52637: My Shot'

My father served in the Coldstream Guards and saw action at Loos, Ypres and the Somme. He survived all these (though wounded on the Somme). Finally at Cambrai he received a shot through the shoulder. This was the "Blighty wound" which every soldier hoped for. Not fatal or life threatening but serious enough to be sent back to England. Whilst recovering in hospital in Manchester he wrote this poem which indicates the joy and relief of getting this kind of wound.

Editor's Comment:
Opening lines of poem: 'In Cambrai battle I was shot | on the 30th of November last...'

Corporal 14269 John Hubert Fox, 2nd BN. Coldstream Guards. He enlisted on 21 Dec. 1914 at Sheffield, serving on the Western Front.