Lives in Cricket No 22 - Jack Mercer

18 was wounded by an exploding shell, whose fragments struck him in the left arm, shoulder and chest, and whose deafening noise caused him to lose hearing in his left ear. The soldier next to him was less fortunate; he was killed outright. Jack tumbled into the crater which the shell created, and he soon became covered by the debris from the explosion. As well as losing much of his hearing, he was disorientated and, at first, lay semi-conscious but increasingly aware that he had shrapnel in the upper part of his body. He steadily regained consciousness, but lay prone for the next 48 hours, listening through his undamaged right ear to the cries of anguish from other injured troops as well as the harrowing groans of those who were dying from their wounds. It was a truly appalling time, and with the Germans poised to advance, Jack was fearful of what would happen if he was taken prisoner. In those dark hours, he would be forgiven for wanting to be put out of his misery as he saw, through the flying dirt and clouds of smoke, the shells fly overhead. After a day of constant shelling and gunfire, the German counter-attack ceased as their attention switched to the south and the main battle which had started in earnest. Jack was forever grateful for this lull in activities as, to his sheer joy, another couple of troops – sent out largely to gather the bodies of the dead – found him in the crater. The pair duly dug Jack out, before helping him limp his way back to the medical auxiliaries’ base. Although he could walk, Jack had some nasty shrapnel wounds, had inhaled various types of gas and was still deaf in his left ear; so he was not in great shape. 11 Like countless others, he also had a form of shell-shock. This, together with his wounds, meant that when the regimental doctor at Fleurbaix carried out his assessment, Jack’s war was over. He was duly sent to a casualty clearing station where his wounds were treated, before being despatched on a hospital train back to the Channel coast. Later that summer he returned to Britain to recuperate at home in Shoreham. As his wounds eased, he gradually regained the use of his left arm, but his hearing never fully recovered. There were also some mental scars and, at first, Jack found it difficult to sleep at night, especially during the long, winter months as he had terrible flashbacks to his time in the crater. In an attempt to counteract this, he would pace around ‘Cranleigh’ until sheer exhaustion meant he could sleep. As he gradually regained strength, he was able to reflect on being one of the lucky ones to survive the manoeuvres at Richebourg, where his battalion suffered a total of 429 casualties, including 17 officers. 12 His brother Victor had also joined up, with the City of London Regiment. To Russia, with love 11 There were no large-scale gas attacks during the Battle of the Somme, and Jack was more likely to have been affected by explosive gases and other substances used in the counter-attacks. 12 The Battle of the Somme continued until November and proved to be one of the largest battles of the Great War. With an estimated 1.5 million casualties, it remains one of the world’s bloodiest military operations. The net result was that British troops advanced a mere two miles.