16,863
<font color="#00ffff">It was eerie.</font>

1689
01:25:18,780 --> 01:25:21,488
<font color="#ffff00">There was a feeling</font>
<font color="#ffff00">of relief and gladness,</font>

1690
01:25:21,488 --> 01:25:24,113
<font color="#ffff00">I suppose, but no celebration.</font>

1691
01:25:24,113 --> 01:25:27,030
<font color="#ffffff">The staff officer</font>
<font color="#ffffff">shut his watch up and said,</font>

1692
01:25:27,030 --> 01:25:29,780
<font color="#ffffff">"I wonder what we're</font>
<font color="#ffffff">all going to do next."</font>

1693
01:25:29,780 --> 01:25:33,406
<font color="#00ffff">There was no demonstration</font>
<font color="#00ffff">of any kind, nobody said a word,</font>

1694
01:25:33,406 --> 01:25:36,072
<font color="#00ffff">everybody just slumped away.</font>

1695
01:25:36,072 --> 01:25:38,614
<font color="#ffff00">The only way we could</font>
<font color="#ffff00">have celebrated as regards</font>

1696
01:25:38,614 --> 01:25:42,114
<font color="#ffff00">to a liquid</font>
<font color="#ffff00">would have been tea, that's all.</font>

1697
01:25:42,114 --> 01:25:44,781
<font color="#ffffff">It was one of</font>
<font color="#ffffff">the flattest moments of our lives.</font>

1698
01:25:44,781 --> 01:25:47,115
<font color="#ffffff">We just couldn't comprehend it.</font>

1699
01:25:48,823 --> 01:25:51,115
<font color="#00ff00">We had that sort of feeling</font>
<font color="#00ff00">as though we'd been kicked</font>

1700
01:25:51,115 --> 01:25:52,407
<font color="#00ff00">out of a job.</font>

1701
01:25:52,407 --> 01:25:55,990
<font color="#ffff00">For some of us, it was practically</font>
<font color="#ffff00">the only life we'd known.</font>

1702
01:25:55,990 --> 01:25:58,157
<font color="#ffff00">What was one going to do next?</font>

1703
01:25:58,157 --> 01:26:00,407
<font color="#00ffff">It was just like</font>
<font color="#00ffff">being made redundant.</font>

1704
01:26:00,407 --> 01:26:03,366
<font color="#ffffff">That was very much</font>
<font color="#ffffff">the feeling of everyone.</font>

1705
01:26:03,366 --> 01:26:06,657
<font color="#ffff00">We were thoroughly upset,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">we'd all got no work to go to.</font>

1706
01:26:06,657 --> 01:26:08,699
<font color="#ffff00">"I don't want to go back."</font>

1707
01:26:08,699 --> 01:26:13,908
<font color="#00ff00">There was no cheering, no singing -</font>
<font color="#00ff00">we were drained of all emotion.</font>

1708
01:26:13,908 --> 01:26:18,575
<font color="#00ff00">We were too far gone,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">too exhausted to enjoy it.</font>

1709
01:26:18,575 --> 01:26:22,825
<font color="#ffffff">All things come to an end,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and even a drama can go on too long.</font>

1710
01:26:22,825 --> 01:26:26,117
<font color="#ffffff">It didn't end with a whimper,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">but something very much like one.</font>

1711
01:26:42,451 --> 01:26:45,951
<font color="#ffffff">I was very happy to leave.</font>
<font color="#ffffff">I'd had enough, you know?</font>

1712
01:26:45,951 --> 01:26:49,576
<font color="#ffffff">After a time, it begins</font>
<font color="#ffffff">to wear on one, you know?</font>

1713
01:26:49,576 --> 01:26:52,452
<font color="#ffff00">"Thank goodness the bloody thing</font>
<font color="#ffff00">is over," that was all.</font>

1714
01:26:52,452 --> 01:26:54,743
<font color="#00ffff">But so far as I was concerned,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">I was out of it,</font>

1715
01:26:54,743 --> 01:26:56,827
<font color="#00ffff">and now the next step in life.</font>

