Topic: OGHAP

One of my big projects at the moment is what I call the "Orcadian Gordon Highlanders Accountability Project", or "OGHAP" for short. I've been working on behalf of the Gordon Highlanders Museum to document Orcadians who served with the Gordon Highlanders during the First World War, and am organizing that research into what will hopefully be my first book. At the moment, I'm in the process of organizing the information I have so that it's practical to use. I've written a draft conclusion, part of a draft preface, and am in the process of rewriting my introduction. The book will include some tables and lists for some of the less narrative-appropriate data.

The bulk of the book will be divided between two types of chapters: biographical sketches of those Orcadian Gordons for whom sufficient biographical information exists, and year-based chapters (1914 through 1919) that will discuss the big picture, the operational history of the Gordon Highlanders, and as many details as possible relative to the Orcadian Gordons. Hopefully, it'll be both a good little volume about the First World War itself, and a good little volume about the Gordons and Orcadians who served in the conflict.

This morning's news feed included an interesting selection from War is Boring: I Learned More About World War I From a Musical Than I Did in History Class. This reminded me of some of the other links I've collected about the First World War over the last couple of months, some of which will be incorporated into my book. Some of these are:

Lurdy, Flotta Blog: Buchanan Battery

Remembering Scotland at War: Fortress Orkney: Defending Scapa Flow

AFP: From gas to submarines, Great War was crucible for deadly innovation

Associated Press: Britain Still at War Over Legacy of World War I

The Independent: British incompetence in World War One has been overestimated. It's politicians, not the military, who deserve censure

The Guardian: First world war: 15 legacies still with us today

BBC: Viewpoint: 10 big myths about World War One debunked

BBC: How did so many soldiers survive the trenches?

BBC: WW1 soldiers' wills go online to mark centenary

As the project continues, I'll post more about the process and my progress in turning a bunch of raw data into a finished manuscript.