Richard Evans of the Welsh Regiment and the Machine Gun Corps

Description

Richard Evans of Swansea served with the Welsh Regiment and the Machine Gun Corps in the First World War. When talking about his service, he used to mention the Marne, the Somme, Ypres and Mametz Wood: and he had one amusing story about Mametz Wood. He and a fellow soldier were on guard one night, when they saw a shadow moving through the trees. They knew there were German soldiers in the vicinity; so they challenged the shadow three times, with no reply; but the shadow kept moving. So they shot whatever was there. When the dawn broke, they went to see what they had shot, possibly expecting to see a German soldier. To their surprise, it turned out to be a stag, so there might have been venison on the menu that night. He did not give many details of his service to his family, but it seems that after becoming a marksman, he volunteered for the Machine Gun Corps, and became a sniper. He only shared this information once many years later, with a nephew who was considering joining the Parachute Regiment. Richard explained the consequences of his joining the M.G.C: during the course of a battle, he was told by an officer, 'Evans there's a German sniper out there. I want you to get him'; and he shot it out for four hours with him. During the war he was gassed with mustard gas, and suffered for the rest of his life from the effects. His family had to watch him sitting in his chair by the fireside, fighting for breath. It's likely that the after-effects of the mustard gas contributed to the many bouts of pneumonia and pleurisy from which he suffered during the rest of his life. His death at the age of fifty-nine could be seen as a welcome release from many years of suffering due to war.

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