An Armourerʼs Tale - From National Service Days

Tear Gas

On one occasion we were exposed to tear gas. I don’t know why but it was deemed to be an important part of our training. We were taken to an isolated shed and put on our gas masks before entering the shed. We could feel the gas stinging round the edges of the gas mask and the room was filled with a white mist. Then we were told to take off our masks and immediately the gas had our eyes streaming and we were coughing and choking for about a minute before we were allowed outside. It was quite a while before the effects of the gas wore off.