Stretcher Bearer

[artyali]

My Gt Uncle John Cyril Caley ( 56th 1/2 London Rifles KIA 1/7/16) was originally trained as a stretcher bearer somewhere at a base in Suffolk during 1915 according to letters home. Then he was rifle/bayonet trained and ended up a rifleman on the front line at Gommecourt, Somme.

was it usual for soldiers to enlist and train to do a specific job and then end up in front line fighting? Meaning, it appears from his letters, that he thought he was going to the battlefields as a stretcher bearer! 

[ss002d6252]

Ultimately the army put a man where they felt he was needed most, regardless of preferences.

I think a lot of stretcher bearers were originally infantry men who were given some basic medical training who were tasked to act as stretcher bearers when needed under the command of the medical officer - originally the army used bandsmen to do the job but that soon ran out of steam (and not all units had trained bandsmen to act as stretcher bearers.)

Craig

Edited 1 February , 2018 by ss002d6252

[artyali]

Thank you Craig. Yes I wondered if that was the case, but wasn’t sure.

[artyali]

Yes, it mentions in his letters that he had passed his training and was given the SB arm band.