NAM.2023-08-3-2-1

Postcard photograph of Pte Alfred Henry Watson, 7th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, 1914-15 (c). He is wearing battle dress, and his small oval portrait is surrounded by an artistic rendering of the regiment’s Colours and Battle Honours up to ‘South Africa 1900-1902’. Watson was wounded during the battle of the Somme in 1916, suffering an injury to his right knee. According to the family he was injured on enemy lines and the German soldiers were using their bayonets to make sure any injured soldiers were dead, targeting those with medals. Alfred saw this, pulled off his medals and lay still. He was rescued days later and sent to a hospital to recover but was medically discharged in April 1917. From a collection of seven postcard photographs relating to Pte Alfred Henry Watson, 7th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, 1914-1917 (c).

Somme, Battle of the, 1916 (World War One, Western Front 1914-1918)