Love and Marriage
Carl A Eliasson
George Pine. Warrant Officer 12th Gloucester’s Regiment; ‘Bristol’s Own’ 1891 – 1972
George Pine was a Bristol boy who fought with the Gloucesters from 1915 to 1918. He left for France in March 1915 aged 23. He was in action at the Battle of the Somme and the Third Battle of Ypres at Passchendaele. He was promoted to Corporal and then to full Sergeant before the Battle of the Somme. George sustained three serious injuries, one being a shrapnel wound to his face.
George was wounded for the third time in September 1918. He had a bullet wound in the shoulder and sustained serious head injuries. He was treated in Rouen and then transferred to the Beaufort War Hospital. He arrived swathed in bandages and was admitted to Ward 5.
‘It was Saturday night. My wounds were redressed, and washed. I was made comfortable for the night after the doctor had been round. I had a fairly good nights sleep. Sunday morning came and nurses fused around and breakfast. I could spot Tommies walking around the ward and I beckoned one over. I asked him the name of the hospital. He replied ‘Beaufort War Hospital, Stapleton’. I told him my home was only a mile away and could he get a message to my wife. He walked all the way that Sunday in his hospital blues and knocked on the door.’
After the war his injuries made it impossible for him to return to his old job, but he managed to work as a ‘clippie’ on the Bristol buses.
Our thanks to Clive Burlton for use of his research. For more of George Pine’s story see – Trenches to Trams: The George Pine Story: The life of a Bristol Tommy – by Clive Burlton
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