Letters from soldier on front line

A “WILD” service took place in Medmenham to remember the soldiers who trained in the trenches at Pullingshill Wood during the First World War.

About 50 people, who wore thick layers and walking boots, gathered in the woods with their dogs on leads in front of the former practice trenches.

They learnt about John “Charlie” Hold, the 5th Battalion in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, who is named on the war memorial.

At 22, he enlisted in High Wycombe, shortly after the start of the war and trained in Oxford then Bovington Camp in Dorset.

Rev Sue Morton, of Hambleden Valley Churches, welcomed the congregation.

She read an opening prayer before they all joined to sing the hymn Eternal Father, Strong to Save led by the Wild Choir.

Mark Morton, 67, who had served in the Royal Air Force for 24 years, read out letters which Mr Hold sent to his mum and two sisters, Dorothy and Janet.

He often spoke about his personal life as a soldier asking for money and other resources and longing to come home.

In 1916, when he was stationed in France, his letters back home described the cold conditions and his narrow escapes from shells, as well as the first use of tanks.

In his last letter, dated November 1917, he reassured his mum about his return. However, he was killed on December 11, 1917.

He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium alongside 35,000 others.

In his final letter, he said: “Will write more often, only it will be two or three lines. As you know, there’s nothing to write about. I quite understand how anxious you get about me when you do not hear for a little while and all this fighting is going on, but it is quite all right. We are not in any of that.

“Tell Doll I will write to her next time. Glad to hear the pigs are doing well and hope I shall be home to have some of them this time. With love to you all, I remain your loving son, J.C. Holt.”

A reading of Micah 4:3-4 was carried out by Oscar Deakin, 17, a royal geographic technician based at the Gibraltar Barracks in Minley.

The Exhortation was read by Bret Spence, a former 3rd Marine paratrooper, before the Last Post was played on the cornet and a two-minute silence was held.

Early First World War trenches were designed inadequately against superior weapons, according to researcher Danny Dawson. As a result, a camp was established at Bovingdon Green around 1915 for soldiers, who lived under canvas, to practise in comprehensive trench systems at Pullingshill Wood, which was about one mile away.

The trenches, which were dug more than 100 years ago, are around 1,400m long and 2m deep.

They included support and communication trenches, which were dig in a zigzag pattern and often wider and deeper to facilitate troop movement.

Adam Knights, a former paratrooper of the Royal Marines, who left in 1998 after serving for nine years, spoke about the history of trenches and weapon developments.

He said: “Trenches go back to the Ottoman Empire, so it’s not new but what’s changed is the weapons.

“In the First World War, it was the machine gun. After Haigh lost 30,000 men, he found machine guns unsporting. In true Field Marshal arrogance and stupidity, these young men ran to their deaths.

“In the First World War, trenches were purely about defence. You would have the front line, the support and a rest trench and men would spend around six or seven days on the front line fighting the Germans around
200 yards away.

“They would have professional trench diggers, often ex-Welsh miners, who could dig faster than anybody else.

“Trenches at the moment, such as on the Ukraine front line, have netting above them to stop drones coming in.

“Every time there’s a conflict, weapons catch up and we slow down again until they work out how to use trenches again.”

The Reveille was played before prayers were read and the hymn Jerusalem, based on William Blake’s poem with music by Hubert Parry, was sung. The service closed with a blessing.