Charlecote Park Franks Forage No. 39 Sir Brian and WWI After leaving Eton in 1916, Sir Brian Fairfax-Lucy (b. 1898) trained for an army career at Sandhurst. It was originally intended that he pursue a naval career, but he failed to be accepted due to his short-sightedness. (Sir Henry wouldn’t accept this condition until years later, believing that his son was making it an excuse not to join the Navy). After Sandhurst, he choose to join the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders and was placed in the 3rd battalion and posted to Invergordon where he was involved in escorting drafts to France. In November 1917, the battalion was posted to Connaught Rangers barracks at Birr in Ireland. The time at Birr was enjoyable and the battalion took part in and organised shows for the local populace. Brian made trips back and forth to France during this time. After a few months they left Birr for Bullivant near Cork. In April 1918 Brian had a wire from Montgomerie, in London on leave from Salonika. They had not seen each other since 1915 and arranged to meet in Leamington. However, Brian fell asleep on the train and ended up at Paddington. He booked in at Paddington hotel only to discover that Montgomerie had also booked in there so they returned to Leamington together. As soon as they arrived, Brian received a telegram to return to Ireland immediately. It was 24 April 1918 and Brian was sent to France with the 5th battalion, 9th division of his regiment. Arriving at Calais, he went to the 5th battalion HQ where the CO, Col. Hughes asked him to be his machine gun officer and move to the Front next night (25th) and be on the HQ staff. They were to be only a few more days on the Front but this would prove a useful initiation period. As night fell, he began walking the communication trenches which wound through desolate countryside with ruins, waterlogged potholes and the odd dead horse. There was a bright moon and a sharp frost and on reaching the front line he was shown the positions of the machine gun lines and sentries. Rats popped in and out of holes. The adjutant showed him ‘No Man’s Land’ and the position of the German trenches. After a meal of bully beef, bread and tea at 2am, he experienced a sinister silence; a calm before the storm and eventually fell asleep exhausted. An hour before dawn the bombardment began. Shells were arriving at 100-200 a minute, some landing on the trenches. This initial salvo lasted over an hour and was part of the final great German offensive on five fronts. This particular thrust by the enemy was the Battle of Kemmel Hill, south of Ypres, the most northerly of the five. There followed machine gun fire and there were numerous dead and wounded. After a lull, there was a gas alarm. Brian had training for this eventuality but this was the real thing. He actually felt sorry for the rats! At noon, it was learnt that the Germans had broken through left and right of the sector and the Colonel moved the HQ to another dugout. Brain fell asleep again through another bombardment; shells flying everywhere. The Colonel asked Brian to take a message to the Colonel at the rear (the Essex Regt.) to say they were retiring. A runner would show him the way. On the way, there was a huge bang and the runner was killed. He delivered the message and was given another runner to take him to another regiment, the Black Watch. It was there that a German shell landed close to him sending him unconscious. He awoke finding himself on the edge of a crater and in great pain and bleeding profusely. He was found by the Black Watch stretcher bearers and taken to the casualty clearing station which was filled with the wounded. He lost consciousness and awoke in a train returning from the fighting. A nursing sister reading his card asked, “Have you had any morphine?” “No”. “Poor boy, with all those terrible wounds”. Back in England, his ticket read, “Multiple wounds; severe”. He was admitted to Millbank hospital alongside many wounded from the Battle of Kemmel Hill. His right hand was injured; was in great pain and had a piece of shell removed from his back. He was allowed out of hospital after a month but subsequently it was found that two broken ribs were pressing on his lungs. He was then admitted to Seafield hospital in Edinburgh. There he went down with the Spanish Flu epidemic but recovered. Some years later Brian was thrown from his horse at an equestrian event in Wiesbaden when it was discovered that a piece of shrapnel was lodged in his lung. It was considered too dangerous to attempt to remove the piece and he had to endure the discomfort for the rest of his life. Frank Storr, edited from the draft of Sir Brian Fairfax-Lucy’s unpublished memoirs. Frank would welcome comments and any additional information you may have on ‘Frank’s Forages’. Contact him by email on n.splurge@btinternet.com You can also leave comments in the Tuesday Day Leader’s pigeon hole.