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Pte. Reginald Ernest Gingell
British Army 2nd Battalion Middlesex Regiment
from:London
Reginald Gingell was taken prisoner at Pontavert on 27th of May 1918 and held in forced labour gang on the Western Front until moved to POW Camp Langensalza in mid Sept 1918. Repatriated by the Red Cross in January 1919 from Hamburg, he was suffering from clinical malnutrition and starvation oedema. They were kept on the Calcutta Mutiny diet to prevent death from over feeding.
He arrived back in London to a formal reception at Charing Cross station and he absconded back home to Tooting. He hadn't a penny on him and took the tram but nobody told him to get off. He arrived at the front door in a cardboard uniform and newspaper wrapped round his feet. His mother stripped him in the garden and burnt everything.
He had to go the St George's Hospital, Tooting every day to see the doctor and they would give him pills which he would put down the drain on the way out. For several weeks he would sit by the fire in the kitchen and refuse to move out of the chair, eating every scrap of food that came past him. He suffered from syncope and passed out on several occasions. For this reason he was initially given a pension which was then withdrawn as he recovered. He was awarded the silver war badge which he wore proudly in many photos in the family album.
