Friday, November 6, 2020

Aberystwyth celebrity with family connections to WWII

Master of Ceremonies, Athro Gymraeg o fri, and Wardens Pantomime star Ioan Guile has provided us with this information about his Uncle Eddie Esaias (as it was spelt in the family), who came from Kenfig Hill near Bridgend.

Mr Esaias was stationed in Aberystwyth for a time whilst being trained on the ‘big guns’, as the following extract from the Glamorgan Gazette notes:



Eddie was left with a ‘lifelong tremor’ in his head as a result of the appalling noise of the guns.  According to a comment on a Reddit forum, reproduced below, ear protection was not a ‘health and safety issue’ at the time:

“Some hearing protection may have been used in the navy by gun crews, but in the armies, as far as I know, even artillerymen generally worked without any protection. I'm not sure that a study has ever been done on the percentages, but most every combat veteran of the war I have known was at least partially deaf, and some very deaf indeed. My own grandfather, who was an anti-aircraft gunner on a cruiser in the Pacific, reported ringing in his ears off-and-on for the remainder of his life; tinnitus, I should think. At the time, people probably didn't think much of it. Most hunters didn't wear hearing protection, and likely for the same reason as soldiers and sailors: before the shooting starts, you need to be able to hear at your very best, and there's rarely time to put earplugs in once it's gotten hot.” (‘Rittermeister’)

For a singer, this must have been an extra layer of hell to endure. In addition to the head tremor, Ioan remembers that his uncle may have suffered a degree of deafness as he had to concentrate very hard on conversations, and his face often looked as though he had to listen carefully to what was being said.  His voice was also affected, as if he had some kind of restriction around his ears, which made his voice sound constricted, hoarse or as if he was pulling back the sound, or swallowing it.  Ioan describes it as if he was ‘speaking inside his head’, as though constricted inside a tank or pill box, having to shout over the noise of guns or bombs perhaps?  His uncle never spoke of it, but this was how he had been left for the 25 years that Ioan knew him.  It highlights that, although the active war years and this project have finite terms, the effects on those who served were lifelong. 

As a side note, the undertaker business referred to in the second extract above is still extant and in the family, owned by Ioan’s cousins.  Eddie’s father was also a choirmaster.

I am currently trying to track down notice of the concert Mr Esaias took part in, as part of a general blog on entertainment in Aberystwyth in the war years.  It's possible that Mr Esaias was stationed at one of the gunnery points to defend the radar masts on Constitution Hill, mentioned in Will Troughton’s blog, although it may be difficult if not impossible to verify who staffed these huts.

Lynne Blanchfield

 

SOURCES

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1xarg5/did_soldiers_of_any_country_during_wwiwwii_use/

Glamorgan Gazette


funded by 




No comments:

Post a Comment

From "Refugees" to "Enemy Aliens" ~ Part Six

  Germans, Austrians and Czechs at Pantgwyn and in the Domestic Services in Aberystwyth and the surrounding areas during the Second World Wa...