Tales from the Battlefields

In this episode we travel to Ypres and visit some of the mine craters on the Messines Ridge. What did we discover? We find out through my eyes and the eyes of the soldiers who were there in June 1917. We then visit Talbot House in Poperinge and discover news about a new research project that is being undertaken to discover the stories of the boys who visited the house. We listen to some of their stories and discover what happened to them on the battlefield. We also discover the original copies of the “Wipers Times” in the House archives, and listen to part of the stage play that was performed in Ypres on the eve of the Centenary of the Battle of Passchendaele.

In this episode we learn about the famous Chaplain Woodbine Willie and how he buried the 2 Crutchley brothers who had died together during a trench raid. Who was he and how did he provide comfort to the bereaved parents back home? And we also visit the home of Captain Thomas Colyer-Fergusson, who was awarded the Victoria Cross at Ypres in July 1917. What artefacts did we find and what is his story? We discover personal letters that reveals both stories.

In this episode we discover the tragic stories of 2 soldiers, one from London and one from Australia, who both died from the effects of German trench mortar fire. But not during a famous battle. These were incidents that happened during a quiet period in the trenches. What happened to them? Lance Corporal Thomas Stevenson from New South Wales had been wounded and buried by shellfire at Fromelles but survived, only to die near Messines a year later. And Alf Stevenson from London died of gas poisoning on the Somme. But how?

This episode was recorded at the Menin Gate in Ypres last week. We look at the stories of several soldiers remembered on the memorial; Boer War veterans who fell in action on Halloween 1914, during the 1st Battle of Ypres. And we look at the sad story of the Stallard brothers, who died together after one answered the call from the other. We read their descriptive letters home that reveal what it was like to be involved in those early months of the Great War. We end the episode with a chat with a volunteer of the Last Post Association, and learn of the plans for the Menin Gate Centenary, and listen to the cast of “War Horse” singing beneath the arches of the Gate.

In this week’s episode we travel to the Passchendaele battlefield and discover previously untold stories about 2 boys from the opposite ends of the world, who were killed in action in this infamous battle. Neil Newsum was a bespectacled student from Lincoln, who gave up his university education to become an Officer in the Lincolnshire Regiment. What happened to him during a successful action in September 1917? What did his men say about him after his death? Could we find a possible grave for him?
And we read a poem at the grave of Rifleman Herbert Harris, from Canterbury in New Zealand, written by his family after his death. Who was he and how did they remember him?

On 18th July 1914, a school cricket match was played in Holt, North Norfolk. By the end of the Great War, 11 of the 24 players who took part were dead, victims of the Great War. This is their story. We follow the story of 2 brothers who played in the game, Mark and Cuthbert. They died within weeks of each other, Mark on the Somme battlefield and Cuthbert during the Battle of Jutland. What are their stories and what do their poems and letters home tell us about them? We also discover how writing a book about them helped a teacher at the school comes to terms with the death of her daughter, and how she got to understand these lads and how their deaths affected the Headmaster of the school, George Howson.

In this episode we travel to Twickenham, the home of English Rugby, to meet up with the families of 2 England Rugby internationals who died together, on the same day, 9th August 1916 at Guillemont on the Somme battlefield. The families had been introduced to each other by the author, Toby Goodman, of a book about the 2 men. We discover how their journey, and friendship, took them from the rugby fields to the battlefields, and we hear eye witness accounts of their final hours. We also hear from England World Cup Winner Lewis Moody, who told Toby about Jack and Noel’s story, and he talks about the strong connection between rugby and the Great War. He also discusses a portrait hanging at Twickenham called “Forever England”, showing the faces of 6 England players who died in the war.

In this episode we look at the incredible story of a man who gave up his job as a Rector in a village church to serve on the Western Front. Kenelm Swallow arrived on the Somme battlefield in the mud of November 1916. We follow his journey from the Somme to Arras and discover how he performed various tasks to help the war effort, way beyond his spiritual duties. We find out how he went alone into No Man’s Land at Ypres to ensure dead comrades were properly buried, and how he slipped down the steps of a dugout and landed on a stove, much to his amusement. He also describes what it was like to sleep in a dirty dugout. Kenelm was part of the BEF that liberated Belgium in 1918, and we hear how the civilians reacted to liberation and what he thought of the German enemy.

In this episode we discover what happened to the veterans after the guns had stopped firing. We find out that their suffering continued for decades, and, in some cases, caused their death years later. We hear the words of Joseph Pickard of the Northumberland Fusiliers. He was left for dead on the battlefield and he describes what happened when he went home without his nose, and how some children laughed at him. How did he react? Did he regret enlisting? We find out how some men turned to crime to feed themselves, and an Officer who left a legacy in his will to a soldier who had helped him when he was wounded at Ypres, and another Officer who gave a Christmas hamper to the Great War’s first wounded man. Who was he? And much more too...

In this episode we discover the stories of the boys, and a woman, from a small Lincolnshire village who died in the Great War. We read an emotional final letter to his wife from an Officer who predicted his own death on the following day, and how a man shot himself in the chin soon after arriving on the Western Front, survived but then died years later. What is his story? And the nurse who worked in hospitals in France but is now buried in the local churchyard. How did the War claim Martha’s life and what is her legacy? We also look at two descriptions of the battlefields during the 1920’s and 1930’s. Why did the writer describe the soldiers who stayed behind as “The Living Ghosts?