Most soldiers of the old regular army had a vigorous interest in sex, and the likes of Frank Richards were usually prepared to engage a fleeting target at a moment’s notice. Wartime soldiers ranged from the determinedly moral to those who quickly discovered an appetite for casual sex which might have lain dormant but for the war.

Patriotic girls in England were often happy to oblige departing warriors, and one of Eric Hiscock’s comrades, Corporal Thomas (his real name Reginald, but universally known as John), embarked upon a lifelong obsession after a barmaid from the Eagle and Child public house in Oxford slipped into his sentry box outside the Corn Exchange to make the Ultimate Sacrifice.

He constantly volunteered for guard thereafter, and would stagger off duty ‘exultant but weary’.

Source:

Holmes, Richard. "Heart and Soul." Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front, 1914-1918. London: HarperCollins, 2004. 596. Print.

Further Reading:

Francis Philip Woodruff DCM, MM / Frank Richards