THE STORY OF THE SOMME 22 | The Weather Turns - Private John Jackson

Welcome to THE STORY OF THE SOMME podcast series, which tells the story of the Somme Offensive in the words of those fighting on the Western Front and their families back home. The series was commissioned by the DEPARTMENT FOR DIGITAL, CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT and developed in partnership with the FIRST WORLD WAR CENTENARY BATTLEFIELD TOURS PROGRAMME and CHROMERADIO. It was first released to accompany the SOMME100 VIGIL at Westminster Abbey, held through the night of 30 June/1 July 2016 to mark the centenary of the opening of the Battle of the Somme. In this podcast, PRIVATE JOHN JACKSON of the Cameron Highlanders recalls how by the autumn of 1916 heavy rain had turned the battlefield into a sea of mud. John Jackson came from Glasgow and was working for the Caledonian Railway when war was declared. He enlisted with the 6th Battalion, Cameron Highlanders, with whom he would serve for over four years. Jackson saw action at Loos before arriving on the Somme in the autumn of 1916. SOURCE | Private 12768, Memoir of a Tommy, Professor Sir Hew Strachan. PRODUCTION | ChromeRadio for the DEPARTMENT FOR DIGITAL, CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT | Producer - Catriona Oliphant | Narrator - Nicholas Rowe | Reader - Shannon Worrall, Richmond Park Academy | The Last Post played by LSgt Stuart Laing, Welsh Guards on a First World War bugle.