Frank Yates Hirst
Frank Yates Hirst emigrated to Canada in 1911. He was a farmer and the winters were so cold that he moved to Springfield Massachusetts. He was still there when America joined the First World War so he was conscripted into the American army and made an American citizen. On August 22nd 1918 he set sail in a convoy. He started a diary during the voyage which he continued until his return to England. He starts with details of the convoy and the crossing. He was very happy to be sailing home to England. He arrived in Liverpool and then went to Winchester and on to Southampton. He crossed on a very crowded boat to Le Havre. His company moved to the Bordeaux area to Pons. He was not involved in any fighting and the diary gives lots of details about his daily life. His belongings include photos of his base in America.
Diary of Frank Yates Hirst
Dogtags
Picture string - American photos
Cards and picture postcards
Very small diary
Transcription of small diary
Discharge papers
CONTRIBUTOR
May Coe
DATE
1918-06-21 - 1919-06-27
LANGUAGE
eng
ITEMS
249
INSTITUTION
Europeana 1914-1918
PROGRESS
METADATA
Discover Similar Stories
Following Frank
16 Items
My mother was the youngest of thirteen children. Her eldest brother, Frank, volunteered and was enlisted, only to be killed a couple of years later. Mother recalled as a child lining up to say goodbye to him outside the little terraced house in Liverpool 8 where the family lived. If ever she was asked he was 'Killed in the trenches', she really knew no more than that. A few years back she passed his picture to me for safe keeping as her own end neared. I determined then to fill in the details of his brief service. The little history attached is the best I can do, but I hope gives a glimpse of the mundane, and short, service life of the many citizen soldiers like Frank Goodwin. Mother was able to read it before she joined him. On his death in July 1916 Frank was still three months short of his twentieth birthday.
Frank Gearing
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Family history booklet ... pages 9 to 22 refer to the story. || Seriously injured as a child, Frank Gearing joined up in September 1916 as part of the Derby Scheme. He served in the RAMC Field Ambulance and trained as a medical orderly ferrying injured troops from the front to Calais and Bologne. He was later to tell his surprise at the number of casualties injured by being shot in the foot or in the hand! On one occasion the train driver refused to set off because of the danger involved and the only people on the train with guns were the doctors, who had to force the train drivers to operate at gun point. Frank served beyond the end of the war and helped in the clearing up exercise. He was blistered by mustard gas and scarred for life. He had little contact with people killed at the front as the corpses were dealt with by the Pioneer Corps. They wrapped the corpses in blankets and buried them at the roadside. The next of kin were charged for the blankets. His regimental number was 112171. He subsequently worked with shell shocked soldiers at Aylsford where he trained to be a pharmacist. || || Frank Gearing's story || Book
FRANK AND BERTRAM
1 Item
THIS IS ALSO A TREASURED PHOTO OF BERTRAM AND HIS BROTHER FRANK WHO SACRIFICED THEIR LIVES IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR. (FRANK IS ON THE LEFT HAND SIDE AND BERTRAM IS ON THE RIGHT)