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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nLetter dated 29 October 1943 – from Captain Lawrie Franklyn-Vaile to his wife, Olive<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
My Dearest Olive,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have had a dreadful few days, culminating in John Glennie and Dennis Dunn being killed and myself wounded. My wound is not serious \u2013 a blast from an artillery shell puncturing the chest and left arm but poor Dennis, who was beside me, got it in the back and died immediately. I am in hospital at the moment and apart from a certain stiffness and a feeling of tiredness am suffering more from mental depression than anything else. In the event of you receiving a War Office telegram that I have been wounded, this is the case. Actually, I hope to be back with the battalion shortly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We launched a big night attack on a certain day (on 27th October<\/em> at San Salvo<\/em>) and met with very fierce opposition. My company got rather badly knocked about and amidst the confusion, John and I bumped against each We decided to rally what men we could and push forward and, by using our ground carefully, we made a considerable advance. Despite the terrific noise, I have never felt cooler or more confident. Here, I was fighting beside my greatest friend and my older head and his youthful dash and cheerfulness brought us well forward. He laughed and joked amid the inferno and I felt his strength was mine and mine. Once, I got hit in the face by a piece of shrapnel and gave a groan and he raced out exposing himself and insisted on examining me, before he took cover again.<\/p>\n\n\n Eventually, we were caught in the middle of a ploughed field: Johnny received a shot in the arm but it was not serious and, with the aid of a L\/Cpl, I bandaged him up. We were trying to get back from this bad position when there was a burst of MG fire and he fell on his side and gasped, \u201cI have been hit in the chest\u201d. I completely lost all thought of personal risk and how I got him back, I don\u2019t know but with MG bullets flying all around, I managed to get him to cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was a terrible hole but we did what we could and tried to carry him to where the stretcher bearers might be. We were causing him too much pain and so I sent our few remaining men off to find the Stretcher Bearers and for 1 \u00bd hours, I lay with him in an open field until he died. He was in great pain, so at least I have the consolation that he did not die abandoned and tried to ease him. Early on, I said, \u201cYou know I am here, Johnny\u201d and he said, \u201cI do Frank\u201d. A couple of times he said, \u201cAre you still there Frank, don\u2019t leave me, will you?\u201d At the end, he cried a little and called for his mother and then passed away quietly in my arms. That brave gallant boy, so full of life and high spirits \u2013 what a bloody shambles it is. Only two weeks ago, his sister asked if I would write first to her if anything happened and I am doing this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The dreadful tragedy to poor Dennis occurred a few hours later, I carried on for most of the day but towards evening began to feel very bad and the MO packed me off to hospital. I don\u2019t feel too bad, except my spirits are down to zero. We have had a ghastly 10 days and, at the moment, nothing seems worthwhile. You and Valerie and home seem so far away and inaccessible. I could have stood anything out here with the exception of Johnny\u2019s death \u2013 no one ever had a better friend and there is now a huge void which I don\u2019t know how I can possibly fill. In fact, it never will be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I will tell you about the Battalion another time but Denis Hayward is alright, thank goodness. Don\u2019t worry, darling. I think we will be out of action for a little time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All my love to you and Valerie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lawrence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Letter dated 29 October 1943 – from Captain Lawrie Franklyn-Vaile to his wife, Olive My Dearest Olive, I have had a dreadful few days, culminating in John Glennie and Dennis Dunn being killed and myself wounded. My wound is not serious \u2013 a blast from an artillery shell puncturing the chest and left arm but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":15347,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-23617","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23617"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23619,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23617\/revisions\/23619"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.irishbrigade.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/IMG_9599-300x225.jpg\")
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