Eirian Lewis as a land girl in 1917
1. Photos of Eirian while on the Dole Farm in Lampeter, Carmenthenshire. At the age of 17 years my mother, Eirian was a land girl. The young men from the farms and the gardeners from the country estates in South Wales were fighting on the battlefields of France; many never to return. Eirian was doing her piece for the war effort in the Great War - 'the war to end all wars' . A generation of young men from the valleys of Wales were lost in the War.
2. Eirian's homesick letters home. Accounts of her experiences as a Land girl on Dole farm.
3 Eirian's account taken in her later years of her experiences as land girl in 1917. Though some of the photos are of poor quality Eirian makes reference to some of the details in them in her account.
4. Eirian's account of her experiences in War torn Britain in letters to a friend in America. These should be read at the same time as Siriol Lewis' evacuation in 1940 to Canada.
-
Feel None Left To Let Them Down.
-
England Set for War to a Finish
-
British Mettle Shown in letter
-
A Long Hard War.
-
British to fight War to Bitter End
-
British Thankful for American Aid
Connected with these articles is the account of Dr Raymond Jones's death during the battle of the Somme in 1916. From 1st July, the British had suffered 420,000 casualties. The French lost nearly 200,000 and it is estimated that German casualties were in the region of 500,000. General Sir Douglas Haig was responsible for the Somme offensive. Also connected is Siriol Lewis's evacuation to Canada in 1940 after the Dunkirk exodus and the Fall of France and her father's regiment in the First World War.