Orcadians in the Trenches . . .

An exhibition telling the stories of Orkney men who fought in World War One opens at the Orkney Museum today, Saturday.

Orcadians in the Trenches: the War on Land explores the wartime experiences of several local men through stories told either in their own words or by members of their family. It gives a brief glimpse of the terrible conditions that the soldiers had to endure while on active service, from the cold, wet, rat and lice infested trenches of France and Belgium to the baking heat of the Middle East and Asia.

The exhibits on display are on loan from the families of the servicemen following an appeal for artefacts and stories launched by the Orkney Museum in March this year – and most of them have never been exhibited before.

Tom Muir, the exhibitions officer at the Orkney Museum, is pleased with the outcome of the appeal.

He said: “This exhibition touches on the lives of the Orkney men who volunteered or were conscripted into the army in World War One.

“Nothing could have prepared them for the brutality of the Western Front, where you constantly lived under the shadow of death. Shell-fire or snipers could end your life at any moment and you were always awaiting the order to go ‘over-the-top’.

“This exhibition could have been staged in so many countries all over the world; suffering has no respect for boarders or nationality. This is a commemoration of the generation that were the first to endure mechanised slaughter on an unprecedented scale.

“I hope that these men’s stories and the mementos that they have left behind will make the visitor stop for a moment and reflect on the enormity of war.”

Orcadians in the Trenches: the War on Land runs runs until Saturday, October 3.