Voice of the trenches

[Desmond7]

We shall agree to disagree and leave it there.

[swizz]

I tend to agree with Des here. Surely Jack's story is most easily understood without our 'extra' posts between the chunks of transcript. I have been reading the thread but hadn't commented - but if I had done so, I wouldn't have any problem with that comment being removed at some later stage. And would have no problem with this comment being removed.

As Des has pointed out, the original thread (including much debate and discussion) is still available. The proposed changes to this thread consist (in my personal view) of editing for clarity rather than censorship.

[iain mchenry]

I agree with Des here, I have no issue at all on deleting any "Non Jack" threads, including my own. It is plain to anyone visiting this thread and reading the dialogue that the thread is about Jacks story. If you dont like it - dont visit the thread, simple.

I see no problem with anyone adding information that may benefit the reader in broadening the information about Jacks WW1 career though.

Looking forward to the rest of it Des.

Iain

[1690philip]

I totally agree with Des about the thread. Is this website about expressing and voicing opinion? I have followed this thread with great interest, to me it was great to hear people`s opinion? Their thinking and thoughts from this Ulster Hero, who lets face lads Rose from the parapet and faced the enemy and is now telling the story thanks to Kew and Des, let them decide which way the thread goes. One thing I think we all would agree together( you must be having a laugh), I would love to be in that class.

GOD BLESS JACK TRIMBLE AND THE BRAVE MEN OF THE 36th ULSTER DIVISION.

[Desmond7]

Ptepatteson - thanking you for your interest in Jack Trimble, but I am honour bound to point out that his story would not have been told without some enthusiastic detective work from many other members of the forum. I merely set the ball rolling on this one.

For the record, I re-state that all opinions etc are most welcome and enocuraged on this thread. It is merely my opinion that, when all Jack's stories are transcribed, the thread can be edited down to his words and relevant images/historical links for easy reading/future reference.

I truly hope it will help more people understand the lives of ordinary soldiers of the Great War.

Des

[bartensabien]

Good afternoon,

I'm trying to reconstruct the liberatation of my village Gulleghem (incl hamlets Salines, Schoonwater, Poezelhoek...) and Moorseele (incl all hamlets).

I have most of the war diaries of the war diaries of the 36 battalions that were involved. I don't have (yet) the war diary for the 2nd and the 15th Royal Irish Rifles. Hope to find them soon.

With the help of all the WD's I can make some comment on the fantastic story. I added my comment in red text.

'They had just taken Morzeele (correct name in 1918 was Moorseele, today the name is Moorsele) on this side of it and we had to get over the Canal (in the Moorseele vicinity there is no canal, but there are the Heulebeek, the Harelbeek en de Kleinderbeek, small streams, which had to be crossed a few times by the 36th div. and take our objective (the objective was a line running N-S between Ferme Tilleul and Gulleghem, determined by the shooting range of the artillery). The attacking troops were following the barrage, the objective was the limit of the barrage. There were three machine guns playing havoc with our front line (all other battalions are also mentioning being held up by strong enemy MG resistance, comming from (vicinity of)Moorsele and a little bit later from the strongly defended Gullegem. As Mr Trimble tell that he got shot around 11 am, his battalion must have been somewhere between Ferme Tilleul and Gullegehem centre. and the Colonel asked for volunteers. I, being the OC of the gun (Lewis) .. I got on my feet and the rest of the gun team came with me.

'So I got ... 1, 2,3 (points finger) in one small shellhole and 4,5,6 in another with the Lewis ... the Lewis is totally different from a machine gun .. it only has a panel with 47 rounds .. you have to have a feeding team to keep filling the panel and pass them over.

'Anyway, we done very well and knocked out the first two machine guns which we could pick out. The difficulty was finding them and I got on my feet (gets up, bends and then stretches) to see where he was. I got struck in the hip .. it went in here, points to hip and came out here, points to inner thigh and went in here .. (points to other leg). The hip bone was splintered and I was badly injured.

'He commanded (?) ... the stretcher bearers could not get out to me. I was hit at 11 (in the morning?) (from 10 am in the morning the batalions of the 36th and 29th div advanced from Moorsele towards Gullegem. the latter was strongly defended : barber wire and MG. It was to late (one WD tells 15h00) to arrange a new barrage and couldn't get lifted until 4 .. (war diaries are saying that they started to dig in around 16h00, so it possible that the strecher bearers had to way untill all was quiet... the stretcher bearers couldn't get out.

'There was four Germans came in (I assume once Jack had been carted into the RAP?) .. they (the medics?) had cut all of the clothes off me and the blood had been running out of me and it had congealed and it was hard lying on it because it was hard (winces) ... anyway, one of The Germans, bad and all as they are (which is GREAT Ulster expression which tickled me no end) took his coat off and covered me with it. These four Germans carried me .. they got it (the stretcher?) on their shoulders .. it's easier when you something hoisted up and get in step. During the advance on the 14th October 1918 there were thousands of German soldiers taken prisoners.

'Five miles they had to carry me because we (the British) had gone so far on that the RAMC hadn't got (caught?) up. The 107th brigade started their attack on the 14th october at 05h30 near Dadizeele. In the eveing they were just East of Gulleghem, which is indeed over 5 miles away from the styart position. They put us in an old trench (sounds like pump?) around Dadizeele there were a lot of old (German) trenches. Some of the British battalion started their attack from there earlier that day. There were also the British trenches, digged on the 13th october by the 16th R.I.R. used as assembly position for the 107th bde.. they had all the wounded in there and I lay all that day and all that night .. then we were taken to an old French (should be Flemish. We are close to France, but Dadizeele is Flanders, Belgium) barn and put on the floor.

'A YMCA man came in and says to me 'are you hungry?', I says 'I am' and he broke off a wee bit of chocolate and put it in my mouth - he wasn't allowed to give me any more because he didn't know ... (Jack was going to say something, probably about the nature of stomach wounds?)

'Then they took us way in a Red Cross wagon .. there was no pneumatic tyres in the First World War, they had to strap you in or you would have struck the ceiling when it was going up and down .. it was rolling all over the place. That (Ambulance) got me to a Casualty Clearing Station and then they put me on the train and that got me to Boulougne and that was the war finished for me. I was in hospital to February (1919) and the I was demobilised. I was badly crippled for a while but I got over it.

'You wouldn't believe it but in 1984 I was crippled again and I had to use sticks. Anyway I went to see the Surgeon, I knew him personally, a fella by the name of Roger Weekes (Weeks?) .. I told him I was crippled, what could he do for me?

'He opened me up and took a look, he says to me later 'how have you lived?' (Jack smiles) ... he took X Rays .. do you know in the hip joint there is a bearing right round but mine was just bone on bone, there was no bearing at all. So it was a new hip joint and I've never looked back since it was put in ..'

Regards,

Bart

Des note: I'll be doing a few checks with Div history etc. I have spotted one possible query and that is his status post March 21 .. far as I know, Ulster Div elements did take part in various rearguard actions in the retreat towards Amiens, but when situation stablised, what was left of Div was shipped up to Belgium. However, I tend to think this sudden leap in Jack's oral account is more down to him not wanting to bore the schoolboys than anything else.)

Below: Jack Trimble's birth certificate confirming his story of signing up under-age.

[orangelil]

Hello all,

This man, Jack Trimble is one of my Castleton Lanterns men and is related to a lady who is still a member of the Castleton (now Alexandra) congregation. You can see a very young photo of him at http://castletonlanterns.co.uk/lantern-slide-number-64/ - He is the young chap in the centre.

Karen