1716
01:26:56,827 --> 01:26:59,869
<font color="#ffffff">The first thing we did was</font>
<font color="#ffffff">write home, say we were all right,</font>

1717
01:26:59,869 --> 01:27:02,285
<font color="#ffffff">making sure we got the date</font>
<font color="#ffffff">on the envelope right.</font>

1718
01:27:02,285 --> 01:27:05,119
<font color="#ffff00">To someone like myself,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">who was interested in nature,</font>

1719
01:27:05,119 --> 01:27:07,869
<font color="#ffff00">after the horrors that man had</font>
<font color="#ffff00">made of the battlefront,</font>

1720
01:27:07,869 --> 01:27:11,911
<font color="#ffff00">I was immensely delighted to find</font>
<font color="#ffff00">shell holes in which I picked</font>

1721
01:27:11,911 --> 01:27:15,953
<font color="#ffff00">lilies of the valley and larkspur,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and I pursued Camberwell Beauties</font>

1722
01:27:15,953 --> 01:27:19,786
<font color="#ffff00">and swallowtail butterflies</font>
<font color="#ffff00">along the banks of the Aisne river.</font>

1723
01:27:19,786 --> 01:27:21,662
<font color="#00ffff">We went to Boulogne.</font>

1724
01:27:21,662 --> 01:27:23,787
<font color="#00ffff">By the way, we came</font>
<font color="#00ffff">home with full pack,</font>

1725
01:27:23,787 --> 01:27:26,495
<font color="#00ffff">the only thing we left</font>
<font color="#00ffff">behind was the bullets,</font>

1726
01:27:26,495 --> 01:27:28,370
<font color="#00ffff">we had to discard those.</font>

1727
01:27:28,370 --> 01:27:30,162
<font color="#00ffff">But we still kept our rifle.</font>

1728
01:27:30,162 --> 01:27:35,204
<font color="#00ffff">We went over to Folkestone,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and there were long trestle tables</font>

1729
01:27:35,204 --> 01:27:38,662
<font color="#00ffff">with very kind ladies,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and they gave you a sausage roll</font>

1730
01:27:38,662 --> 01:27:43,329
<font color="#00ffff">or a bun and a cup of tea,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and that was very welcome.</font>

1731
01:27:43,329 --> 01:27:47,496
<font color="#00ffff">We entrained to Victoria,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and there we broke up.</font>

1732
01:27:47,496 --> 01:27:50,538
<font color="#ffffff">We went to the barracks,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and we just dumped rifles,</font>

1733
01:27:50,538 --> 01:27:53,288
<font color="#ffffff">bayonets and everything,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and there were a lot of suits</font>

1734
01:27:53,288 --> 01:27:55,705
<font color="#ffffff">on display, hats, shoes.</font>

1735
01:27:55,705 --> 01:27:58,330
<font color="#ffffff">You could tell her which one</font>
<font color="#ffffff">you wanted, style and colour,</font>

1736
01:27:58,330 --> 01:27:59,830
<font color="#ffffff">and they measured you.</font>

1737
01:28:01,289 --> 01:28:04,664
<font color="#ffff00">I was horrified by what I saw</font>
<font color="#ffff00">when I came back here</font>

1738
01:28:04,664 --> 01:28:06,581
<font color="#ffff00">and when one tried to get a job.</font>

1739
01:28:06,581 --> 01:28:08,872
<font color="#00ffff">There was mass unemployment,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and I thought,</font>

1740
01:28:08,872 --> 01:28:10,498
<font color="#00ffff">"This isn't much of a life."</font>

1741
01:28:10,498 --> 01:28:12,706
<font color="#00ff00">It was a most difficult thing</font>
<font color="#00ff00">to realise you're of</font>

1742
01:28:12,706 --> 01:28:14,123
<font color="#00ff00">no commercial value.</font>

1743
01:28:14,123 --> 01:28:16,581
<font color="#ffffff">It was a shame, the way</font>
<font color="#ffffff">ex-servicemen were treated.</font>

1744
01:28:16,581 --> 01:28:17,956
<font color="#ffffff">You weren't wanted.</font>

1745
01:28:17,956 --> 01:28:21,373
<font color="#ffffff">Some places said,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">"No ex-servicemen need apply,"</font>

