261016 Cpl. Alfred Gray British Army 2/17th (2nd Poplar and Stepney Rifles) Battalion London Regiment from:East Ham My Grandfather Alfred Gray served with the 2/17th Poplar & Stepney Rifles.
He served from volunteering in 1914 until demobilisation around 1919.
He recalled:
As the Turks retreated through Palestine they committed the worst of crimes: they poisoned all water sources. The British Army was on strict water rations, each soldier responsible for his own supply not to be shared.
After a skirmish, they were mopping up and I came across a Turks lying there dying. He begged me, "Water Tommy, Water!"
I cradled him in my arms and gave him water, he died then.
For this act, I was court-martialed in the Field, lost my stripes and was tied to a gun carriage and left in the desert for 24 hours"
Alf was a resilient man and to a great extent lacked sensibility, laughing off most setbacks. This may explain his light hearted attitude to being shot in the foot and surviving without infection from field hospital to field hospital from Jerusalem to Alexandria and a bullet that went through his helmet leaving a groove in his head into which as children we would love to place our fingers!!!
Also to note, 2/17th included Alf and his four brothers one of whom is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial.
Another story was that Alf lost his stripes (again?) for being drunk on the Mount of Olives, True/False, I do not know. Loved the old B to death though
A Lion led by Donkeys?
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