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Published on 30/10/24

Year 9 student Carla CR tells us all about Corporal Knight’s WW1 talk.

Year 9 will be studying the First World War this year and, on the first day of term, we had the privilege of Corporal Knight coming in to show us first hand items and clothes from the war. For example, he brought in all the different coats, uniforms and even underwear to the presentation. Soldiers in the army would wear these clothes for 2-3 weeks as they always had to be prepared to fight. The uniform ended up full of lice! Soldiers would have to fight carrying everything they needed on them, like pots and pans for washing and food, weighing 34 kg in total. I learned lots, such as that in order to prevent getting diseases, soldiers would urinate on a sock and put it in their mouths. I also learned that poisonous gases were more effective than rifles as they could kill many people at once and (unless you wear the stuffy gas mask) you can’t survive. It was a memorable experience.