Park Street from the junction with Chobham Street [Z1306/75/10/52/9]
Tuesday 15th June 1915: Private Albert Kempton, 7886, 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment has been home for a few days and is now undergoing medical treatment at Bedford. He hopes to return home to his wife and family, 1 Chobham Street, Luton, this weekend.
Private Kempton says: “I met with my ‘accident’ in the fateful Hill 60, I was buried alive in a big house and it took some time to get me out. I was ‘knocked out’ by a ‘Jack Johnson’(1) shell which burst and blew the whole place up. I was underneath, with about eight or ten tons of it over me – bricks and wood, and the smoke from shells which strangles people. How I got out God only knows. They had to dig me out, so they told me, but I knew nothing until I found myself in hospital. I was also shot in the leg and had concussion of the brain. I am getting on nicely now. I was taken to the hospital Rouen, and then to the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, where I had every attendance I could wish for. It was like being in Heaven after what we had been through. I was taken out in a car, but it upset my head, so I had to get back to my bed again. Never mind, I was pleased when I got in Luton once more. I have been out there since August and I never experienced anything like it before in my life. I thank my lucky stars I have got through as well as I have”.
Private J. Kempton, 8710, 1st Battalion King’s Royal Rifle Corps, a brother of Private Albert Kempton, is a prisoner of war in Germany. They hear from him occasionally and he is usually begging for bread.
Source: Luton News 17th June 1915
(1) A German shell of 150mm calibre.
