Doing His Bit

[IanA]

ISBN 1 898852 46 4 (87 pages - £8.99)

I thought that I might give this book a plug as I had not heard of it before and I suspect it has a small circulation. It is a paperback and was published by The Shetland Times in 1999. I bought my copy in the museum at Lerwick.

Robert Greig was a 'Shetland Times' reporter who served with the 5th Cameron Highlanders, 2nd Seaforth Highlanders and R.A.M.C. When he returned from the war he wrote a series of articles for the newspaper and these have been gathered together for the first time. As a trained reporter, Greig writes good descriptive prose and, for 1920, he is remarkably direct in telling it how it was.

"Needless to say, the bayonet in use soon became very messy, and this mess soon affected the rifle, so that it had that sticky, greasy feeling blood usually has. One's clothes too, already muddy, became spattered with blood, and the smell of blood pervaded everything. At the time of fighting that did not affect one to any great extent, but as soon as it was over, the effect was ghastly. One was literally overwhelmed by disgust. The blood caked to one's rifle and hands, and there was no chance of a wash. One had to eat with human blood on one's clothes, and, even after the hands had been rubbed and "scraped", there was blood under and around the finger nails. These were not pleasant meals."

He held views which most of us would subscribe to today:

"And there is only one way to prevent war in the future and that is to teach in our schools and our homes, not the honour and glory - there is very little in it - but the horror and filth of war..."

Greig does not set out to provide a continous narrative but, rather, a string of cameos: relating vividly episodes which remained with him and stood out from the boredom and misery of life in the trenches.

"If I have been lurid at times, I have not been lurid enough...."