Wilfred Watkins in World War I

[doubtingmichael]

In 1970 my grandfather, Wilfred Watkins, talked to my mother about his life, and she and my father recorded it and transcribed it. He was 16 when World War I started, and already a mine worker in the South Wales valley. I thought today was a good day to post his recollections about what he did in the war.

Thanks to history_monk for assistance getting this

Comments

[athenais]

That's fascinating. Gods, after all that back to the mine, he's right, he should have stayed on.

[andrewducker]

I think that was all the more affecting because it seemed so chatty, friendly, and enthusiastic.

[davidwake]

Quite extraordinary and timely thanks.

I grew up not far from Altcar (note the spelling, it has a 't'), so it oddly brought it home in a literal sense. I've been there myself as a cadet and fired a musket.

[dorispossum]

Very timely retelling. Hard to get one's head round the enthusiasm and determination of the 16 year old boy to get into a battlefield (though thinking echoes of M's dad in WW2), and sobering that even after seeing that horror, he still felt the army was better than the mines. Thank you for sharing Wilfred's story, it's extraordinary and moving.

[doubtingmichael]

Thank you. I agree with him about the mines. Of course, that at that point he was comparing working down the mines with work in a peacetime army training recruits to use rifles.

[witchwestphalia]

What an amazing man he must have been! Thank you for sharing this.

My dad was a 36 year old volunteer for WWII. He was a physician & had health issues. He never would've been drafted. (Yes the USA did draft physicians in WWII.). He kept volunteering all the way to the front lines in Europe.

He had the same emphasis on the positive parts of his experience.