Today we drove to Fleet for our first vaccine injection. We’re still not sure about ‘boosting’ our already excellent immune systems but, if it’s going to be impossible to travel through Europe without changing our RNA then we decided to run the risk.
I was surprised at how smoothly it went. Well, apart from the old chap at the door who insisted on squirting poison on my hands. Next time I’ll wear gloves.
More exciting than having a needle shoved in my left arm was the WFA webinar tonight.
Last July, an early webinar I attended was given by Fraser Skirrow. It was about night raids. Tonight’s talk was also given by Fraser and was the ‘nitty gritty’ of a series of raids carried out in 1917, around Bullecourt in France.
Fraser describes himself as a Battalion Historian, something akin to my own preferred approach to history. Rather than looking at the big picture and how events affect the overall, he is looking down, almost at the individual, trying to see the story from the actual fighter’s point of view. That’s the kind of history I like.
Anyway, tonight’s webinar was an excellent walk through the planning and the action around a couple of raids told from not just the British side but also the German. As well as the British battalion diaries, he’s also accessed the German equivalents. Well, where they’ve survived.
I often despair when I am unable to find service records for the soldiers I research. The reason is generally because the Germans destroyed the records during bombing raids in WWII. It seems the same thing happened to the German records following the RAF bombing of Berlin.
Still, Fraser managed to find enough, intricate detail to make the story come alive for the hundreds of people watching. Even those of us with gradually aching arms.
