Site Home
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies.
If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.
Great War Home
Search
Add Stories & Photos
Library
Help & FAQs
Features
Allied Army
Day by Day
RFC & RAF
Prisoners of War
War at Sea
Training for War
The Battles
Those Who Served
Hospitals
Civilian Service
Women at War
The War Effort
Central Powers Army
Central Powers Navy
Imperial Air Service
Library
World War Two
Submissions
Add Stories & Photos
Time Capsule
Information
Help & FAQs
Glossary
Our Facebook Page
Volunteering
News
Events
Contact us
Great War Books
About
211187Pte. Martin "Ba" Reid
British Army Royal Irish Rifles
from:Dublin
My maternal grandfather, Martin Reid enlisted in the Royal Irish Rifles in Dublin Ireland, when he was 18 yrs old, he was sent to France in 1914. Although he didn't speak about his war experiences very often or in any great detail, he told us about the awful trench conditions, which were flooded and stinking. Often they were short of ammunition. He said they were over run with lice. He told us the noise from the constant bombardment was dreadful. The cries of the wounded soldiers were inhuman. He hated the thought of war, yet he always said sometimes it was necessary, especially WW2 to rid the world of Hitler and the Nazis.
Our grandmother told us what she knew of his time in WW1, he was in Mons, The Somme, & the Western Front as she said. He was in France from 1914 to 1918 and was gassed and eventually wounded, he had to have plastic surgery to his face. His best mate, Archie Reilly, who had enlisted with him was also seriously wounded.
By the time it was 1918 my grandfather was seriously wounded and traumatized, shell shock as Nana said. After his physical injuries were addressed he was sent to Beaufort War Hospital in the UK. My grandmother didn't know where he was, thought he was missing in action. A friend of my grand-dad had seen him and wrote to my grandmother to inform her he was at Beaufort Hospital. She took along their 5 year old daughter to see him. Nana told us he was in a pitiful state, she couldn't comprehend how changed he was not only physically but also mentally, he was a wreck. She took him home with her, she told us he suffered dreadful nightmares and began to drink heavily, which he eventually got under control. He suffered ill health as a result of his injuries until he died, Neurasthenia and respiratory problems. He was a very good grandfather and father, but he never really smiled. Nana told us his experiences in France changed him forever, yet to his dying breath in 1978 he never shirked his duty.
Related Content:
Can you help us to add to our records?
The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them
Did your relative live through the Great War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial?
If so please let us know.
Do you know the location of a Great War "Roll of Honour?"We are very keen to track down these often forgotten documents and obtain photographs and transcriptions of the names recorded so that they will be available for all to remember.
Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice.
Celebrate your own Family History
Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Great War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc.
Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.
The free section of The Wartime Memories Project is run by volunteers.
This website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions.
If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running.
Hosted by:
Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV
- All Rights Reserved -We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.