Survivors of The Great War
Harry Bray Young My great grand-father served in World War 1 as a machine gunner for the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. The regiment is of course famous for the fatal event that occured on July 1st, 1916 at Beaumont-Hamel, exactly 100 years ago, in which nearly 700 men died in a half hour. A great deal of fighting occured after this in the same area, since very little territory was gained in these massive battles, and my great grand-father participated in the fighting that occured after. He was not the only one in my family to sign up for combat. His brother also signed up when he was eighteen and was in the war for an incredible five years. To give you an idea of how long that was, they say that 98% of people can only handle 90 days of intense modern warfare before battle fatigue sets in. The intense artillery blasts and risk of being hit by shells at any moment, or sniped from a far distance at any time and also seeing your friends sniped as well, makes modern warfare somethi