World War I: My First Real Job

1539 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Australian nurses world war 1

I was about 23 years old when the Great War started in 1914. I had just finished up studying accounting at Cambridge University and had started working as an accountant for a bank. I did not really enjoy my job. It was kind of boring as I was doing the same thing every day. I realized that it was my first real job but I knew from the first few days that this was not wanted to do with my life as every week was the same. I went to church on Sunday, and to work on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. On Saturday I tried to do something fun and then it would be Sunday again and I would dread going to work the next day. One Sunday at church, as I heard my priest talking about the War, I thought this would be a way for me to change my life. In this moment, I decided I was going to join the Army. I was young and naive …show more content…

I could finally go home to see my family and friends back in Great Britain. I wanted to leave immediately but my superiors ordered me to stay and help take down and disassemble the trenches and hospitals. It was tiring, almost more tiring than saving people’s lives. But it was worth it because the faster that we packed up, the faster that I could go home. The others and I worked hard and finished in only a couple of weeks. I was then able to go back to England, on the first boat back to England. I finally saw my family after over 4 years of only letters. I was finally home with my people. During my experience as an ambulance driver, I realized that the nurses and ambulance drivers during the War were just as important as the soldiers in the war because they saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians during the 4 years that the war occurred (7). I also realized that saving someone’s life was the most satisfying thing I have ever done in my 28 years of life. I was so happy that I listened to my gut and enlisted in the British army, even though I then became an ambulance

Show More
Related

  • Life and Suffering in The Trenches

    1694 Words  | 4 Pages

    World War I, also known as the Great War, lasted from the summer of 1914 until the late fall of 1918. The war was fought between the Allies, which consisted mainly of the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire, and the Central Powers, which consisted mainly of the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria (Alliances - Entente and Central Powers). In total, it is estimated that twelve million civilians and nine million combatants died during this horrific and devastating war (DeGroot 1). When the war first began in 1914, many people thought that it would be a war of movement that would quickly be over. However, that changed when the Germans, who were trying to reach and capture the city of Paris in France, were forced to retreat during the Battle of the Marne in September 1914 (Ellis 10). German General von Falkenhayn, who felt that his troops must at all cost hold onto the parts of France and Belgium that they had overtaken, ordered his men to dig in and form defensive trench lines (Ellis 10). The Allies could not break through the enemies lines and were forced to create trenches of their own (Ellis 10). This was only the beginning of trench warfare. A war of movement had quickly come to a standstill on the Western Front. A massive trench line, 475 miles long, quickly spread and extended from the North Sea to the Swiss Frontier (Ellis 10). With neither side budging, soldiers were forced to live in the most miserable of conditions. Simply put, life in the trenches was a living hell. A lieutenant of the 2nd Scottish rifles wrote, “No one who was not there can fully appreciate the excruciating agonies and misery through which the men had to go [through] in those da...

    Read More

  • Australian Enlistment to World War I

    1429 Words  | 3 Pages

    The First World War or World War 1 was a conflict between Britain and Germany, which spread over Europe predominantly beginning on the 28th of July 1914 until the 11th of November 1918. AS soon as the war began, Prime Minister Andrew Fisher's government pledged full support for Britain in an effort to defend Britain or the “Mother Country”. As enlistment came up for Australian men, thousands people across the country rushed to enlist for what they thought would be an opportunity to adventure Europe with the war supposedly ending before Christmas. With the propaganda at the government’s advantage, they could easily manipulate the Australian’s public view on what life, as a soldier would be like. As the pain of loss began to strike the citizens of Australia, views on what war was like changed and reality began to hit. This meant enlistment around Australia was significantly reduced especially after Gallipoli where there were the most casualties, which hit Australia hard. As time grew on

    Read More

  • NJROTC

    647 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although I grew up in a military family, I never saw myself going into a military career. Up until I was about fourteen years old, I planned on being a marine biologist in Hawaii. Sounds nice, right? Well, at the end of my eighth grade year I decided that I might as well join NJROTC, because all of my friends were doing it and it seemed okay. I have to say, looking back, I was quite naive. Joining NJROTC was the smartest and most valuable decision I have made to this day.

    Read More

  • Life in the Trenches of World War I

    1635 Words  | 4 Pages

    From early in the war, in May of 1914, Blunden recalled his experience in the trenches of France. Structured with sandbag walls, the Old British Line in which the men were stationed was only a frail comfort, as the trenches were often only one row deep with no additional protection against debris caused by artillery shells. Communication between the between the front line and the Old British Line was provided some covered by through the Cover Trench, although Prior’s account of returning from The Island, the front line, states that he had to pause every two minutes to lay in a ditch along the road to avoid the infamous German machine guns. The Germans bombarded the Cover Trench with heavy fire and large shells over the farmhouse and its residents, including children. Because the Germans were known for using gas, Blunden and his men underwent training to prepare for attacks. After completing this course, he was sent to the dugout near Cuinchy Keep, which was described as “dirty, bloodthirsty and wearisome,” primarily due to the number of mines which had already been exploded, and that it was not completely finished. However, when fighting in the trenches, “There was nothing for it but to copy experience, and experience was nothing but a casual protection.”

