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The Wounded
Lieutenant Rees was seriously wounded during the Battle of the Somme in early August 1916. He wrote this letter to his mother from a hospital in France, describing how he received his 'nice cushy little wound'
and travelled by motor ambulance (a luxury compared with the horse drawn ambulances which were also used in the First World War) to a dressing station and then on to the Base hospital.
See a full transcript of Lieutenant Rees' letter, 6 August, 1916.
Rees later received a Military Cross for his bravery that night: he led a bombing party up Munster Alley, clearing 60 yards of trench, taking five prisoners and holding his position during the night, despite repeated attacks.
There were several military hospitals in France and Belgium. These were often farmhouses or chateaux, away from the front line, where the wounded were cared for until they were fit enough to travel to hospitals in Britain.
Penicillin was not discovered until 1928 and antibiotics were not available until the 1940s; infection of even a small wound could prove fatal.
You can also see the bucket for the used swabs at the foot of the bed.
The wounds received by Rees and the unidentified soldier in the photographs were serious, but did not have long-lasting consequences.
The story does have a happy ending though: he later married one of the support workers who helped him at St Dunstan's, a training centre for blind ex-servicemen in London's Regents Park.