£39k for WWI diary describing horror of the trenches
A Tommy’s harrowing First World War diary has sold for £39,000.
Norman Gray, who was sent to the Western Front aged 19 and fought on the Somme and at Passchendaele, wrote of the carnage he witnessed – including seeing two friends killed by a shell as they lined up for breakfast.
The diary, which belonged to a collector, was tipped to sell for £8,000 but sparked a bidding war.
His writings tell of the futility of troops repeatedly advancing across No Man’s Land. On July 31, 1917 – the first day of Passchendaele – it reads: “That night we had 30 reinforcements sent us but by the morning they were all casualties.”
Driver Gray of Sutton, Surrey, served in the Royal Field Artillery. He survived the war but was shot in the elbow in 1918.
Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge, of Devizes, Wilts said: “One could argue writings like these should be mandatory reading for schoolchildren and politicians.”