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative Essay: Fighting The War At Home

    1358 Words  | 3 Pages

    Now that I am home, I am surrounded by family and friends. I have a wife and children. I see them, and hear them. They are right here in my life, just as I wished every single day while at war, but now even though I see them and hear them, I

    Read More

  • The Things They Carried

    1087 Words  | 3 Pages

    Each soldiers experience in the war was devastating in its own way. The men would go home carrying the pictures and memories of their dead companions, as well as the enemy soldiers they killed. “They all carried emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing- these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight.” These were the things that weighed the most, the burdens that the men wanted to put down the most, but were the things that they would forever carry, they would never find relief from the emotional baggage no matter where they went.

    Read More

  • Love Letters to My Husband

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    The air was warm, the beams of sunlight shined on my skin, and the sweet laughter of my daughter came as she ran about. I could hear the bark of the neighbor’s dog in the distance, the scraping sound of a jogger's sneakers on the gravel sidewalk and I could smell the sweet aroma of the ripening peaches coming from the tree in our backyard. It was a brilliant summer day just like any other. My husband, Matthew, pulled in. Our daughter ran to him as he walked up the drive, “Daddy, Daddy,” she shouted as she wrapped her arms around him, embracing him with love. My husband sat beside me and began to speak. My heart began to beat slowly and erratically at first, my eyes began to burn in their sockets and a lump rose in my throat. The hair on my arms stood on end as my eyes began to fill with tears. “I got orders babe, I’m going to be shipped out in eight days.” These words my husband spoke would be the begging of a whole new life, a whole new fear. This day my life changed forever. On this day I learned my husband was going to be deployed.

    Read More

  • Nationalism And Nationalism

    1339 Words  | 3 Pages

    World War I, also known as “The Great War”, was a global war that revolved mainly around Europe. It took place from 1914 to 1918. This was a very brutal war that caused many casualties. The soldiers who survived experienced severe trauma and mental discomfort. This trauma was a direct result of the violence and agony they experienced during the war.

    Read More

  • Narrative Essay About Veterans

    532 Words  | 2 Pages

    One by one, each man and woman came up and shared their heart-wrenching story. The experience of each Veteran is different, but the bravery it took to overcome obstacles during the war is the same. I felt immense pride being able to sit in the same room full of the courageous veterans who risked their lives for me, my family and this country.

    Read More

  • Quit Valley Forge Dbq

    621 Words  | 2 Pages

    All those soldiers went through so much, they were too far in the war to quit. In that way, a soldier would stay to carry on those who lost their lives in battle.

    Read More

  • World War 1 Dbq

    481 Words  | 1 Pages

    “War is unorganized murder, and nothing else” (Harry Patch). In World War 1, which was first called the Great War, there were many causes of the war breaking out. The Great War started August 1st 1914, days after the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophia, when they visited Bosnia. Many soldiers went to war for no reason but to fight for their country. The Great War was not only affected by the soldiers, but also by the civilians as well.

    Read More

  • The Presentation of the Inspector in An Inspector Calls

    1394 Words  | 3 Pages

    At the age of twenty, and at the outbreak of war, in 1914, he joined

    Read More

  • The First World War: A Brief History with Documents

    860 Words  | 2 Pages

    The First World War, also known as the Great War, began in about 1914 and went on until 1918. This brutal war was an extremely bloody time for Europe and the soldiers that fought in it. These men spent their days in trenches holding down bases and taking in attacks from all sides. The soldier's only free time was consumed with writing letters to those on the home front. The letters they wrote contain heart breaking stories of how their days were spent and the terrible signs of war. The War consumed them and many of them let out all their true feelings of war in their letters to loved ones. In The First World War: A brief History With Documents we can find some of these letters that help us understand what the First World War might have been like for these young and desperate soldiers.

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative: My Experience In The Military

    712 Words  | 2 Pages

    When I was seventeen I nervously traveled about 350 miles from my sleepy little home town of Freedom, Wyoming to the relatively enormous city of Boise, Idaho to go to the Military Entrance Processing Station. This wasn 't the first time I had been this far from home by myself, but it was the first time I was making adult decisions without my parents involvement. When it came time for me to choose my job in the army the counselors presented me with a long list that I qualified for. I got tired of scrolling and reading so I chose the first job that I actually understood. I returned home and excitedly told my parents that I would be an infantry soldier. My dad 's response to this might be considered a little less than heart warming “You dumb ass. Why didn 't you choose

    Read More

  • Army Strong

    948 Words  | 2 Pages

    [Actually,] I had so many reasons for wanting to do this.  The first was for money.  The military was willing to train me, feed me, house me, and when I was back home give me cash for college, "up to" forty thousand dollars.  At that time I thought that was an incredible deal.  Where else in the world could I find an opportunity like this one?  [Yet t]he price I would pay wouldn't be worth "up to" forty thousand.  Another great reason for joining the Army was to get in shape.  I had visions about this ultra lean and strong body I would get from running five miles a day.  I was also looking forward to the overall experience of inner strength, confidence, and pride in my country.  As much as I was excited about doing something different and brave, I was also full of fear.

    Read More

More about World War I: My First Real Job

Open Document