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World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment
Pte. Benjamin Brown
British Army 5th Btn. Durham Light Infantry
from:Stockton-on-Tees
My father, Ben Brown, never talked about the war. Like most veterans, but sometimes when he had had a couple of pints he would tell us about little events that he was involved in.
One such story was that out on patrol they had no water and they came upon a well marked poison. They were so thirsty they would have to drink the water. One of the men had tin of Andrews Liver Salts in his pack, so they all laced their water with a big dose of Andrews Liver Salts. Either Andrews Liver Salts are great laxative or the well was not poisoned.
Another event was that they were in the trenches and noticed a figure in a nearby farmhouse moving around the house so six of them lined him and all shot at the same time hoping to kill a German whom they took to be an Observation Officer. Later in the day their squad moved up and they managed to get to the farmhouse and check whether they had killed the German. To their total dismay and shock it turned out to be a British officer they had killed.
My father said that one of the earliest bayonet charges he took part only 120 survived out of over 700 men.
He was gassed as the only gas prevention equipment they had was an instruction to piss on their handkerchiefs and put this over their noses.
My father and his mate Haddy Burton were both shot. My father pleaded with a German soldier to finish him off but he just laughed at him and left him to die. When my father woke up after being wounded he saw all these monk like figures walking around and chanting. He thought he was in heaven. He was in a monastery, being cared for by the monks.
On the hospital ship going back to England he was totally incapacitated due to his wounds and gassing, and was in the bottom deck in the bowels of the ship. A navy man gave him a life jacket, and when Dad asked what it was for was told they may get torpedoed and it would keep him afloat. Dad told him to stick it up his arse as there was no way he could get up to the top deck from his present position, and would prefer to die quickly down below decks.
Dad was told he would not live to see his 21st birthday, being only 18 years old, but went on live to be 74 years old and fathered a family of three boys and two girls.
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