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L/Cpl. Alfred George Pearce
British Army 11th Btn. B Coy. South Lancashire Regiment
from: Liverpool
One day in September 1914, three young men went to enlist in the British Army caught up in the fever of war. One of these men was Alfred George Pearce. He, with his wife, managed a public house in Liverpool and had four small children. When he returned home and told his wife, she was furious and said "What did you do a stupid thing like that for!"
In his going away photograph his cap badge is from the Cheshire's but he is recorded as being transferred to 11th Battalion in December 1916. During his training he had to go down the mines to be toughened up. His time in the mines was cut short as an accident resulted in him having a couple of broken ribs. His daughter Ruby told us how she enjoyed peeling his skin from his back after he had a cast removed.
Because he was a countryman from Hampshire originally, he was assigned to the section that looked after the regiments horses. They had at one stage a horse shoe on the back of their jacket. The losses were so heavy they turned the horse shoe round in case it improved their luck. In the end the horse shoe was abandoned. On the march to the front line, they saw some awful sights. Bodies lining the sides of the roads and families trying to escape the ravages of war. During the march forward, they stopped overnight at a French village were they were billeted in a barn full of hay and straw. They all settled down for the night. The hay providing a little comfort as they thought. Next morning they were all coming out in scabies. The Germans had sprayed the hay and straw with the infection before they left the area. Consequently all the regiment had to strip off in the village square, their uniforms burnt, and they were painted with Gentian violets. Not a very pleasant experience, but great amusement to the ladies of the village. He told of their instructions not to attempt to pick up anything like pens from the ground, or kick dead rats, as they could all be booby trapped.
Alfred George Pearce survived the war unscathed and lived to a ripe old age of 98. He always said never go to war even if it means running away to Ireland. Alfred's father, Joshua, was from Ecchingswell in Hampshire. [1901 Census].
