230918 Pte. Victor Tom Brooks British Army Att. Ox & Bucks Light Infantry Royal Army Medical Corps from:Burley, Leeds My great uncle Victor Brooks enlisted in the RAMC on 7th August 1915 in Leeds, West Yorkshire (formally West Riding of Yorkshire). He was attached to the Ox and Bucks Light Infantry and deployed with them in October 1915 to Salonika where the British Army objective was to assist the Serbs in their fight against Bulgarian aggression.
He was wounded on 10th April 1917 and the following is the transcript of a letter sent to his mother from the Chaplin L. Whitcombe, dated 11th April 1917.
Dear Madam,
You will have heard from the War Office that your son Pte. Brooks R.A.M.C. attached to the O.B.L.I. has been wounded. He came through this ambulance A.D.S. 80th field ambulance, Salonika Army, last night and though badly wounded in several places he never once murmured. He asked me to write and let you know that he was being sent down to a general hospital at the Base.
You will be glad to hear that I gave him his Easter Holy Communion while he was waiting to go on after his wounds had been dressed.
He was hit by a shell which burst near his boys camp. He is seriously wounded and has lost much blood, but I think if we pray for him he will recover and be home before he otherwise would have been. His bones I believe are not broken.
He is a good boy and wonderfully patient.
God bless both him and you.
Yours Faithfully
L. Whitcombe c-f
C of E.
Subsequently my great uncle was transferred to a hospital in Malta and returned to England in early 1918. The accompanying hospital ship was sunk as they sailed home. He was discharged from the army on the 2nd May 1918 as surplus to military requirements. He had received gun shot wounds to both thighs and lower legs as well as his right shoulder and left arm. I recall him having to wear a built-up boot on his left leg because of his injuries.
He received a War Pension assessed at 40% for the rest of his life. Despite his resultant disabilities he was able to continue as a painter and decorator during his working life and was happily married and a father to two children.
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