The First World War Stories of Corporal Alexander Norman 2nd Battalion Essex Regiment As told to his daughter, Mary Cole Growing up during the Second World War, Mary Cole's father Alexander Norman would tell her tales of his own experiences in the trenches of the First World War. After his death in 1974, Mary set about researching the background to the stories she had heard her entire life, making pilgrimages to the battlefields he fought on as she did, to create this volume recording his stories and experiences.