My Friend Albert
Albert and I had known each other aII our lives. Our families lived in the same Essex town, and we'd been to school together. We spent carefree times as boys, exploring the nearby woods and swimming in the lake. Albert and I left school at the same time, and we both started work at the large Timber Works Factory which dominated our small town, and where most of the local men went to work. Life seemed good!
We started 'walking out' with two sisters who lived locally, and before long, Albert was engaged to Alice, the older sister, and I kept company with Ethel. Their father owned the Bakery and Confectionery business in town, and he approved of our relationships with his daughters. Both girls worked in the shop.
But then, the Great War came. Many of the men volunteered to join the British Army. I found it quite exciting and even thought of lying about my age (as some of the other lads had done) so that I could join up and have adventures abroad. Albert persuaded me not to do this, asking me if I really wanted to kiII other young men who were not much different from me. I hadn't really thought about the reality of having to kill or get killed up until then. Anyway, I put the idea to one side and got on with enjoying my life.
News of the war came through gradually. Instead of it all ending quickly, as everyone expected, it seemed to be going on and on. Some of the men from the Timber Works had been killed. News leaked through that there had been vast casualties in Ypres and the Somme, and volunteers to join the Army were drying up.
And then, in 1916, conscription came in for unmarried young men, and that meant us! Again, a surge of excitement went through me at the thought of going abroad in the company of other lads my age. I imagined Albert joining up in the same regiment as me, and the two of us returning in glory. Local people were very patriotic, and I enjoyed the idea of being treated like a hero, especially by the girls.
But then, Albert shocked me by saying "There's no way I'm joining up to kill other people, Harry!" I couldn't believe him; I knew how people here would react. He'd get scorn and jibes and be accused of cowardice.
And I was not wrong. There was a 'conscience clause' on the conscription form, and Albert immediately applied for a Certificate of Exemption on the grounds that he was a pacifist. Alice and Ethel were horrified. Alice tearfully told Albert that she loved him, and said, "If you really love me, you won't do this!" He sadly told her that he loved her so much, and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her; but even if it meant giving up this dream there was no way he would change his mind.
Ethel begged me to use my influence and work on Albert “Don't you see, he'll ruin everything!" she said. "He'll listen to you; you've always been such close friends..." But it was to no avail. Their father was very patriotic, and when Alice failed to persuade him to change his mind with her pleading and tears, her father ordered her to break off the engagement.
Albert was ordered to attend a tribunal to plead his case. He said that they humiliated him, and they accused him of making up his reasons so that he could get out of being in the army. He was turned down, but he went to an Appeal tribunal, and it was decided he could join the Non-Combatant Corps., the NCC, and be sent to the trenches as a stretcher bearer. Otherwise, he would go to prison doing hard labour, breaking-up rocks in a quarry. Albert told them he would rather be killed than have to kill others, and he chose the NCC.
Meanwhile, I was being treated as a hero, and everyone implied that Albert was a coward. White feathers were put through his family's door, and his family said they were ashamed of him. They were receiving verbal abuse themselves, and were angry with Albert for bringing this on them.
I felt ashamed of myself, but I became a bit scared of being seen associating with him. I sent a message to him saying that I would meet him when it was dark to say our goodbyes. We were both very choked with emotion as we hugged each other and said farewell. We started to go our separate ways, and two other lads who were about to join up with me, John and Walter, came up to us. They had been to the Red Lion and were the worse for drink, and ready for action. As they spotted Albert, John shouted, "Come on, Coward! We'll show you what it's like to fight!" In that fleeting second, I wondered what Albert would do. Would he hit them? Would he defend himself? The drunken lads were no match for Albert who was physically very strong. He pushed them both to the ground, then said, "Come on, Harry, let's get back!"
I do not want to describe the horror that I experienced in the trenches. I found myself thinking that Albert was right, and I wished I'd had the courage to do what he had done. There was a 'Conscie' near us as a stretcher bearer, doing similar work to what Albert would be doing. He was a religious objector, a Quaker. Some of the men ridiculed him, but most of us secretly admired him. While gunfire was still going on he would go over the top and try to rescue wounded soldiers and retrieve the dead. I watched one day when he was fatally wounded, and I wondered how Albert was getting on.
I eventually got sent home. I had been gassed and had breathing difficulties, as well as losing a leg. Ethel had faithfully waited for me to return, but Albert's former fiancée Alice, had married a returning hero.
I learned the sad news that my friend Albert, who was referred to as a coward and a traitor, had been killed on no-man's land while he was rescuing injured soldiers. My friend Albert was no coward; he was the bravest man I've ever met.
Mary. 2023