The Somme: Going white overnight
All families have stories that get told and retold so often that they become
a kind of legend. My grandmother used to rather matter-of-factly quip that my
grandfather, Joesph (Joe) Moorcroft.(d.1968) whom I'd never met had returned
from The Somme with white hair.
He had gone to the Front, a young man with brown hair and returned home
prematurely grey/white. I had begun recently to doubt the veracity of this
story (and all family 'legends' due to my own experiences of mixing up
elements of different stories whilst trying to recount another familiar
tale);and this story was especially important to me as I nearly always told
my A level English Literature students it in an attempt to illustrate the
grim reality of the killing fields of the Somme in 1916. Therefore I checked
with my dad to make sure I hadn't imagined it, or that it was an exaggeration
on my grandma's part.
He confirmed it as a story that he too had always been told (and always
believed- having no reason to doubt it). My father is now into his sixties
and his hair has only now gone completely grey so genetically there is
nothing to challenge (or, I know, support this story).
Interestingly, Joe, my grandad, never spoke about his wartime experiences
(selective mutism I believe this may be called). So my students and I must
rely upon second, third and fourth hand stories.
| Title |
The Somme: Going white overnight
|
|---|---|
| Author |
Nicola Mejia
|
| Subject |
Moorcroft, Joseph
|
| Item date |
July - November 1916
|
| Creation place |
The Somme
|
| Item source | |
| Item medium | |
| Content | |
| Cataloguer |
Everett Sharp
|
| Filename |
GWA_4013_The_Somme__Going_white_overnight.txt
|
| Copyright |
The Great War Archive, University of Oxford / Primary Contributor
|
| Digital repository | |
| Contributor name |
Nicola Mejia
|
Collection
Citation
“The Somme: Going white overnight,” by Nicola Mejia. The Great War Archive, University of Oxford / Primary Contributor via First World War Poetry Digital Archive, accessed May 3, 2024, http://ww1lit.nsms.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/gwa/item/5721.
Permitted Use
This item is available for non-commercial educational use under the terms of the Jisc Model Licence. Further details available at: http://ww1lit.nsms.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/permitteduse
