Wartime Service
When war broke out in Europe, Rouse enlisted (8 August 1914), being assigned to the 24th London Regiment as a Private and assigned the number 2011. The Regiment kept him for training in England before his departure for France, and in the meantime Rouse married Lily May Watkins at St Saviour's Church, St Albans on 29 November.
Rouse arrived in France on 15 March 1915, and was stationed in Paris for some weeks before his unit was sent into battle. During this time, Rouse is known to have fathered a child. His unit was then committed to the Battle of Festubert, near Bethune, which began on 15 May. In a bayonet attack, Rouse came face to face with a German soldier and lunged at him but missed; the memory of waiting just for an instant for the enemy reply stayed with him. Also at this battle was Herbert John Hodgson, who was later to print the first subscriber's edition of Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T. E. Lawrence. Rouse and Hodgson are in a group of soldiers captured on a photograph that must have been taken in the weeks before the battle.
On the last day of the battle, a high explosive shell exploded close to Rouse's head, severely injuring him (he also had injuries to his thigh).
Read more about this topic: Alfred Rouse
Famous quotes containing the words wartime and/or service:
“The man who gets drunk in peacetime is a coward. The man who gets drunk in wartime goes on being a coward.”
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