1746
01:28:21,373 --> 01:28:24,082
<font color="#ffffff">and that was the sort of attitude</font>
<font color="#ffffff">you were up against.</font>

1747
01:28:24,082 --> 01:28:28,457
<font color="#ffff00">One of my pals was killed, and when</font>
<font color="#ffff00">I went home, the very first thing</font>

1748
01:28:28,457 --> 01:28:30,874
<font color="#ffff00">that I did was</font>
<font color="#ffff00">go to his mother, who,</font>

1749
01:28:30,874 --> 01:28:33,249
<font color="#ffff00">if she'd had a frying pan,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">she'd have hit me.</font>

1750
01:28:33,249 --> 01:28:35,749
<font color="#ffff00">Her son had been killed</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and I'd come back alive.</font>

1751
01:28:35,749 --> 01:28:37,582
<font color="#ffff00">She was very bitter.</font>

1752
01:28:37,582 --> 01:28:40,708
<font color="#00ffff">The first night I came home,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">I got into my old bed,</font>

1753
01:28:40,708 --> 01:28:44,083
<font color="#00ffff">the first bed I'd laid</font>
<font color="#00ffff">in since I joined the Army.</font>

1754
01:28:44,083 --> 01:28:46,416
<font color="#00ffff">When mother brought my cup</font>
<font color="#00ffff">of tea up in the morning,</font>

1755
01:28:46,416 --> 01:28:48,583
<font color="#00ffff">she found me fast asleep</font>
<font color="#00ffff">on the floor.</font>

1756
01:28:48,583 --> 01:28:50,500
<font color="#00ff00">People never talked about the war.</font>

1757
01:28:50,500 --> 01:28:53,542
<font color="#00ff00">It was a thing that had</font>
<font color="#00ff00">no conversational value at all.</font>

1758
01:28:53,542 --> 01:28:56,417
<font color="#00ff00">Most people were</font>
<font color="#00ff00">absolutely disinterested.</font>

1759
01:28:56,417 --> 01:28:58,708
<font color="#ffff00">When I got home,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">my father and my mother</font>

1760
01:28:58,708 --> 01:29:01,292
<font color="#ffff00">didn't seem in the least</font>
<font color="#ffff00">interested in what had happened,</font>

1761
01:29:01,292 --> 01:29:03,375
<font color="#ffff00">they hadn't any conception</font>
<font color="#ffff00">of what it was like.</font>

1762
01:29:03,375 --> 01:29:04,542
<font color="#ffffff">SOLDIER WHISTLES TUNE</font>

1763
01:29:04,542 --> 01:29:06,834
<font color="#ffffff">And there was no reason</font>
<font color="#ffffff">why any one of us millions</font>

1764
01:29:06,834 --> 01:29:09,126
<font color="#ffffff">should have been favoured</font>
<font color="#ffffff">with a thank you very much</font>

1765
01:29:09,126 --> 01:29:13,293
<font color="#ffffff">for having got a little bit muddy</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and out of touch with good manners.</font>

1766
01:29:13,293 --> 01:29:15,709
<font color="#ffff00">And on occasions when</font>
<font color="#ffff00">I did talk about it,</font>

1767
01:29:15,709 --> 01:29:19,460
<font color="#ffff00">my father would argue points of fact</font>
<font color="#ffff00">that he couldn't possibly have known</font>

1768
01:29:19,460 --> 01:29:21,376
<font color="#ffff00">about because he wasn't there.</font>

1769
01:29:21,376 --> 01:29:24,210
<font color="#00ffff">Every soldier I've spoken</font>
<font color="#00ffff">to experienced the same thing.</font>

1770
01:29:24,210 --> 01:29:27,168
<font color="#00ffff">We were a race apart</font>
<font color="#00ffff">from the civilians,</font>

1771
01:29:27,168 --> 01:29:29,252
<font color="#00ffff">and you could speak</font>
<font color="#00ffff">to your comrades,</font>

1772
01:29:29,252 --> 01:29:32,085
<font color="#00ffff">and they understood,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">but the civilians,</font>

