What did you do in the war, Granddad?

[Mike Cecil]

A more in-depth study will be very interesting, thanks for alerting us, Tony.

I touched on the subject in 'Warriors' Chapel', where, in a group of just 123 WW1 volunteers that were the subject of the book, 15 men required treatment for VD, some multiple times, for a total of 1,187 days ineffective - the same as one man being unavailable for duty for 3 years and 3 months! And that does not count the on-cost of such infection - the medical and logistics systems having to devote time and resources to looking after those individuals.

Dr Peter Stanley devotes a chapter to the subject in his 2010 book 'Bad Characters: Sex Crime Mutiny Murder in the AIF' - an excellent book. According to Peter, the AIF's infection rate during WW1 was about 144 per thousand, while the Brits had 24/1000, Canada 49/1000 and New Zealand at 134/1000. 1 ADH at Bulford UK was kept pretty busy!

The AIF were rated the 'bad boys of the Empire' for many reasons, the VD infection rate being just one aspect.

Mike