Coming Home

Damaged and destroyed buildings following the riots at Kinmel Park Camp, Wales

Following the Armistice, the Foresters were transferred to English camps for transport home. They waited with men from combat battalions and auxiliary services.

Efforts were made to send those with the longest service home first, but these policies proved difficult to implement. There were many thousands of men, and the necessary ships were simply not available.

For most of the men in camps, there was very little to do except endure routine sentry duty and chafe under the military discipline that many felt unnecessary. Boredom led quickly to frustration.

Overcrowded camps, no pay, and worry about family and jobs at home made the wait interminable. When other units, who had been in France for shorter periods, were shipped out first, frustration swelled into discontent. In at least one case, it boiled over into a riot.