Military history

My Great Uncle Mick 12/2/99

A bright, sharp, east end lad, well employed by a City firm of
shippers; Nan's brother alongside Bill, Bert, Doll, and Harry. One of
Kitchener's volunteers ( the first 100,000 ) he joined the Army &;
got himself arrested on his first day in the trenches - some sort of
record perhaps ?.
I met him only once before I moved overseas. He spoke with a bit of a
stutter. ( no doubt they'll soon get well .... ).
In 1916 he would be well above average intelligence and soon got bored
standing around on sentry duty near Martinpuich. So, looking over the
trench top, he spotted some movement around the enemy reserve /
communication area. He fed one round into the breech, set the sights to
250 and bang ! Suddenly confronted by a furious officer shouting ' what
the bloody hell do you think you're doing ? you are under arrest
'
Mick's reply - ' well I thought shooting Germans was the idea. If not,
can I go home now ? '
'You idiot, the officer yelled, we are trying to persuade the Germans
we are not here'.

I was 16 &; keen to know the grim reality of it all. ' What was an
attack really like, uncle Mick ? ' A fraction of a memory crossed the
face which spoke volumes. Then -

'Well, not so bad really, it could have been a lot worse - there were
no staff officers.'

Mick's regiment - The Buffs
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