...About 30 of us made it across the beach and started looking for the rest of our Regiment. I began to look around and I could see people walking about, so I thought I'd go for a wander. I managed to find what seemed to be the main street and found a photographer's shop open. So I went in and asked him if he had any pictures of the local area. He gave me three and I gave him a five franc note back, I don't know whether I gave him too much or too little. We were issued with two five franc notes and a belgian note, I'd no idea how much they were worth.
The first night we slept in a ditch, having said that we got no sleep! We were still in our wet clothes. In the morning when I awoke I noticed there was a soldier just above the ditch with a bullet right through his steel helmet. One of our officers was passing so I told him and he said to go through his pockets and find out who he is and what Regiment he was in. I remember his name was John Head. He came from Andover, and at just 19 years of age had no parents but a sister who it seemed he used to live with. The Officer ordered us to bury him elsewhere, but we had no tools to bury him with so we had to use our hands. Four of us scraped some of the soil and sand away and covered him over as best we could. I'll never forget it.
When we got back to camp where we'd found the soldier, the Officer was there and gave me down the banks. He shouted at me and said "You're a maniac! You could've been killed there." The next day they brought about 30 german prisoners of war from there, but you'd have never thought about that."
George was a popular and highly-rated bombardier, but he turned down the offer of a stripe so he could stay as one of the lads. He was often confused by the army disciplines...
"The second night after we landed the Sergeant Major came along and told us to use what little water we had in our drinking flasks to get a shave. We were sleeping in ditches and trying to survive and he was worried about us shaving!"
After the war George returned to his job delivering flour for a bakery firm but his scope of interests and talents only grew. An excellent goal keeper, he played a high-level of football in the Army and took part in matches at Manchester City's former Maine Road ground and Ayr United's Summerfield Park.
