Sergeant Major Henry Bangert of the Royal Army Medical Corps was posted to the Western Front as soon as the war started and kept a diary for the time that he was there until he was invalided out on 14th February 1916. He wrote almost daily, recording his day to day activities,  and his work in field hospitals and reporting on the military action that was taking place around him.

After the first few excerpts I shall attempt to post entries on a daily basis so each can be read 100 years from the day it was written.

I'm Henry's sixth grandchild, youngest daughter of his second son, Harry. When I knew him he lived by the sea in Trimmingham, Norfolk and I well remember his cheefullness, his military bearing and a determination to swim in he sea in all weathers, despite stray WW2 land-mines on the beach!  He was never one to show his feelings.