大象传媒

Joseph Beard, a school teacher in Mansfield, was one of over three quarters of a million men to respond to the call for more soldiers in the first two months of war.

He went with his brother and four friends to enlist at the Town Hall in Mansfield, which he later described as being 鈥榖esieged by applicants鈥�. He says no employer objected to their immediate release and on 6 September 1914 he boarded a troop train to join his regiment; the King鈥檚 Royal Rifle Corps in Winchester.

After months of training he was separated from his friends and promoted to sergeant, before being put in charge of a draft to France in May 1915.

He says the normal routine was three days in the front line trenches and three out, with rest days spent around the small town of Bethune.

Speaking to 大象传媒 Radio Nottingham in 1992, he explained that waiting to go over the top and fight: 鈥淵ou鈥檙e not so much afraid as afraid of being afraid鈥�.

In September 1915 he was badly injured in the Battle of Loos, and after treatment never returned to active service. His son, Michael, says the wound continued to be a problem for many years afterwards although his father lived to be 102.

Location: Mansfield Town all, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire NG18 1HX
Image: Joseph Beard with his family in 1894, courtesy of Michael Beard

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