I'm British, so as was my GG-Grandfather. And I put 'machine gunner' in inverted commas as that's the only bit of information I got from my source - nothing on any battalion/campaigns etc., though he would have been in the European theatre; not the Ottoman lines.
What challenges would he have faced on a daily basis?
What sort of uniform would he have used?
What sort of machinery and armaments would he have been commissioned with?
Who would have been his closest friends in the trenches and what were their roles?
I'd just love as much detail as possible really about this role in the army, just so I can put myself in his shoes during that time.
Thanks in advance for any response.
Hello there! As your question is related to looking for identification/information regarding military personnel, our Guide on Military Identification may be of use to you. It provides a number of different resources, including how to request service records from a number of national agencies around the world, as well as graphical aids to assist in deciphering rank, unit, and other forms of badges or insignia. While the users here may still be able to lend you more assistance, hopefully this will provide a good place to start!
That's a bit tricky to answer, and would be mostly speculation, without knowing a few more details, such as when and where he served, what unit(s) he was in, and his rank and specific role.
A passed-down story that your relative was a 'machine gunner' could potentially imply quite a few things. He could have been a Lewis gunner, No.2, or ammo bearer, which would likely put him right in the front line as part of an infantry platoon. He could have been part of a Vickers team, which again could mean service directly on the fighting line, or in a number of roles slightly further back. Or it might be shorthand for being in the Machine-Gun Corps, which could cover anything from firing or directly supporting a machine gun, to being an MG officer, to working in a depot behind the lines or a training ground back in England.
I'd recommend a couple of books that give a not-too-dry overview of personal experiences on a machine gun team:
With a Machine Gun to Cambrai by George Coppard. Coppard was a member of a Vickers MG team on the Western Front​.
The Last Fighting Tommy by Harry Patch. Patch was a member of a Lewis Gun team, and became famous as the last surviving British veteran of the trenches.