Diary of a WW1 Nuneaton Soldier, Part 2 of 4

Cleanliness and Coffee

Continuing on from part one on this website, the second selection of pages from a World War One diary. Here, despite the fighting going on around him, the soldier clings to ‘normality’ through the desire for creature comforts; the desire for a shower comes across, and despite the efforts to make coffee given the conditions, the time spent doing so is deemed worth it.

Despite the attempts at the everyday however, the horror comes across. “There was a tremendous lot of dead laying about… not a pleasant sight, had been laying since the 1st July, it’s now the 6th.” However despite the brutality reported, the understatement in the commentary hints at a desire to maintain ‘normality’ as much as the household chores.

The third part of the diary can be found here.

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