William Collins

Bill worked in a shop and as a gardener before he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1913 as a stretcher bearer. He served with the First Cavalry Field Ambulance on the western front from 1915 to 1918.

Collins was one of the ‘Old Contemptibles’, a member of the BEF who saw action in the first months of the war. By 1918, he had been promoted to sergeant and was being considered for a position as a commissioned officer.

Early in October, I was ordered to go back and be interviewed by Surgeon General O’Keefe, who was director of medical services for the Fifth Army. The casualties among medical officers had been absolutely horrific. In battle, they were sitting ducks. They were being wounded or killed faster than replacements could be trained so the idea was that experienced non-commissioned officers like myself, who had been doing first aid treatment on the battlefield during the war, would be commissioned with battalions, in order to save qualified doctors for units a bit further back.

The interview was quite short; my record was in front to him and he was examining it. Then he turned and asked me what my father was. I told him he was a builder, and sometimes a builder’s labourer – and that more or less concluded the interview. I might be all right myself, but I don’t think he thought my family was commissioned rank material. I just took it in my stride. I didn’t mind. I could have done the job, but it wasn’t an overweening ambition of mine!