R Bellairs, Colchester 2009
ISBN 978-0-9564383-0-0
Trevor Emrys Morgan was born in Bethesda, North Wales, in 1891, the third of six children, three boys followed by three girls. His father was a noted Wesleyan Minister. Emrys was educated at Kingswood School, Bath, a Methodist boarding school where he acquired a great love of English Literature and a facility for writing. He was a keen sportsman and played rugby for his school. After leaving school he became an apprentice reporter on the North Wales Chronicle. Following a brief spell in Manchester, he moved to The Halifax Evening Courier. When the Great War broke out, Emrys joined the 1/4th West Riding (Duke of Wellington's) Regiment in Halifax.
His despatches from the war were published in the Halifax Evening Courier and these, together with notes he made in his private pocket book and letters he wrote to friends, make up the contents of this book.
Ruth Bellairs has made an excellent job of editing Emrys' writings and has included several contemporary photographs in this little book of 119 pages.
In Part I, Emrys describes his training from September 1914 to April 1915. He describes the life of a Territorial - the drill, the food, the living accommodation - for his newspaper readers. He describes the training with much humour and his views reflect the optimist at war: the food is never too bad, the company is fun even though the hours are long (especially during their time at the firing range at Marsden, near Huddersfield). After spending Christmas and New Year at Doncaster with further training, some with artillery but a lot involving marching , the battalion received its 'marching orders' in April 1915 and set off for Folkestone.
In Part II, Emrys describes the battalion's experiences in France and Belgium. Disembarking at Boulogne, he marches with his company to Doulieu. Here the battalion experiences its first casualty when Private Noone is killed by a stray shot whilst in the trenches for instruction.
By 25 April, Emrys is with the battalion in the front line, building their parados and coming under enemy machine gun fire for the first time. He describes life in the front line, especially how he felt when the German machine gunner targeted his spot in the line as he was preparing to fire! In and out of the front line, Emrys continues his training and his good humour ('Every Reason to be Cheerful') and he becomes a company machine gunner as he moves to Belgium in July (1915). His battalion is moved to Ypres where Emrys is hit in the knee by a bullet at 2.00am on 9 July. He had been out with an officer (his platoon commander) to locate a listening post in an old German dug-out. Caught by a German machine gun while withdrawing through barbed wire, he is sent back to the hospital at Boulogne by 10.00 am (10 July) and operated on at 10.30.
In Part III, Emrys describes the shooting in detail and his evacuation from the front line trench. He first goes via a casualty clearing station, thence to the coast and, after the operation, he returns to 'Blighty'. After convalesce in Rochester, he is discharged and (being unfit for active service in France) is then transferred to a Reserve unit.
In Part IV, Emrys is sent to Ireland from where he is discharged in January 1919.
All in all this is an excellent book, Emrys writes with passion from the front line and from his hospital bed. He is well aware of the tragedies which beset men at war but the tone of his reports are consistently upbeat: 'Every Reason to be Cheerful'.
This book deserves to be better known and read.
Reviewed by: Peter J Palmer.
