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Pte. George Morson
British Army Wiltshire Regiment
from:Bedworth, Warwickshire
George Morson joined the Wiltshire Regiment at the outbreak of the First World War. He was a miner before joining up and took the chance to join the Canadian forces on Vimy Ridge after four hard years in the trenches. He told me that he heard the soil in the Vimy Ridge area was chalky, so he hoped to be rid of living in the muddy trenches and volunteered. His mining experience was the key to this opportunity and he was transferred there in early 1917. After carrying out several tunnelling attacks (including two counter mine attacks) he was captured when the Germans made a full scale counter attack at the end of the Battle of Arras.
He was a prisoner of war until relieved by the allies at the end of the war and returned a very emaciated man. He didn’t complain about his treatment at the hands of his captors… it was just that the Germans themselves had no food. During the last four months of captivity they had nothing but turnips to eat every day.
