The Cardiff Pals
Photograph; Weblink to http://memoriesofworldwarone.blogspot.co.uk/ site containing Soundcloud files of interview between father and son in 1981.
My grandfather, Herbie Smith was one of the Cardiff pals who went to Salonika in 1915.
He could have been the last soldier to suffer the punishment known as crucifixion when serving in Salonika from 1915. Hansard (para 1742) archives the discussion in Parliament which led to the practice becoming illegal http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1916/dec/31/field-punishment. These are just some of his memories of his life as a soldier with the 11th (Cardiff Pals) Battalion, Welsh Regiment in the First World War. Here (http://memoriesofworldwarone.blogspot.co.uk/) he is in conversation with his son, Major Bob Smith in 1981. He died in 1983, aged 89. It was digitised and uploaded on to this, his own blog, on what would have been his 116th birthday, Jan 5 2010.
The first soundcloud gives some background to his life in Cardiff docks and lays the scene for his time with the Cardiff pals.
The second gives details of the daily life of soldiers in Salonika and includes details of his 'crucifixion'.
CONTRIBUTOR
Gilly Smith
DATE
1915 - 1917
LANGUAGE
eng
ITEMS
1
INSTITUTION
Europeana 1914-1918
PROGRESS
METADATA
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