Blog 8: World War I

Harry Lamin, born in England, joined the military to fight in World War 1 in 1917 at age 29.  Harry married Ethel in 1914 and had two sons, one in 1916 named Willie, the other Arthur who died as an infant.  These were just before he joined the war.  He wrote and received letters during his deployment where he talks about what is happening in his life and asks the recipients what is in theirs.

            The conditions that Harry lived through during his time in World War I was remarkably treacherous.  It seems as if so many of his fellow soldiers were dying around him and Harry did not seem like it affected him as much as one would expect.  You would think that if you saw a scene like the one below that you would be hysterical or something similar, but as the caption to the picture says “… Many soldiers developed a defensive callousness after seeing such sights frequently,  and blotted these images out of their conscious minds forever” (A World War I Photo Essay).  This would make sense on how Harry was able to talk about the loss of life around him while making it seem like it is nothing at all.

            Harry’s letters to his family shows a lot about him.  In nearly every letter he either says he hopes that the person is doing well or says that his is glad that they are doing well.  I think this shows that he cared much about his family.  In some of the letters he does “small talk” for example about how Willie likes the mug he got, which is spoken of in a few letters.  This may have been used to take his mind of the war and to think about stuff he would if he was home.  Many times Harry talks about how they have to live, such as the amount of food they get.  He says that they receive very little rations, but that it does not really mind him.  He also speaks about how other people get medals, but he has not, and may not, but he is fine with that also.  I wonder if he said he was fine with the amount of food he received to make his family feel better so they did not worry as much about him or if he truly did not mind the small rations.

Sources:

"A World War I Photo Essay." A World War I Photo Essay. Department of English, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.