A Sandy Soldier at Ypres

Sandy Market Place [Z1306/99]

Tuesday 30th March 1915: 7163 Private Oscar Emery of B Company, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment is currently with his unit in the front line near Ypres. He tells us: “We are now doing 60 hours in the trenches instead of 48. The trenches are fairly good There are some old houses just behind the firing line, knocked down by German shells and we have used some of the wood to lay at the bottom of the trench to walk on. The Germans are not very far from us, only 100 yards, and you have to be careful, or they will soon have you down, but we are protected from them by barbed wire”.

“I feel anxious to have my revenge for my poor brother Wales. For, as I am in this trench, I can see his grave in a wood(1). The weather continues to be fine. We have given up our fur coats, so we have not quite so much to carry, but we still have to carry a blanket, a water proof sheet, and a pair of jack boots. I will never mind going brusselling again if I live to get through this lot”.

Source: Bedfordshire Standard 16th April 1915

---

(1) Private Walter Emery was killed in action with the same battalion repulsing a German attack on 7th November 1914. His grave has since been lost and he is commemorated on the le Touret Memorial to the missing.