served at Vimy , Passchendaele and the other large battle I can never remember the name of for some reason
wounded 3 times
picture is a scan of the pic of him in a hospital ward
standing beside him are the King and Queen
my father managed to get a copy of his service record - it's about an inch thick but it took my great grandfather years just to prove his service and be reconized for it
sadly , vets getting a raw deal after their service seems to be nothing new
he passed away a couple of years before I was born so I never had the chance to know him but I've been told he too never spoke of the war except to say he knew he had killed a man - he had shot into the dark at a sound along the wires outside the trench and in the morning there was a dead german solder stuck on the wire in the area the sound had come from the night before
this and the fact he had brought his family here , including my grandmother when she was about eight , before the war is about all I know of the man I'm sorry to say
when my father passed last year I found the copy of that service record so one day I'll hopefully know him a little better after I have a real chance to sit and read that record
-- Edited by DJD on Saturday 12th of November 2016 01:09:41 AM
thanks, sadly , just one story of far far too many to be told of all our Vets
my father said it took his grandfather 16 years to be reconized for his service - I can only imagine the frustration he must have felt especially as he'd even been decorated a couple of times
the phrase "knew he had killed a man" is mostly his own words as repeated to me so I think that showed a certain personal character in the words "a man"
and as a result of his service our family will have nothing to do with supporting the red cross
after wandering lost in the cold, rain and fog with some of his buddies for 3 or 4 days they came across a red cross tea wagon
as service men they could not get even a simple cup of warm water to drink from the red cross wagon
so we've always supported the salvation army as a result
-- Edited by DJD on Sunday 13th of November 2016 05:54:04 AM
My father served WW1 . He is the only first war vet that our family ever talked about . We had family members fight in the desert countries , Italy and across Europe .
If you asked my Uncle Laughlin about his service . Most times he would reply , We,re Scots , down thru time we,ve been paid or told to kill just about every kind of human on the planet . ..77.
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I,m as cool as Milner , but axeually a bit more like Beckwith
after wandering lost in the cold, rain and fog with some of his buddies for 3 or 4 days they came across a red cross tea wagon
as service men they could not get even a simple cup of warm water to drink from the red cross wagon
so we've always supported the salvation army as a result
-- Edited by DJD on Sunday 13th of November 2016 05:54:04 AM
Don't blame you at all, John, and I agree with you about the Salvation Army. If you check the records, you'll find how much money the big shots from Red Cross, United Way, and all the other so called charities take home, compared to the Salvation Army. It's a bloody disgrace.
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If brains were wire, some couldn't short circuit a firefly.
My father took me along a few times when I was very young to Westminster Hospital in London to hand out red cross cigarettes, lifesavers, socks and razors to the Veteran residents. These few visits burned the reality and sacrifice of war into my brain. Thank You Thank You for your sacrifice.