1773
01:29:32,085 --> 01:29:34,002
<font color="#00ffff">it was just a waste of time.</font>

1774
01:29:34,002 --> 01:29:37,877
<font color="#ffff00">However nice and sympathetic</font>
<font color="#ffff00">they were, attempts of</font>

1775
01:29:37,877 --> 01:29:42,253
<font color="#ffff00">well-meaning people to sympathise</font>
<font color="#ffff00">reflected the fact that they</font>

1776
01:29:42,253 --> 01:29:44,419
<font color="#ffff00">didn't really understand at all.</font>

1777
01:29:44,419 --> 01:29:48,336
<font color="#ffffff">I think the magnitude</font>
<font color="#ffffff">was just beyond their comprehension,</font>

1778
01:29:48,336 --> 01:29:52,545
<font color="#ffffff">they didn't understand that people</font>
<font color="#ffffff">that you'd known and played football</font>

1779
01:29:52,545 --> 01:29:55,087
<font color="#ffffff">with were just killed beside you.</font>

1780
01:29:55,087 --> 01:29:58,837
<font color="#ffffff">My friend who enlisted with me,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">and he just lay there like a sack</font>

1781
01:29:58,837 --> 01:30:03,420
<font color="#ffffff">of rags until he went black,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">before anybody troubled to bury him.</font>

1782
01:30:03,420 --> 01:30:06,296
<font color="#00ffff">They knew that people came back</font>
<font color="#00ffff">covered with mud and lice,</font>

1783
01:30:06,296 --> 01:30:09,546
<font color="#00ffff">but they'd no idea of the strain</font>
<font color="#00ffff">of sitting in a trench</font>

1784
01:30:09,546 --> 01:30:13,004
<font color="#00ffff">and waiting for something</font>
<font color="#00ffff">to drop on one's head.</font>

1785
01:30:13,004 --> 01:30:15,588
<font color="#ffff00">You couldn't convey</font>
<font color="#ffff00">the awful state of things,</font>

1786
01:30:15,588 --> 01:30:19,046
<font color="#ffff00">the way you lived like animals</font>
<font color="#ffff00">and behaved like animals.</font>

1787
01:30:19,046 --> 01:30:24,255
<font color="#ffff00">People didn't seem to realise</font>
<font color="#ffff00">what a terrible thing war was.</font>

1788
01:30:24,255 --> 01:30:28,755
<font color="#00ffff">I think they felt that the war</font>
<font color="#00ffff">was one continual cavalry charge.</font>

1789
01:30:28,755 --> 01:30:31,672
<font color="#00ffff">They hadn't any conception -</font>
<font color="#00ffff">how could they?</font>

1790
01:30:31,672 --> 01:30:33,880
<font color="#ffffff">Well, it started off</font>
<font color="#ffffff">in a reasonable manner,</font>

1791
01:30:33,880 --> 01:30:36,631
<font color="#ffffff">it was people fighting</font>
<font color="#ffffff">on horseback with swords,</font>

1792
01:30:36,631 --> 01:30:38,922
<font color="#ffffff">but it developed</font>
<font color="#ffffff">into something ghastly.</font>

1793
01:30:38,922 --> 01:30:42,339
<font color="#ffffff">People don't realise the</font>
<font color="#ffffff">potential of military equipment.</font>

1794
01:30:42,339 --> 01:30:45,089
<font color="#ffffff">A man's life wasn't worth</font>
<font color="#ffffff">anything at the end of the war.</font>

1795
01:30:45,089 --> 01:30:47,423
<font color="#ffff00">We were none of us heroes,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">you know - we didn't</font>

1796
01:30:47,423 --> 01:30:50,506
<font color="#ffff00">like this business of</font>
<font color="#ffff00">being killed at all.</font>

1797
01:30:50,506 --> 01:30:52,423
<font color="#00ffff">When we were talking</font>
<font color="#00ffff">amongst ourselves,</font>

1798
01:30:52,423 --> 01:30:55,715
<font color="#00ffff">we used to say, "Christ, they won't</font>
<font color="#00ffff">have any more wars like this."</font>

1799
01:30:55,715 --> 01:30:57,340
<font color="#ffffff">How did we endure it?</font>

