Life at the Front for member of Royal Army Medical Corps

Austin’s diary was written in pencil, smudged and difficult to read. His family sent it me and eight months later the work was transcribed.

The first part of my article went from the start of Austin’s diary in January 1917, when he was undergoing training, to September1918, by which time he was an experienced RAMC stretcher-bearer. It was a diary entry in October 1918 that stopped me short...’Sick today with effects of gas’, backed up in the unit war diary. ‘Lt McGregor sent to Casualty Clearing Station suffering from shell (mustard) gas.’ This took me back to the story of another Bradford soldier, Pte Charles Young of the 1/6th Bn Duke of Wellington’s Regt. Like Austin, Charles spent the summer of 1917 on the Belgian coast, before moving up to take part in the Battle of Passchendaele. He too had spent that winter in the Ypres Salient before his battalion was decimated twice in April/May 1918 in the Battle of the Lys. Charles had somehow survived this one too.

After the battalion was rebuilt, Charles would have a ‘quiet’ summer too before his battalion went into action again in October 1918 at Naves. Here, Charles’ luck ran out. He was wounded and taken back to the RAMC Advanced Dressing Station. The Germans saturated any lost ground with mustard gas, to try and slow down the Allied advance. At the Dressing Station, Charles Young’s life was saved that day at Naves by an unknown RAMC orderly who made sure he had his gas mask fitted as the gas hit. Clearly, Austin’s situation at his Dressing Station had mirrored that of Charles Young’s...

October 1918 would prove to be the busiest and most tragic time of the war for Austin. On October 25 Frank Hague was wounded and taken back to England, where he died of complications in Northampton War Hospital just days before the Armistice. He was buried in his home town of Sheffield.

Austin, seated, with best friend Frank Hague, who died days before the Armistice

Austin had lost his best friend. In his diary, he mentioned more of his friends becoming casualties. I was now determined to find and identify each and every one. To Austin, ‘Pat’ and ‘Gossy’ in his diary who fell in action, now became Ptes Paterson and Gosden with their full family details in the notes.

At the Armistice, Austin and the 19th FA found themselves at Berlaimont at the limit of the British advance. Here they halted and waited. To the relief of all, there were plans to move them by lorry and rail back 70 miles to beyond Amiens. This they did, not on transport, but ‘on the march’. Tracing this route revealed two notable locations and a special place: The diary entry for December 14: ‘Marched off at 9am and passed through Bapaume...and passed through the ‘Valleys of Hell’ where Britain spilt her blood. Graves everywhere. Arrived at Albert at 3.30pm after a march of 22 kilos. Albert nearly as bad as Ypres.’ Austin had marched directly through the Somme battlefield of 1916.

Austin Hartley became an experienced stretcher-bearer

With the war over, in December 1918 Austin received a letter from his girl back home, Rita, informing him that she and her family were moving from Keighley to Morley. His mood was clearly reflected in his diary entries.

Austin's war diary

The diary concluded with him finally returning to Keighley railway station at 6.10pm on January 21, 1919 and being met by his sister, Helen. At the very end of his journal, Austin kept meticulous details of all the letters he had received, their dates and from whom sent. However, here too was a list of 44 names, in almost perfect alphabetical order. I now recognised several of these names...these were all his comrades in ‘B’ Section of 19th Field Ambulance, RAMC.

Austin's Princess Mary tin. The tins, containing items such as chocolate and tobacco, were sent to the Front

Austin made this list on that train journey home so he would not forget them. Maybe he intended to produce a fair copy of his journal after the war? However, life would crowd in for Austin in the years that followed. He married and had a family, he named his eldest son Frank in memory of his best friend. Austin passed away in 1976 - his ‘illegible’ journal passed down the family.

Now they, including his only surviving daughter who is now in her 90s, can read the diary and learn of Austin’s war service from 1917-19 as well understand so much more about his story and life.

Every single one of Austin’s comrades who fell, who he mentioned in his diary, has now been identified. But, you see, I now had a very special reason for putting so much effort in telling Austin Hartley’s story and those of his comrades in the RAMC given in his journal. One of Austin’s RAMC comrades saved the life of Charles Young - my own great-grandfather - at Naves that day in October 1918. I shall never know that man’s name, or what became of him during those final weeks of the war, or even if he survived. Through his actions that day, many years later, I would put together Austin’s diary for his family in such detail. This has been my way of saying a very personal ‘thank-you’ to that unknown other RAMC orderly from a century ago.

David Whithorn's great grandfather, Charles Young