Regimental Medical Officers treating men under heavy enemy fire

[RegHannay]

2 hours ago, A Lancashire Fusilier by Proxy said:

Thanks Dave, I shall read your blog.

You have answered another question that was niggling me, as to how long RAMC men were committed for.

When my grandfather’s unit went to France in early May 1915 they had an MO called Thompsonn who remained with the Battalion until 08/03/16, when he returned to Britain, probably for good. He had been with them in France for.nearly a year, and presumably if you took into account time spent serving in Britain before they went to France that would make a full year, if that was the normal contract period.. .

Thompson's place was taken by a Captain Levine, but my grandfather does not say much about him, the next reference being to McVicker in July 1916, who he said then “had been with us as MO for a short time”. However when I look at the 2/1^st Wessex Field Ambulance’s War Diary, there is reference to McVicker being sent hither and thither during the early part of 1916, but not specifically to the 2/5^th LF until 02/09/16, just a week before his death. Prior to McVicker's attachment Captain Bennett, also of the 2/1^st, had been attached to the 2/5^th LF for just 5 days. Presumably 2/1st Wessex Field Ambulance men were being attached to the 2/5th for short periods to plug a gap caused by the difficulty in getting MOs to serve on the front with the Battalions on a longer term basis, and McVicker drew the short straw in being assigned to the 2/5th at a time when they were ordered to launch an attack.

Thank you for reading the blog, it is a very small part of his story. It is a fascinating insight into a medical officers life at the front. Mundane at times, almost in part a love story behind the lines, persevere with it. At times, especially at the start it is not like war, just "a boys own story" stick with it and it opens up into something fascinating, I will be putting the whole into print at sometime. Being bias I Have never read a war diary like it, it will be unabridged, just as Reg wrote it, only naming the men of the 7th ESR who never came back and some of the other men Regie writes about, (as a memorial to them). I will add snippets of research but will let Regie's words speak for itself. A story for the general reader and the researcher alike.

( I hope I have made sense, been out celebrating my wife's birthday and it is 02.30, (could say worse for wear but  would say legless at best!). There is a Thompson a M.O mentioned in the diary, could be the same person.

love to read the whole of your grandfathers story.

Dave

[John Gilinsky]

Can someone please give the address or url for Dave's blog?

Tx John

[RegHannay]

5 hours ago, John Gilinsky said:

Can someone please give the address or url for Dave's blog?

Tx John

Hello John, Go to GWF and you will find it on the Blogs, top left hand corner of page ("Only With Honour" by Reg Hannay. thanks for interest.

Dave

[A Lancashire Fusilier by Proxy]

20 hours ago, RegHannay said:

I hope I have made sense

Perfect sense, thanks Dave. I shall look forward to the blog - I'm trying to complete proofreading of my grandfather's diary at the moment, though I keep getting distracted by interesting threads on this forum ...

I think that your step-grandfather's diary was written in real time while he was actually at the front, which will make it a very direct and reliable record.

My grandfather's is a little different, being written after the event, but using primary sources (letters, pocket diaries etc.). He started it in early 1919, so not long after the event, and I'm quite impressed at how he has even after the event - to my mind anyway - managed to convey his changing attitude to the war - to begin with a very uncomplicated "us and them" attitude which is so simplistic as to be distasteful, though it helps to remember how young he was and the ethos of the time. Then as it goes on the word "war-worn" creeps in with ever increasing frequency, andthe attitude to  the "enemy" becomes a bit more complex.

The words that will appear in the published version are almost exclusively my grandfather's, but I'm not including the whole thing as it stands, as that would have been impractical for a paper version at about 800 pages. Where I've cut it I've tried to make it more readable for the general reader, without losing anything of interest for the researcher. I hope that I've done my grandfather justice, but only time will tell.

I had to smile at your grandfather's comment in # 24 to the effect that he was on the Red Cross Train "honourably wounded rather than merely sick", as my grandfather also had experience of both being wounded and being sick, and it seems that their view of being excused duty owing to illness must have been similar. Here is my grandfather at a time when he was hospitalised with trench fever:

Examined in the morning and marked for “England”. Goodness! and nothing the matter with me. I asked Maj Irwin and he just said “oh, you’ll be lucky if you come over here again”.

I was furious – I wasn’t quite right, but I was much better. During the day in league with Sister Dowling – persuaded the Major to mark me for Trouville Convalescent Hospital. He did – and I avoided Blighty. As I explained the Battalion wanted me back as soon as possible. So he agreed, Trouville tomorrow.

 

[RegHannay]

17 hours ago, A Lancashire Fusilier by Proxy said:

Perfect sense, thanks Dave. I shall look forward to the blog - I'm trying to complete proofreading of my grandfather's diary at the moment, though I keep getting distracted by interesting threads on this forum ...

I think that your step-grandfather's diary was written in real time while he was actually at the front, which will make it a very direct and reliable record.

My grandfather's is a little different, being written after the event, but using primary sources (letters, pocket diaries etc.). He started it in early 1919, so not long after the event, and I'm quite impressed at how he has even after the event - to my mind anyway - managed to convey his changing attitude to the war - to begin with a very uncomplicated "us and them" attitude which is so simplistic as to be distasteful, though it helps to remember how young he was and the ethos of the time. Then as it goes on the word "war-worn" creeps in with ever increasing frequency, andthe attitude to  the "enemy" becomes a bit more complex.

The words that will appear in the published version are almost exclusively my grandfather's, but I'm not including the whole thing as it stands, as that would have been impractical for a paper version at about 800 pages. Where I've cut it I've tried to make it more readable for the general reader, without losing anything of interest for the researcher. I hope that I've done my grandfather justice, but only time will tell.

I had to smile at your grandfather's comment in # 24 to the effect that he was on the Red Cross Train "honourably wounded rather than merely sick", as my grandfather also had experience of both being wounded and being sick, and it seems that their view of being excused duty owing to illness must have been similar. Here is my grandfather at a time when he was hospitalised with trench fever:

Examined in the morning and marked for “England”. Goodness! and nothing the matter with me. I asked Maj Irwin and he just said “oh, you’ll be lucky if you come over here again”.

I was furious – I wasn’t quite right, but I was much better. During the day in league with Sister Dowling – persuaded the Major to mark me for Trouville Convalescent Hospital. He did – and I avoided Blighty. As I explained the Battalion wanted me back as soon as possible. So he agreed, Trouville tomorrow.

 

Good luck with the publshing ALFBP, I have been looking around for good self publishing option, would be nice to break even on the costs just to get it out there to the interested reader.

Dave 

[A Lancashire Fusilier by Proxy]

On 11/07/2020 at 16:19, RegHannay said:

Good luck with the publshing ALFBP, I have been looking around for good self publishing option, would be nice to break even on the costs just to get it out there to the interested reader.

Thanks Dave. I'm happy to correspond direct about the option I have taken for self-publishing at some stage if you wish. Probably better to wait till you have seen my book in print, though, if you were thinking of following the same route, in case the results don't live up to expectations. I gather there is quite a range as regards the amount of input a self-publisher can choose to have from a third party, obviously with corresponding financial implications. My route should more than achieve the "break-even" point if there is a reasonable amount of interest in  purchasing the book, which obviously was quite important for me as one of my objectives was for this to be a charitable project.

[A Lancashire Fusilier by Proxy]

On 10/07/2020 at 02:56, RegHannay said:

There is a Thompson a M.O mentioned in the diary, could be the same person.

I forgot to say - the MO mentioned by my grandfather was Dr R.N. Thompson, from Scotland; I don't know his first names. He seems to have been quite a character. Is it still possible this was the one mentioned by Regie?