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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

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Desmond7's Blog

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Ch9


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Ch 9

“Click.” Went the tape.

“Damn.” Went the Des.

You guessed it. The other side was blank.

Well it had cleared one thing up. Bertie McCallion had definitely not been killed instantly as Lt. Hartley’s comforting letter to the bereaved parents had stated.

It was time for some lateral thinking but first I had to ring Mrs. Wills.

Two minutes later I was putting down the ‘phone.

Yes. That was the only tape. No, her brother John had not had the chance to make any more. No, her brother John did not live in England any more. No, she did not have any other old family papers. There was just the box .. and the forum.

So, what do you call a gathering of anoraks? A neighbourHOOD!!! Only joking.

Amongst World War One buffs, there’s a kind of cyber pub, it’s called the Great War Forum and you find it down at the end of the Long, Long Trail. It’s inhabited by all manner of strange creatures and occasionally they indulge in a mass brawl over arcane subjects which range from Haig’s horsemanship to the intricacies of army numbering.

Most of the time, they’re a fairly amenable bunch and you soon spot the members whose interests link to yours and take mental note of those who could possibly pull you out of a research hole.

One of the guys you can count on is Markinbelfast – that’s his ‘username’ by the way. I rejoice in Desmond7. Don’t even go there.

Now Mark is pretty bloody handy at the old research business and takes a real pride in tracking down ‘special requests’. Which is why I blasted off an e-mail to him later that evening.

‘Swinton, Billy. Royal Irish Rifles. Number on his MIC is 11/342. Made it through. Finished as a Sergeant. Checked the PRONI Covenant site. Swintons in Matilda Street in 1912? Any chance of a wee look around the old papers over there for me?’

Sometimes you can wait for an age when you send out an appeal like that. So I hit the net to find out how a Royal Irish Rifles guy could possibly have come across a Mudshire out in no-man’s land.

The net’s a wonderful thing. If you know where to look and you’re prepared to do a bit of work .. rephrase that. You can get a lot of information but it takes a toll on your eyesight and does nothing for your sleep patterns.

But it didn’t take me long to find out that the good old Muddies had been in the trenches adjacent to the Ulster Division on August 16, 1917. And that had been the case for the week previous. The Muddies ‘mob’ and the Ulsters had been in the line for almost a fortnight before attacking at Langemarck.

They weren’t held back at some cosy camp in preparation for their part in the offensive. They’d been engaged in everything from road-building to ration-carrying throughout the period the tape covered. Hard labour you could call it. Not exactly the perfect preparation for a major assault.

Now, it was possible – just – that if Bertie McCallion had merely been wounded he may have woken up later and tried to get back to his own lines. In a weakened state, he could have taken refuge in a shell-hole and hoped that some patrol might come across him.

In his confused state, he might have gone well off course and ended up in the sector designated for attack by the Ulsters. But could he have survived three days out in no-man’s land?

Amazingly, there are numerous instances of men holding grimly onto life amidst that devastation. Some had even been very severely wounded but the little spark of life continued to ignite from time to time, enabling them to keep a tenuous grasp on their very existence. Lots of others just gave up and died of course.

There’s even a story of one guy who managed to live for 10 days between the lines. Seems the maggots kept his wound clean.

Dear Sir - This is the sort of thing that interests me, yours, Mr. Sad of Milton Keynes.

And so it was off to bed with my headphones. Waiting for whizz bangs to send me to sleep …. I could almost hear them as I played the tape again … and again.

1 Comment


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Boy, have you been busy.

LOVE IT.

When you get a novel written and published, let us know, it will be worth reading!

Cheers

Kim

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