Tuesday 5 January 2010

Memories of The Great War


These are just some of the memories of Herbert (Herbie) EP Smith who served as a soldier with the 11th (Cardiff Pals) Battalion, Welsh Regiment in the First World War. Here he is in conversation with his son, Major Bob Smith in 1981. He died in 1983, aged 89. It was digitised and uploaded on to this, his own blog, on what would have been his 116th birthday, Jan 5 2010 by his granddaughter, Gilly Smith.

01 Reminiscences Of The Great War Part 1 by jedski


01 Reminiscences Of The Great War Part 2 by Gilly Smith

Here, his son, Bob reads from his First World War diary after his death.

01 Reminiscences Of The Great War Part 1 by Gilly Smith

Herbie Smith could have been the last solider to suffer the punishment known as "crucifixion" when serving in Salonika from 1915. Hansard (para 1742) archives the discussion in Parliament which led to the practice becoming illegal http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1916/dec/31/field-punishment