28/7/1914

[Nicos]

I forgot to mention that yesterday was the 100th year anniversary of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand....leading to the start of WW1.

Perhaps we could reflect on the consequences of that whilst pottering away in the garden/plot?

Hard to think I'm old enough to have a grandfather who was involved as a teenager in the fighting....knowing what I know now, I'm not surprised he wouldn't talk about it.

[Nicos]

Anyone got any family history they would be happy to share with us about WW1?

I have a photo of my grandfather in uniform and a piece of jewellery made from a piece of shell casing.
Also his medals ( Welsh Regiment) and Sergeant stripes- and a brown hanky of his.

He did bring back an Egyptian cloth wall hanging which I still have!

His Family Bible says in the front that he went to France on active duty 6th July 1915 ( aged 19) and sailed on the Shropshire to Salonica on 19th October and returned 4th September 1918 on the Arizona.

I understand he was at the Somme at one point and that when he came home he suffered regularly from Malaria.

He's the grandpa who introduced me to gardening- and I love him dearly for that.

I do wish I could find out more about when and where he was during WW1

Anyone else happy to share their family history about WW1??

[Knight of Albion]

My grandfather won the Military Medal for rescuing a wounded comrade under fire - and then going back out to rescue another wounded comrade...

[marchogaeth]

Yes my granddad was gassed and shell shocked, something that was never discussed even among his children so us grand kids had no chance of seeing him as anything other than that strange old man. My mum and her brothers and sisters were totally dependant on the charity of others when they were growing up because he could rarely work at anything for any length of time until he managed to get a job in the local post office and granny managed to rent a small shop on the strength of his wages. What happened to him coloured the lives of three generations. I can't stand most of the "pomp" (? is that the word I want?) that goes with remembering wars because people never seem to see the truly enormous cost whatever they say.

[Greenleaves]

My Granddad escaped the horrors of the trenches in WW1 as he was a merchant seaman.. but was always something he would never discuss as he lost 3 brothers

[marchogaeth]

My Granddad escaped the horrors of the trenches in WW1 as he was a merchant seaman.. but was always something he would never discuss as he lost 3 brothers

My other grandad was too young but he lost a brother. My daughter went to the war graves with school a few years ago. They actually went to the Welsh Cemetery, no one she travelled with had bothered to find out if they had relatives there and yet every village has its memorial stone and children grow up with the story of Hedd Wyn. I will always be very grateful to the member of staff who made sure she got to visit Ieper and find her great, great uncle's name but he must have been glad someone had bothered I should think!

[Dorothy rouse]

My grandfather fought in the Boar War, he was just 17 years old. He later fought in WW1, and was sent to Cape Town, SA, where my son now lives. I also have at least 2 great uncles, who fought in WW1, one fought and was injured at Blood River, South Africa. I am going to be researching more, as am sure there will be others. What. Gets to me is they were so young, and thought they were going on an adventure, poor souls.

[Dorothy rouse]

Apparently my husbands grandad, fought in France, was actually left for dead on the battlefield, another soldier realised he wasn't dead and helped him, he never really real it recovered from the trauma and never spoke about it.

[Dorothy rouse]

I do wish I could find out more about when and where he was during WW1

Nicos,don't know if you have done any 'family research' , but there are a lot of 'sites' that can help you. Don't know if I'm allowed to mention here, so just delete if I'm not! but Ancestry. Have a lot of military records, and you can have a 2 weeks 'free subscription', but there are others, if you do a search, if you have any details at all you will be able to find out more.

[marchogaeth]

Grandad did the Boar War, too. Actually did join up to get boots as didn't have any - the first time he tried was 14 and they sent him home til he was old enough to try again!

[Nicos]

Dotty -yup...thanks for that...I did about 5 years on Ancestry ( yes, you can mention it as it's not a gardening site) but haven't been a member for a while. Lookalike they have more information on there since....will look into that again....thanks.

Oh....and reading back at others posts I have pressed the 'like' button as a 'thank you for sharing' and not because I liked what you have said...if you get my gist ?

[mothhawk]

Neither of my grandfathers became soldiers. One was an ironstone quarryman, a reserved occupation as iron was needed in quantity for the war machine, and the other was a farmer. I believe his brothers joined up, and he had to stay home to look after the family farm of 20 cows (hand milked, don't forget) plus pigs and arable crops.

[mothhawk]

I shall be putting a candle in the window on 4th August, the day England declared war on Germany.

"The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime" Sir Edward Grey, Foreign Secretary.

The lights to go out across the UK to mark first world war's centenary | World news | theguardian.com

[Nicos]

My other grandpa didn't see active service, but worked as a Central Lathe Turner at MetroVicks in Trafford. Not quite sure what he made but they made bombs for Lancaster bombers in WW2

[arpoet]

My Grandpa also was in Salonica, and then into Ireland.
The only thing I remember he saying about Salonica was that's where he learnt to keep his head down and his gob shut.