1800
01:30:57,340 --> 01:31:00,298
<font color="#ffffff">The answer must be partly</font>
<font color="#ffffff">the fear of fear,</font>

1801
01:31:00,298 --> 01:31:02,549
<font color="#ffffff">the fear of being found afraid.</font>

1802
01:31:02,549 --> 01:31:05,382
<font color="#ffffff">Another is belief in human beings,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">your colleague,</font>

1803
01:31:05,382 --> 01:31:08,007
<font color="#ffffff">and there's no letting people down.</font>

1804
01:31:08,007 --> 01:31:12,132
<font color="#ffff00">There may be right on both sides,</font>
<font color="#ffff00">but I think war is horrible.</font>

1805
01:31:12,132 --> 01:31:15,174
<font color="#ffff00">Everything should be done</font>
<font color="#ffff00">to avoid war.</font>

1806
01:31:15,174 --> 01:31:18,174
<font color="#00ff00">I still can't see</font>
<font color="#00ff00">the justification for it.</font>

1807
01:31:18,174 --> 01:31:20,550
<font color="#00ff00">It was all really rather horrible.</font>

1808
01:31:20,550 --> 01:31:23,175
<font color="#00ff00">I think history will decide,</font>
<font color="#00ff00">in the end,</font>

1809
01:31:23,175 --> 01:31:25,300
<font color="#00ff00">that it was not worthwhile.</font>

1810
01:31:27,800 --> 01:31:31,592
<font color="#ffffff">The only thing that really did annoy</font>
<font color="#ffffff">me was when I went back to work,</font>

1811
01:31:31,592 --> 01:31:34,842
<font color="#ffffff">after I'd got demobilised,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">I went down the stores,</font>

1812
01:31:34,842 --> 01:31:38,051
<font color="#ffffff">and the bloke behind the counter</font>
<font color="#ffffff">was a bloke who I knew.</font>

1813
01:31:38,051 --> 01:31:40,134
<font color="#ffffff">He said, "Where have you been?</font>

1814
01:31:40,134 --> 01:31:41,801
<font color="#ffffff">"On nights?"</font>

1815
01:32:41,804 --> 01:32:45,804
<font color="#ffff00"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres</font>
<font color="#ffff00">Parlez vous</font>

1816
01:32:45,804 --> 01:32:50,096
<font color="#ffff00"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres</font>
<font color="#ffff00">Parlez vous?</font>

1817
01:32:50,096 --> 01:32:53,971
<font color="#ffff00"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres</font>
<font color="#ffff00">She hasn't been kissed in 40 years</font>

1818
01:32:53,971 --> 01:32:58,222
<font color="#ffff00"># Hinky dinky, parlez vous</font>

1819
01:32:58,222 --> 01:33:02,680
<font color="#00ffff"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres</font>
<font color="#00ffff">Parlez vous</font>

1820
01:33:02,680 --> 01:33:06,639
<font color="#00ffff"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres</font>
<font color="#00ffff">Parlez vous</font>

1821
01:33:06,639 --> 01:33:10,681
<font color="#ffff00"># Our top kick in Armentieres</font>
<font color="#ffff00">broke the spell of 40 years</font>

1822
01:33:10,681 --> 01:33:13,639
<font color="#00ffff"># Hinky dinky, parlez vous</font>

1823
01:33:15,181 --> 01:33:18,931
<font color="#00ffff"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres</font>
<font color="#00ffff">Parlez vous</font>

1824
01:33:18,931 --> 01:33:23,265
<font color="#00ffff"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres</font>
<font color="#00ffff">Parlez vous</font>

1825
01:33:23,265 --> 01:33:27,557
<font color="#00ffff"># You didn't have to know her long</font>
<font color="#00ffff">to know the reason men go wrong</font>

1826
01:33:27,557 --> 01:33:30,432
<font color="#00ffff"># Hinky dinky, parlez vous</font>

1827
01:33:32,015 --> 01:33:35,432
<font color="#00ffff"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres</font>
<font color="#00ffff">Parlez vous</font>

