The Bombing Course

My grandfather, John (Jack) S. Lithgow was born around 1899-1900 in Scotland. When war broke out, he was studying at Hutchinson's Grammar School, a private school in Glasgow. His family were fairly affluent, Jack had 3 brothers and their father was an architect. His father had to give his permission to enable Jack to join up as he was underage. In October 1917, Jack was sent on a course to be trained in bombing. The note book he kept contains interesting notes, such as information on how a spade could be used as a weapon and diagrams of trenches showing that they had become quite sophisticated by then. The note book illustrates the sort of information being used to train soldiers and the degree of sophistication in what soldiers were being told. The tutor's note at the end of the diary 'very good work' suggests that Jack might have been better than average. Time and care were going into learning and instruction, despite the pressures of war. Jack went to Arras with B Regiment and survived the war. His father's business collapsed after the war (possibly due to rising labour costs with the shortage of men) and when Jack was demobilised, he did manual labour such as building roads and digging graves. He went on to do quite well, delayed marriage until he was financially secure and married aged 30, to a woman he had met when he was 16. Their son was too young to fight in the Second World War.