This veteran of the 10th Battalion of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers describes his first experience of trench warfare. The Oppy Wood frontline was a mass of shell holes like a sieve. While having tea with some companions a shell exploded he describes what happened next,

"I got ripped up I got blown out sky high. I got every bit of clothes torn off me." 

Three of his companions were killed. He was given a bottle of whiskey while waiting for medical aid.

'The Irish Brigades In The First World War' was a two part documentary for radio. The programme examined the participation of the Irish Brigades in the Great War using personal accounts of the battles from surviving members.

The documentary was produced by Kieran Sheedy and presented by Tom McGurk. The clip used here was taken from part two and broadcast on 8 December 1974.

The photograph accompanying this clip shows the wounded in an Allied hospital in northern France being nursed.
Image from World War Through The Stereoscope (Meadville, PA, 1921)

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