1828
01:33:35,432 --> 01:33:39,682
<font color="#00ffff"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres</font>
<font color="#00ffff">Parlez vous</font>

1829
01:33:39,682 --> 01:33:41,849
<font color="#00ffff"># She's the hardest working girl</font>
<font color="#00ffff">in town</font>

1830
01:33:41,849 --> 01:33:44,057
<font color="#00ffff"># She makes her living upside down</font>

1831
01:33:44,057 --> 01:33:46,224
<font color="#00ffff"># Hinky dinky, parlez vous</font>

1832
01:33:52,475 --> 01:33:54,475
<font color="#00ffff"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres</font>

1833
01:33:54,475 --> 01:33:56,266
<font color="#00ffff"># Parlez vous</font>

1834
01:33:56,266 --> 01:33:58,767
<font color="#00ffff"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres</font>

1835
01:33:58,767 --> 01:34:00,392
<font color="#00ffff"># Parlez vous</font>

1836
01:34:00,392 --> 01:34:01,600
<font color="#00ffff"># She sold her kisses</font>

1837
01:34:01,600 --> 01:34:02,808
<font color="#00ffff"># For ten francs each</font>

1838
01:34:02,808 --> 01:34:03,892
<font color="#00ffff"># Soft and juicy</font>

1839
01:34:03,892 --> 01:34:05,100
<font color="#00ffff"># As sweet as a peach</font>

1840
01:34:05,100 --> 01:34:07,517
<font color="#00ffff"># Hinky dinky, parlez vous</font>

1841
01:34:09,017 --> 01:34:11,351
<font color="#00ffff"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres</font>

1842
01:34:11,351 --> 01:34:12,934
<font color="#00ffff"># Parlez vous</font>

1843
01:34:12,934 --> 01:34:15,309
<font color="#00ffff"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres</font>

1844
01:34:15,309 --> 01:34:16,893
<font color="#00ffff"># Parlez vous</font>

1845
01:34:16,893 --> 01:34:18,976
<font color="#00ffff"># Madame, you've got a daughter fair</font>

1846
01:34:18,976 --> 01:34:20,893
<font color="#00ffff"># To wash the soldiers' underwear</font>

1847
01:34:20,893 --> 01:34:23,893
<font color="#00ffff"># Hinky dinky, parlez vous</font>

1848
01:34:25,810 --> 01:34:28,143
<font color="#00ffff"># I didn't care what came of me</font>

1849
01:34:28,143 --> 01:34:29,310
<font color="#00ffff"># Parlez vous</font>

1850
01:34:29,310 --> 01:34:31,768
<font color="#00ffff"># I didn't care what came of me</font>

1851
01:34:31,768 --> 01:34:33,268
<font color="#00ffff"># Parlez vous</font>

1852
01:34:33,268 --> 01:34:35,352
<font color="#00ffff"># I didn't care what came of me</font>

1853
01:34:35,352 --> 01:34:37,727
<font color="#00ffff"># So I went and joined the infantry</font>

1854
01:34:37,727 --> 01:34:40,352
<font color="#00ffff"># Hinky dinky, parlez vous</font>

1855
01:35:15,021 --> 01:35:17,229
<font color="#00ffff"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres</font>

1856
01:35:17,229 --> 01:35:18,688
<font color="#00ffff"># Parlez vous</font>

1857
01:35:18,688 --> 01:35:21,146
<font color="#00ffff"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres</font>

1858
01:35:21,146 --> 01:35:22,854
<font color="#00ffff"># Parlez vous</font>

1859
01:35:22,854 --> 01:35:24,646
<font color="#00ff00"># Went in her bed, she sure was fun</font>

1860
01:35:24,646 --> 01:35:25,938
<font color="#00ff00"># Working her arse</font>

1861
01:35:25,938 --> 01:35:27,230
<font color="#00ff00"># Like a Maxim gun</font>

1862
01:35:27,230 --> 01:35:30,480
<font color="#00ffff"># Hinky dinky, parlez vous</font>

1863
01:35:31,522 --> 01:35:33,688
<font color="#00ffff"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres</font>

