'Stretcher Bearer' by Peter MacKenzie

Last night I attended the play 'Stretcher Bearer', in Feilding, written and performed by Peter MacKenzie, telling the story of his grandfather Bill Smith. It was a play that reopened the Feilding Little Players Theatre, after major earthquake strengthening work.

Peter MacKenzie has meticulously researched this work, which revolves around the life of Bill Smith, originally a local boy from Taonui, who became a stretcher bearer in WW1. It was a serious work, revolving as it did around the realities of everyday life on the battlefields of WW1, and I am glad I was able to be there with friends, not alone.

I was unprepared for the personal connection I would end up feeling during the performance of this work. Two of my great-uncles died in WW1. James Riordan was wounded in the Battle of the Somme on 22 September 1916, was admitted and transferred to 38 'Cas Clg Stn'- which I now know means Casualty Clearing Station- and subsequently to No 18 General Hospital. He died of his wounds on 11 October 1916 and is buried in Etaples. John Francis Payn was killed in action on 3 October 1918, in the last weeks of the war. He was initially buried in a cemetery near Crevecour-sur-l'Escault, near where huge battles took place over a bridge near a canal, the taking of which was seen as vital towards winning the war.

(I wrote about visiting the cemeteries where both these great-uncles lie back here.)

As it happened, Bill Smith was a stretcher bearer both in the Battle of the Somme, and near the canal where late battles were fought. Stretcher bearers, perhaps even Bill himself, would have carried James Riordan back to the casualty clearing station. And other stretcher bearers would have retrieved the body of John Francis Payn, buried now in Flèsquieres Hill British Cemetery.

I had never before thought of the role of the stretcher bearers in the last days of my two great-uncles. Bill Smith's story added another dimension to my understanding of their wartime experiences. I am grateful to Peter MacKenzie for writing and performing this extraordinary work. And when Bill Smith's grand-daughter-in-law sang the Ode, I could barely hold back my tears.