april 26th 1915 10 oclock in the morning
pte 2530 james,edward hall
on the morning of the 26th april,the germans began shelling us very heavily,we expected them to attack,but instead,we attacked them,as we ran across the open ground,we came under heavy machine gun fire,i was ten yards from the german trenches,when i was struck below the eyebrow,by a MG bullet,which deflected downwards and took out my eye,and lodged in my cheek,another one hit me in the jaw and two more got me in the abdomen,i lay there till night time,until one of our orderlies spotted me,he thought i was dead at first,but spotted a movement,he couldnt carry me on his own so he went back for help,he and another man,carried me back to our lines,under heavy fire,i was put on the hospital train for bolougne and the bullets in my abdomen were extracted,the bullet in my cheek,was taken out at the military hospital at broadstairs
pte hall lives with his wife at booth st,ashton