1864
01:35:33,688 --> 01:35:35,272
<font color="#00ffff"># Parlez vous</font>

1865
01:35:35,272 --> 01:35:37,772
<font color="#00ffff"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres</font>

1866
01:35:37,772 --> 01:35:39,189
<font color="#00ffff"># Parlez vous</font>

1867
01:35:39,189 --> 01:35:40,939
<font color="#ffff00"># I had more fun than I could tell</font>

1868
01:35:40,939 --> 01:35:43,147
<font color="#ffff00"># Beneath the sheets with</font>
<font color="#ffff00">Mademoiselle</font>

1869
01:35:43,147 --> 01:35:46,022
<font color="#00ffff"># Hinky dinky, parlez vous</font>

1870
01:35:47,981 --> 01:35:51,773
<font color="#00ffff"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">parlez vous</font>

1871
01:35:51,773 --> 01:35:55,815
<font color="#00ffff"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">parlez vous</font>

1872
01:35:55,815 --> 01:35:57,815
<font color="#ffffff"># She did a wink and cried,</font>
<font color="#ffffff">"Oui, oui!</font>

1873
01:35:57,815 --> 01:36:00,148
<font color="#ffffff"># "Let's see what you can do</font>
<font color="#ffffff">with me"</font>

1874
01:36:00,148 --> 01:36:03,023
<font color="#00ffff"># Hinky dinky, parlez vous</font>

1875
01:36:04,232 --> 01:36:06,607
<font color="#00ffff"># They say they mechanised the war</font>

1876
01:36:06,607 --> 01:36:08,149
<font color="#00ffff"># Parlez vous</font>

1877
01:36:08,149 --> 01:36:10,524
<font color="#00ffff"># They say they mechanised the war</font>

1878
01:36:10,524 --> 01:36:12,149
<font color="#00ffff"># Parlez vous</font>

1879
01:36:12,149 --> 01:36:14,357
<font color="#00ffff"># They say they mechanised the war</font>

1880
01:36:14,357 --> 01:36:16,607
<font color="#ffff00"># So what the hell</font>
<font color="#ffff00">are we marching for?</font>

1881
01:36:16,607 --> 01:36:19,566
<font color="#00ffff"># Hinky dinky, parlez vous</font>

1882
01:36:37,150 --> 01:36:40,192
<font color="#00ffff"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres</font>

1883
01:36:40,192 --> 01:36:41,317
<font color="#00ffff"># Parlez vous</font>

1884
01:36:41,317 --> 01:36:44,026
<font color="#00ffff"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres</font>

1885
01:36:44,026 --> 01:36:45,526
<font color="#00ffff"># Parlez vous</font>

1886
01:36:45,526 --> 01:36:47,484
<font color="#00ffff"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres</font>

1887
01:36:47,484 --> 01:36:49,526
<font color="#00ffff"># She hasn't been kissed for 40</font>
<font color="#00ffff">years</font>

1888
01:36:49,526 --> 01:36:52,109
<font color="#00ffff"># Hinky dinky, parlez vous</font>

1889
01:36:53,568 --> 01:36:56,360
<font color="#00ffff"># The officers get all the steak</font>

1890
01:36:56,360 --> 01:36:57,485
<font color="#00ffff"># Parlez vous</font>

1891
01:36:57,485 --> 01:37:00,526
<font color="#00ffff"># The officers get all the steak</font>

1892
01:37:00,526 --> 01:37:01,777
<font color="#00ffff"># Parlez vous</font>

1893
01:37:01,777 --> 01:37:03,902
<font color="#00ffff"># The officers get all the steak</font>

1894
01:37:03,902 --> 01:37:05,860
<font color="#00ffff"># And all we get is a belly ache</font>

1895
01:37:05,860 --> 01:37:08,860
<font color="#00ffff"># Hinky dinky, parlez vous</font>

1896
01:37:10,069 --> 01:37:11,402
<font color="#00ffff"># You might forget</font>

1897
01:37:11,402 --> 01:37:13,694
<font color="#00ffff"># The gas and shells, parlez vous</font>

1898
01:37:13,694 --> 01:37:15,277
<font color="#00ffff"># You might forget</font>

