So this, then,
was my first experience of war--my "baptism of fire." I had seen and
heard those magnificent bombardments up the line in 1916, and had gazed
with awestruck admiration upon the strange horizon far away from my
tents at Boulogne and Etaples, wondering what it must be like to be
amongst it all, and expecting to be amongst it all in the course of a
day or two; but, as I have already observed, I was recalled to England,
and was not destined to be amongst it until the following summer. But
now, at last, the experience, the great adventure to which I had been
looking forward so long, was to be mine. I was gazetted a
second-lieutenant in the 5th (Territorial) Lancashire Fusiliers on March
1, 1917; on March 26, I reported for duty with the 5th (Reserve)
Lancashire Fusiliers at South Camp, Ripon, where I spent some unpleasant
weeks amongst snow and mud; from Ripon the unit proceeded to
Scarborough, where I rejoined it after having spent a couple of weeks in
hospital, with tonsillitis, at the former place. Shortly after this, I
received orders to proceed overseas, and returned to my home in
Middleton Junction to spend my embarkation leave.
That leave was spent in the happy way in which all such leaves were
spent during the Great War, terminating with a visit to the Gaiety, in
Manchester, in conjunction with my father and mother, where we saw a
most enjoyable comedy entitled "The Two Miss Farndons.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25