Gassed WW1 Soldier

[sueburden]

I have just read Few Eggs and No Oranges by Vere Hodgson which is a diary she kept between 1940 - 1945

The entry below is from October 1943.

Travelling from London where she lived,  back to her mothers home in Birmingham,  she tells of a man who was on the same train.. 

 "An interesting person with wanderlust.  He was born at sea and had travelled ever since.  Gassed in the last war,  and during 1919 to 1921 had begged his bread in Birmingham.  I was horrified,  but I remember it all so well and the tragic expression on the faces of the men.  All he struggled to get was one shilling a day in order to stay at Rowton House.  He is now a mechanical engineer, and was taken on by the Midland Red.  Nothing that can happen to me now can be worse,  he said.  Owing to the gas he lives in the open air as much as possible and is happy. He got out at Leamington".

Sue

[Uncle George]

Thanks for posting this. How common such sights must have been in those wretched years. Your post put me in mind of the attached, part of the introduction to Peter Vansittart’s ‘Voices from the Great War’ (1981). That’s a marvellous anthology - I must talk about it on ‘What WW1 books are you reading?’ one of these days:
 

 

[sueburden]

I have that book and must read it again.

They deserved so much more.  May they rest in peace 

Sue

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

 

 

[Uncle George]

Here’s another passage, in a similar vein, which has caught my attention. It’s from Alan Clark’s ‘The Tories’ (1998). Clark, of course, is the author of ‘The Donkeys’ (1961. Here he is discussing the 1922 Chanak crisis:

 

[mancpal]

The case of Sgt John Hogan VC (Manchester Regt) springs to mind. His post war story is worth looking up. In fact, it is only in relatively recent years (late ‘90’s from memory)that he gained a CWGC headstone (Chadderton Cemetery, Oldham).

Simon

Edited 13 April by mancpal