1899
01:37:15,277 --> 01:37:17,902
<font color="#00ffff"># The gas and shells, parlez vous</font>

1900
01:37:17,902 --> 01:37:19,028
<font color="#00ffff"># You might forget</font>

1901
01:37:19,028 --> 01:37:20,236
<font color="#00ffff"># The groans and yells</font>

1902
01:37:20,236 --> 01:37:21,319
<font color="#00ffff"># But you never forget</font>

1903
01:37:21,319 --> 01:37:22,653
<font color="#00ffff"># The mademoiselles</font>

1904
01:37:22,653 --> 01:37:25,195
<font color="#00ffff"># Hinky dinky, parlez vous</font>

1905
01:37:43,362 --> 01:37:45,987
<font color="#00ffff"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres</font>

1906
01:37:45,987 --> 01:37:47,112
<font color="#00ffff"># Parlez vous</font>

1907
01:37:47,112 --> 01:37:49,863
<font color="#00ffff"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres</font>

1908
01:37:49,863 --> 01:37:50,946
<font color="#00ffff"># Parlez vous</font>

1909
01:37:50,946 --> 01:37:52,863
<font color="#00ffff"># Many and many a married man</font>

1910
01:37:52,863 --> 01:37:55,071
<font color="#00ffff"># Wants to go back to France again</font>

1911
01:37:55,071 --> 01:37:58,196
<font color="#00ffff"># Hinky dinky, parlez vous</font>

1912
01:37:59,571 --> 01:38:02,488
<font color="#00ffff"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres</font>

1913
01:38:02,488 --> 01:38:03,572
<font color="#00ffff"># Parlez vous</font>

1914
01:38:03,572 --> 01:38:06,405
<font color="#00ffff"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres</font>

1915
01:38:06,405 --> 01:38:07,488
<font color="#00ffff"># Parlez vous</font>

1916
01:38:07,488 --> 01:38:09,822
<font color="#00ffff"># Just blow your nose</font>
<font color="#00ffff">and dry your tears</font>

1917
01:38:09,822 --> 01:38:11,947
<font color="#00ffff"># We'll all be back</font>
<font color="#00ffff">in a few short years</font>

1918
01:38:11,947 --> 01:38:14,739
<font color="#00ffff"># Hinky dinky, parlez vous</font>

1919
01:38:16,239 --> 01:38:18,864
<font color="#00ffff"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres</font>

1920
01:38:18,864 --> 01:38:19,948
<font color="#00ffff"># Parlez vous</font>

1921
01:38:19,948 --> 01:38:22,531
<font color="#00ffff"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres</font>

1922
01:38:22,531 --> 01:38:23,656
<font color="#00ffff"># Parlez vous</font>

1923
01:38:23,656 --> 01:38:26,115
<font color="#00ffff"># I fell in love with her at sight</font>

1924
01:38:26,115 --> 01:38:28,240
<font color="#00ffff"># Wet myself for half the night</font>

1925
01:38:28,240 --> 01:38:30,823
<font color="#00ffff"># Hinky dinky, parlez vous</font>

1926
01:38:32,490 --> 01:38:36,240
<font color="#00ffff"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">parlez vous</font>

1927
01:38:36,240 --> 01:38:40,365
<font color="#00ffff"># Mademoiselle from Armentieres,</font>
<font color="#00ffff">parlez vous</font>

1928
01:38:40,365 --> 01:38:42,574
<font color="#00ffff"># You might forget</font>
<font color="#00ffff">the gas and shell</font>

1929
01:38:42,574 --> 01:38:44,532
<font color="#00ffff"># You never forget the mademoiselles</font>

1930
01:38:44,532 --> 01:38:47,366
<font color="#00ffff"># Hinky dinky, parlez vous</font>

1931
01:38:48,782 --> 01:38:50,533
<font color="#ffff00"># You might forget the gas and shell</font>

1932
01:38:50,533 --> 01:38:52,866
<font color="#ffff00"># But you'll never forget</font>
<font color="#ffff00">the mademoiselles</font>

1933
01:38:52,866 --> 01:38:54,533
<font color="#ffff00"># Hinky dinky, parlez vous. #</font>