THE story of the Wiltshire Regiment’s contribution at the start of the First World War was told by David Chilton, former curator of The Rifles Berkshire and Wiltshire Museum in The Close.
The one-word instruction “Mobilise” sent 1st Battalion off to war in August 1914, and ten days later it was taking part in the Battle of Mons.
The 2nd battalion, recalled from Gibraltar when war broke out, was in Belgium by October and in action at Ypres soon after. In their wake there were sufficient volunteers to form two territorial battalions, sent to India to relieve regular soldiers.
Mr Chilton drew on photographs of the regiment and its individuals, and set out some of the challenges they would have faced as young villagers who may never have left the county before being posted abroad. They included Sidney Pearce from Winterslow, who went on to become probably the regiment’s most decorated soldier of the Great War and re-joined at the start of the Second World War.; Next month members will be swapping experiences from their own research, before the branch returns to military matters at its meeting at Wilton Community Centre at 7.30pm on January 16 for a talk on the role of women on the Home Front 1914-1918.
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