King's Own Royal Regiment Museum

Private Henry Dawson Blades, number 2732, 1st/5th Battalion, King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment

From the Kendal Mercury 26 Mar 1915


A Sedberghian’s Narrow Escapes
Explosive Bullets used by Germans.
Private H D Blades, of C Company, 5th Battalion King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, in a letter to Mr G H Nicholson, Sedbergh, says: “I have been twice in action and both times had narrow squeaks, the first time in a trench where the sand and mud from a bullet was thrown in my face and the second time from a shell which burst near us whilst hastily running up a parapet for protection. It’s a queer job when men begin to fall with heads nearly blown off. The Germans use explosive bullets, very few are wounded, nearly always death. I long for the time, if God permits, when the Kaiser is put down and we can be at peace again, and worry over County Court actions instead of these terrible actions. We are wanderers, and whenever we go out we don’t know where we shall land and everything has to be carried. It is awful. Whenever a halt is called we throw ourselves down on the road to get a little rest from the awful pack that we carry.”
 

Private Henry Dawson Blades, number 2732, was renumbered to 240842 in 1917.