The Appearance of a Front Line Soldier

Teacher’s notes

The appearance of a front line soldier

This is a rather telling portrait of a soldier straight out of the front line. At first glance it looks like the kind of picture that many men had taken to sent home to their wives, sweethearts and families but ask the pupils to look more closely. Ask them to look for clues as to what the real story is.

Although he has no rifle or pack the ammunition pouches on his webbing are full. The pupils can count the clips of bullets in his left-hand pouches. Note how the weight of his ammunition pulls on the straps of his webbing. No soldier would walk around in camp carrying all of that weight.

Note that his uniform is not very clean and his appearance is rather dishevelled. His right-hand breast pocket bulges, perhaps it is his pocket bible. Over his left shoulder he wears a Lanyard. This was worn to help identify his battalion when units became mixed up in the confusion of an attack.

Ask the pupils to study the soldier’s face and note his tired and strained expression. He does not look at the camera. His eyes are focused on the middle distance. In the Vietnam War the phrase ‘the thousand yard stare’ was coined to describe an expression such as this.

Next, ask the pupils to look at the medal ribbon newly sewn on above his left breast pocket. Finally, draw the pupil’s attention to the soldier’s sleeves. He wears the single stripe of a Lance Corporal but above that he wears the double stripes of a full Corporal. However, he has not had time to properly unpick his single stripe and sew on his new stripes and they are merely ‘tacked’ on.

The story told by the picture becomes clear. This soldier had performed an act of bravery shortly beforehand. He has been awarded a medal and promoted ‘in the field’. He had then been summoned before an official photographer. However, he has not had time to properly sew on his new stripes after his recent promotion.

The picture is of Corporal H. Martin, of the 1/4th Battalion, following the presentation of his DCM (Distinguished Conduct Medal) for capturing a German Officer and three other German soldiers single-handed on the night of 8-9th September 1915. Martin, a former regular soldier in the Regiment enlisted in the Territorials in 1913.

Corporal Martin survived the war.