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Capt. John Alexander Pridham MC.
62nd Field Ambulance Royal Army Medical Corps
from:'Hillfield,' Upwey, Weymouth
My Grandfather Capt John A Pridham served in WW1 at the Battle of Guillemont with 62nd Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps. On Sunday 3rd September 1916 he was wounded and lost his left eye. This is a transcription of entries that he made in his diary on that day and over the subsequent three days:-
“...Great rush of wounded began 10 am. 11am intense bombardment. Noon attack on Guillemont started. Tremendous rush of wounded 11 onwards all rest of day. Hardly able to cope with it. Attack successful. Many German prisoners. 2 M.O.s of the Connaughts & Munsters wounded. Hun started shelling neighbourhood about 5 pm. Got very close to dug out. Tried to get wounded about 6 .... of dug out. Whizzbang*. On doorstep** (wounded in left eye & forearm. Not seriously.) Dressed by Capt. Hickey. Rather painful. Osborne came in 9. Went away on stretcher 10.30 to .... ..... Montauban. ...... by S. Bs of Middlesex. Milne came with me. Then .... H. BMB, to other side of Montauban. Then ..... motor work. To Carnoy. AU 2 am.†[*Soldiers heard the typical "whizz" noise of a travelling shell before the "bang" issued by the gun itself. Whizz bangs were consequently much feared since the net result was that defending infantrymen were given virtually no warning of incoming high-velocity artillery fire as they were from enemy howitzers. The whizzbang presumably hit the doorstep** of the dugout which he was approaching to treat wounded men within. A dugout was a shelter dug into the side of a trench offering various degrees of protection, and were extremely vulnerable to shells fired directly into the trench.]
After he was wounded he was taken to Montaubon-de-Picardie, and thence to Carnoy. On Monday 4th September 1916 he left Carnoy for the main DR (Dressing Station) on the Bray-Corbie Rd. His left eye was excised at a hospital in Corbie:- “Saw Jepson at Carnoy. Left soon after by car for Main D.S. on Bray-Corbie road. AU 6 am. Wounds dressed. Learnt that left eye was gone. Went off almost at once to No 5C.C.S. Corbie . .... 8 am. Put to bed. Had a wash. Clothes removed. Taken to theatre 11. Under chloroform. Left eye excised ..........Woke up again about 3. A ..... ten 4.30 Taken out of bed & put on a stretcher 7.30 ..... stayed there ... 45 min(?)
On Tuesday 5th September 1916 he went by train to Amiens and thence to Abbeville (above and to the left of Amiens on the map), and continued westwards to Le Tréport on the coast. He was then taken by car to an hotel:- “Taken in ...... and 5 am Said good bye to Milne. Put in ..... train 6am. Had some broth in train. .... read paper & slept. Arrived Le Tréport about 1 pm. Vie Amiens to Abbeville. Taken by car to hotel. Dressed & washed at 5. Some dinner roast chicken etc. went to sleep at 9.â€
On Wednesday 6th September 1916 he had his wounds dressed – presumably at the local hospital in Le Tréport:- “Woke several times in night. Very hot. Breakfast, porridge & eggs 8.30 Washed in bed 10. wounds dressed 11. Lunch chicken etc. Wired Maggie & Mother. Tea 4. Washed again. Wounds dressed. Dinner. Soup, Fish, fruit pudding & fruit. Wrote Maggie and Mother. 7 in morning. Slept well most of night. 9.30 – 5.30.â€
