Lost WWI diary reveals horrors of battle
By ANIThursday, February 24, 2011
LONDON - For the first time over 40 years, the horrors of the first World War have been revealed in the diary of British Army officer Edwin Vaughan.
During August and September 1917, Vaughan kept a diary of his experiences and incidents of the First World War.
The leather bound journal describes how 15 out of 90 troop members survived the slaughter of 1917.
He also describes how a soldier was “blown to atoms” by a German shell and how others were terribly mutilated by flying fragments.
The diary also describes the cries of wounded man as he is drowning in rain-filled shell holes.
Following Vaughan’s death in 1931, one of his brothers hid the diary away in a cupboard and it remained unopened for 40 years.
The diary was turned into a book called ‘Some Desperate Glory’. Now it will be published on Vaughan’s 80th death anniversary, the Sun reports.
Vaughan joined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in 1916 and fought near Ypres for eight months.
He was awarded the Military Cross for courage in 1918.
In his diary, he describes his emotions as his men were massacred.
He said: “Feeling sick and lonely, I returned to my tent to write out my casualty report. But instead I sat and drank whisky after whisky as I gazed into a black and empty future.” (ANI)
