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Tommy
John Arthur Wilson MM at the Tynecot memorial marking his mates Dick Piper and Henry Gartenfeld. “The war had already attracted too many historians who were determined to bend its events to fit their...
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The war to end war? So H G Wells thought in 1914 and 1936
Fig. 1 World War (Parts 1-6) I’m reading ‘World War’ to understand better how people thought if the events at the time. The first issue of 52 came out on 8th November 1934. It is described as a...
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IWM Forward Communications. Western Front. Trenches
At what point does a walk through exhibit become a science-fiction flight through time to expeience the moment as it was. Distinctly lacking in this trench: flies, rats, the smell of death, urine,...
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Shooting the Front. Terry Finnegan on the role of observers over the Western...
Fig. 1. Shooting the Front. Terry Finnegan gave a presentation based on his book ‘Shooting the Front’ to an audience, largely of Friends of the Imperial War Museum at the IWM on Wednesday 20th June....
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How to mark the centenary of ‘War One’
Fig. 1. Mind Map on factors to consider regarding marking the centenary of the First World War I put this together after visits to the Imperial War Museum and the WW1 display at Newhaven Thought, by...
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Tommy shared. Notes shared on Twitter from ‘Tommy’ by Richard Holmes
‘TOMMY’ SHARED As I read Tommy as an eBook both on a Kindle and iPad I shared notes to Twitter. Note: The idea of poor leadership amongst senior officers in WW1 is based on evidence. The want of...
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Third Ypres and the Battle for Poelcapelle October 1917: A Machine Gunner’s...
Fig 1 Sketch of the movements of Corporal John Arthur Wilson, MCG, October 1917. My grandfather drew a version of this in biro when in his 97th year; his eye-sight was very poor. I redrew it as you...
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Augmented Reality
I’d like to see the numbers in such exhibits complemented so that using augmented reality on a Smartphone or Tablet you get to see the exhibit in situ, with commentary, even drama reconstruction.
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Augmented reality if memorials
I’d like to see augmented reality used to reveal a photograph of everyone named on memorials such as these – putting a face to a name, a life lost.
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The men from Lewes who died in the First World War
Fi Fig. 1. The War Memorial, Lewes High Street, Lewes An extraordinary way to impress upon those living today, the terrible price and undoubted anguish and trauma caused by the death of one or more...
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In my grandfather’s footsteps
Egypt House (Far Right) was a three compartment German Pill Box. In late December 1917 my grandfather was a machine gunner here and on the edge of Houthulst Forest. I walked between Poperinge and...
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They Called it Paschendaele
For an insight into the life, death and frontline tactics along the Western Front controlled by British and Commonwealth troops you should begin with Lyn Macdonald’s ‘They Called it Paschendaele’....
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Some job – manning a machine gun
The obsessive in me required that I filled the OU gap (I recently completed an MA in Open and Distance Education) so I have been walking in and out of Ypres looking for spots where my grandfather...
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The pill-boxes had names
(The text below is a verbatim transcript from an interview conducted with John A Wilson MM in his 96th year in 1992. He was a machine gunner in 104th Brigade serving on the Somme and at Passchendaele....
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A Blighty One
(The action described here took place in later October 1917, possibly around 26th. Egypt House, Nobles Farm and Colombo House are the pill boxes Jack was in. The ‘beck’ is most likely the Broembeck....
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‘That’s nothing compared to Passchendaele”.
Fig.1. The dead and unidentifiable of Passchendaele, 1917 Reflecting on his training and service in the Machine Gun Corps during the First World War, veteran Jack Wilson MM commented on the regional...
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Reading up on the First World War
Although Kindle suggests otherwise I have read most of these. I have read Christopher Clark ‘The Sleepwalkers. How europe went to war in 1914′ twice and am now reducing copious notes down to a...
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Two days to live, seven days to die
At the end of October 1917, 96 years ago to the day, my grandfather, then 21, and Jack Walsh the ‘carrier’ on a Vicker’s Machine Gun were sent in to relieve two fellow company machine gunners: Dick...
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Johnny got his gun
Few films have left me so moved and shocked. I saw this film in passing, perhaps twice when I was in my teens. Half-hearted attempts to give it a name failed until I clicked through an IMDB list this...
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The ante-war rock video – One (Metallica)
As stories of rock history go this is pretty impressive. Taken by the movie ‘Johnny got his gun’ the heavy metal band composed the song ‘One’ and used clips from the film intercut with the band playing...
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