Peace from War

Veterans recovering from the mental and physical impacts of their military service by following in the footsteps of comrades who died some 200 years ago.

A new report by the charity Waterloo Uncovered has revealed how archaeological work on the battlefield of Waterloo is helping veterans and serving military personnel come to terms with their own experiences.

Published to mark the fifth anniversary of the charity, and coinciding with the 205th anniversary of the battle on June 18, 1815, the report highlighted the results of a nine-month pilot project. The Veterans and Military Personnel Support Programme was run in conjunction with the excavation on the Belgian battlefield, where Napoleon’s domination of Europe was finally ended.

Some 50 British and Dutch veterans and serving personnel took part in the dig last July, alongside a team of archaeologists led by Professor Tony Pollard, Director of the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology at the University of Glasgow.

The excavations examined key areas of the battlefield, including Hougoumont Farm - the scene of a famous episode where soldiers of the Scots and Coldstream Guards regiments foiled a French attack by forcing closed the gates. The dig found evidence of the destruction wrought on the buildings, as well as personal items such as uniform buttons from the defenders.

The team also examined the Mont-Saint-Jean Farm, the location of Wellington’s Field Hospital during the battle. So far the dig has given up grim evidence of the struggle to save lives, in the form of amputated limbs from the wounded bearing the marks of the surgeon’s saw.

In addition the research managed to uncover the ruins of the lost Chateau of Frichermont, located in woods on the Allied left wing. Incredibly, the sheer numbers of musket and cannon balls from the fierce fighting show just how close the French came to winning the battle. In all, more than 800 finds were made.

“There’s an extra dimension to working with veterans. Some of our team in Waterloo Uncovered have had first-hand experience of close-quarter fighting. You can be kneeling next to them in a trench on the dig and they’ll notice something you haven’t. That’s a uniquely valuable perspective for an archaeologist to have,” said Professor Pollard.

The archaeological work went hand-in-hand with a nine-month programme of recovery and rehabilitation for Veterans and Serving Military Personnel.

Participants in the Programme came from a variety of service backgrounds, from Chelsea Pensioners to serving soldiers. They were set personal goals to overcome challenges such as significant physical, or mental, injury and the struggle to adapt to civilian life.

These goals included: improving mobility and physical wellbeing; reducing social isolation; building confidence through achieving tasks; learning new skills; managing anxiety and improving mental wellbeing.

Findings from the evaluation process, intended to produce hard, measurable evidence of the impact of the programme, have revealed that 81 per cent of these goals were met “in full, or mostly” while 13 per cent of goals were met “in part”.

In addition, a respected method for measuring mental wellbeing, developed by the Universities of Warwick and Edinburgh was applied.

This revealed an average improvement of 28.8 per cent in the assessed mental wellbeing of participants by the end of the dig, and a sustained improvement of 20 per cent at the end of the nine-month programme.

The study also assembled a body of qualitative evidence of impact. One participant described the effect of the programme on herself:

“Waterloo Uncovered has given me a handrail to life – it has helped keep me focused while dealing with day-to-day stress.”

Support for the work of the charity has also come from Dame Clare Marx, Chair of the General Medical Council, who visited the dig in July 2019:

“Waterloo Uncovered is using a really practical, physical environment to help people with their lives, with their belonging, with their control of what they do,” she said.

Mark Evans, former Captain in the Coldstream Guards and now CEO of Waterloo Uncovered said: “Archaeology isn’t a panacea for all ills, but it can be massively positive for individuals. Our wellbeing and support team is made up of professionals with vast experience. This report shows the evidence of the benefits people can achieve, both in the short term and over a longer period.”