240518 Pte. George Jefferson British Army 76th Field Ambulance, B Sec. Royal Army Medical Corps from:Lowton, Lancashire Our father George Jefferson enlisted in the Army when war broke out in 1914. He joined the Medical Corp and served as a stretcher bearer with B Section, 76th Field Ambulance on the Somme.
Although he did talk to our husbands of those war years, he spoke very little to his 2 daughters. I do remember a couple of stories Dad did relate to us girls. One where he was billeted in a farmhouse. He awoke one night and could hear this enormous rustling noise. He jumped out of bed and lit an oil lamp. To his horror, one whole wall of the room was covered in cockroaches. He didn't get any more sleep that night.
The other story he told us was of arriving back from the front for R and R. The men were told to strip off all their clothes and leave them in a pile. Jump into the nearby swimming pool. Swim the length of the pool. Get out the other end and put on clean uniforms and underwear. He reckoned it didn't do much good though. Within days the troops were all flea-ridden again. They used to sit on their bunks at night running a lit candle up and down the seams on their uniforms, cracking lice eggs and killing them.
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