Word war crime - the absentee hero

A hero try’s to save a young life but gets the long arm of the law on his tail 

Transcript

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World War Crime. This is a short little snippet of a podcast, a little series I fancy doing for a little while, to tell you some of the crimes that occurred during the First World War, how it affected soldiers on the Western Front, and what happened to them afterwards. I'd like to thank the British Newspaper Archives, Ancestry.com, the Commonwealth War Graves, and several other platforms to do so. So this will be a little podcast on a Friday afternoon you might want to listen to on the way home the short, sharp, sweet stories about soldiers during the Great War, and possibly might get some to go for the second. The Absent Hero, Thomas Trumper. Trumper had joined the army as part of the Royal Field Artillery in the January of 1912, aged just 17 and a half years old. He came from Forest Gate and would end up working with the Royal Field Artillery at Woolwich. So every day he could walk home from the barracks. Then at the outbreak of the First World War, on the 5th of November 1914, he would serve his time on the Western Front. For 160 days he would serve there before returning in April 1915 and then returning in July 1915. He was out in France when, on the 14th of September 1915, he severely wounded. He was sent home back to Woolwich, but his wounds were far too severe. He wouldn't be demobbed from the army. However, he'd be working in a labour corps as part of the depot. Working at Woolwich just round the corner from where he lived, he was able to wander to and from the barracks. However, in January 1916, this perhaps made him go unstuck, as he was placed on the absentees register, the absent hero of Forest Gate. On the 26th of January 1916, Thomas Frederick Trumper would be dragged into West Ham Police Station unconscious. It would soon be discovered that he was absent from the army. Thomas had joined the army in 1912, aged 17 and a half years old. Living in Forest Gate, he was part of the Royal Field Artillery, base at Woolwich just round the corner, a place that he could walk to day to day to and from work. At the outbreak of the First World War, in November 1914, he would be sent to France, staying there until the April, and then returning in the July of 1915. However, in September 1915, he was severely wounded and sent home. The injury is not enough to take him out of the army, but he wouldn't be able to serve on the front line again. He was transferred to the Labour Corps and just living round the corner from where he worked, he could live a more relaxed life, going to and from the barracks. However, he would become an absentee. When we think about the First World War, we think about the deserters and those who went AWOL, though if we look at the service records of soldiers, we can see that sometimes it was just a minor misdemeanour. Sometimes soldiers were missing for the sake of a couple of hours or maybe a couple of days, and what we need to remember is soldiers only received ten days' leave in their period of service, and that would be the moment they left France. So if they missed the troop train or the troop boat, sometimes they would be reprimanded. Though I'm sure that Thomas, only living around the corner from the barracks, he came and went freely as he liked. And police officers would be issued with these forms saying who was absent from the local area, and they would often check the paperwork whether they had a leave pass or the passes or relative paperwork to say they were in that area. However, on the 26th of January, close to midnight, at Cam Road in Stratford, Thomas was talking to a woman. She was in much distress and was standing peering into the river. He tried to get help, and a local constable came near. A crowd had gathered, and the constable told them to stand back and not go near, not go closer. The woman threw herself into the river. Shortly followed by Thomas jumping in to try and save her, he grabbed hold of her petticoat and held her for dear life by the edge of the bank. The constable unrolled his cape and put it down towards Thomas. He grabbed hold and holding between him and the woman they held on for dear life, the constable blew his whistle. In order to try and gain some attention and get some more help, and a woman from a local house came out and dropped a rope down towards Thomas. Thomas held on to the rope, but also holding onto the woman at the same time. The tide was very strong, and the woman was dragged away. Her lifeless body would be found several hours later. However, Thomas in this same predicament, the rope had gangled around his neck, and he would be pulled out of the river, unconscious. He was taken to West Ham Police Station, where he slowly gained and recovered his consciousness. However, sadly, the officers did a check on him and could see that Thomas was absent. He would receive a block in his pay for this period of absency. However, the local papers would rise him up as a hero as he tried and gallantly to try and help this poor woman. He married in March 1918. He would do a small stint at the front for a very short period of time, and then finally leave the army in 1920.