Comments by "sandgrownun66" (@sandgrownun66) on "The History Chap"
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"Arnold Ridley went with The Somerset Light Infantry to France where he became involved in the bloody war of attrition. He found the mental suffering was far worse than the physical misery of the trenches. Promoted to Lance Corporal he saw other battalions wiped out time after time and knew that he wouldn’t survive continually going over the top. Wounded twice, a bayonet wound in the groin and a vicious blow to the side of the head from the rifle but of a German soldier meant spells in hospital but always with a return to the front, even though the blow to the head gave him blackouts throughout his later life.
In September 1916, during the Battle of the Somme, where 58,000 British troops lost their lives, Lance Corporal Ridley was badly wounded. Caught by the blast of an exploding shell he was riddled with shrapnel, especially in his left arm and hand. He lay for some days in front of the uncaptured German line and was carried unconscious part of the way back by another soldier. Shelling again started and the pair sought refuge in a shell crater. A shell burst in the crater, miraculously missing Arnold but blowing his unknown rescuer to shreds.
After leaving the shell hole Arnold found himself leading a group of stragglers back through no-man’s-land to the British front line. (On their return the members of the party were recommended for the Military Medal but an officer, seeing that Arnold was a lance corporal, recommended him for the Distinguished Conduct Medal. The other members of the party duly received the MM but Arnold was turned down for the DCM and received nothing.)
Arnold went to the first aid post at Le Treport and was admitted by mistake into a Canadian hospital where surgeons managed to save his hand Arnold was convinced his hand would be amputated and admitted being dismayed when he regained consciousness and found his hand was saved. He had convinced himself that a ‘Blighty’ wound was his only chance of survival. As it turned out Arnold was repatriated to Woodcote Park Military Hospital Epsom, judged unfit for further military service and returned to his depot for final discharge. Arnold Ridley’s war was over.
Arnold was secretly disappointed at missing his chance for the MM. He must have given himself an ironic chuckle when in 1982 he received an OBE for his services to the theatre. This award was sparked by his portrayal of Private Godfrey, a conscientious objector who had been awarded the MM for his actions as a stretcher-bearer in the Battle of the Somme. In real life, in 1917, after his discharge, Arnold had been given a white feather by a lady in Torquay. He had his silver discharge badge in his pocket but accepted the feather anyway. He didn’t wear his badge as he didn’t like to advertise the fact that he was a wounded soldier. He just felt grateful, and guilty, that he had survived."
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