How did our Grandparents cope ?
- Thread starter Euromobil
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True story.
My wife’s great great uncle James was killed only 21 on the Somme.
We were the first family members ever to see his grave at caterpillar hill cemetery.
We arrived on the second of September 2015 to find he was killed that same date 100 exactly years ago. We did not plan this !!
Spooky or what ?
Phil
My wife’s great great uncle James was killed only 21 on the Somme.
We were the first family members ever to see his grave at caterpillar hill cemetery.
We arrived on the second of September 2015 to find he was killed that same date 100 exactly years ago. We did not plan this !!
Spooky or what ?
Phil
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Euromobil
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We used to volunteer out there, maintaining a site, one day browsing a CWGC cemetery my wife got goosebumps and said 'I'm not alone, there's someone with me' walking back I saw the first grave was a soldier with her maiden name, from Hampshire like us.
PeteH
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Google the Song. Green Fields of France (or Willie McBride). It`s one that always makes the hair stand on the back of the neck. I have it on a CD by a Singer called Geordie Jack. But I understand the Fureys did it too, plus others.
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A slightly different view on WW1.
We moved into our new house which unlike the previous one didn’t have any fitted bedroom furniture
An old couple that were friends with my mum asked if we could use an old bedroom set whilst we fitted out the bedrooms.
Anyway months passed and in the early hours Diane and myself were woken up by loud banging both doors on the tall-boy were swinging back and forth but stopped once we put the lights on?
Next day after work curiosity made me have a look at the tall boy eventually finding a hidden drawer underneath inside I found a marriage certificate and lots of letters that were written and posted from the trenches.
Once I realised what they were I phoned my mum as I’d never met the old couple only to find that the old chap had died that night his wife was reunited with the letters at an appropriate time.
Still got the tall boy in the shed as I don’t like to get rid of it.
We moved into our new house which unlike the previous one didn’t have any fitted bedroom furniture
An old couple that were friends with my mum asked if we could use an old bedroom set whilst we fitted out the bedrooms.
Anyway months passed and in the early hours Diane and myself were woken up by loud banging both doors on the tall-boy were swinging back and forth but stopped once we put the lights on?
Next day after work curiosity made me have a look at the tall boy eventually finding a hidden drawer underneath inside I found a marriage certificate and lots of letters that were written and posted from the trenches.
Once I realised what they were I phoned my mum as I’d never met the old couple only to find that the old chap had died that night his wife was reunited with the letters at an appropriate time.
Still got the tall boy in the shed as I don’t like to get rid of it.
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Neckender
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My Great uncle Bert was killed on the Somme aged 23.
John.
John.
When I started school in 1966, my first English teacher was MISS Cunningham
She must have been in her late 60's (although we all thought she was well over 100 years old)
She wore an engagement ring, but no wedding ring.
I found out some years later that her fiancee had been killed on the Somme, therefore she had never married as she was 'promised' to another. Sad.
She must have been in her late 60's (although we all thought she was well over 100 years old)
She wore an engagement ring, but no wedding ring.
I found out some years later that her fiancee had been killed on the Somme, therefore she had never married as she was 'promised' to another. Sad.
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Interesting that there is only one Willie McBride who died during what we call the Battle of the Somme; Rifleman William John McBride of the 8th Service (Pals) Battalion (East Belfast). He died on 2nd July but has no known grave being commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial (Pier 15). There is a Pvt William McBride in the cemetery at Authuille but he died in April 1916. That still fits Eric Bogles song. Whether the songwriter ever went to a war cemetery is unknown as those who have will know that his "countless white crosses mute in the sand doesn't accurately reflect the headstones that were erected. That being said I have sung the song quietly in cemeteries both on the Somme and Ypres.
His other Great War song, The Band Played Waltzing Matilda also has an inaccuracy in that the subject of that song says he was given a tin hat and gun before going to Gallipoli in 1915. Helmets were first issued in 1916 in time for the Somme offensive.
Never mind both good songs.
I will know crawl back to the Village of Much Pedantry
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I do prefer the Fureys with Davy Arthurs version as they altered the words form Eric Bogles original song & I think they flow better.
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I actually came across a you tube of him a few months ago,performing outdoors live somewhere in europe & he did outline how & were he was to get the original inspiration to write the songInteresting that there is only one Willie McBride who died during what we call the Battle of the Somme; Rifleman William John McBride of the 8th Service (Pals) Battalion (East Belfast). He died on 2nd July but has no known grave being commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial (Pier 15). There is a Pvt William McBride in the cemetery at Authuille but he died in April 1916. That still fits Eric Bogles song. Whether the songwriter ever went to a war cemetery is unknown as those who have will know that his "countless white crosses mute in the sand doesn't accurately reflect the headstones that were erected. That being said I have sung the song quietly in cemeteries both on the Somme and Ypres.
His other Great War song, The Band Played Waltzing Matilda also has an inaccuracy in that the subject of that song says he was given a tin hat and gun before going to Gallipoli in 1915. Helmets were first issued in 1916 in time for the Somme offensive.
Never mind both good songs.
I will know crawl back to the Village of Much Pedantry
** It was also the one where he pointed out how well the Fureys had done with it but they had failed to register title to " The Green Fields of France" so he had
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klaatu
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The Davy Arthur and Fureys one is my favourite. Million times better than mine
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I've actually just come across another one where he does say that the link you showed for Willie McBride in Authille is the one that he used. This is a memorial concert in 2018 in memory of John Campbell Munro who used to play acoustic guitar with Eric & was also a great folk singer & writer .The Davy Arthur and Fureys one is my favourite. Million times better than mine
My grandfather was one of them. Also his 2 brothers. All survived. Grandfather awarded the Military Medal.
Rob and Val
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It was a tragedy. In fact, the whole war was a tragedy. What was also so sad was that many of those young men who did survive the war died shortly after in the Spanish Flu pandemic. In 1918-1919 the Spanish Flu pandemic infected 20% of the world’s population and of those infected 2.5% died – it killed more people than were killed during World War 1, despite severe restrictions being put in place to try to contain it.
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I suppose in reality that as those killed on the Somme were from "Pals" regiments , ie those from the same towns such that the male population of some towns never recovered and there were not many young males of marriageable age left. Plus those that were maimed etc.
Many families had aunties who were spinsters and that was one of the reasons why there were so many single women.
Sad but true.
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Very similar,,my grandad was killed in 1915 aged 25 leaving a wife and two young kids.We were the first visitors to his memorial in France in 2014..Have been back since and its very moving...Lest we forget. BUSBY.
pappajohn
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Different kind of warfare back then.
Still using the strategies and manoeuvres used at Waterloo and before.
Line, Columb, Square & marching into the battlefield has never worked.
Still using the strategies and manoeuvres used at Waterloo and before.
Line, Columb, Square & marching into the battlefield has never worked.
We attended the evening ceremony at Menin Gate a couple of years ago. Very poignant and emotional.
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"Lions led by Donkeys"
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Sorry rangitira i take exception to that Lions led by Donkeys line. I have no problem with Lions. The Golden Generation, every one of those on the Somme in 1916 a volunteer. I'm always humbled by that. But Donkeys? No! Please read widely about the War. Our Generals did wonders with the hand that they were dealt. It's a big debate I know but one I'm happy to join in
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Got to disagree my cyber friend , just to name a few off the top of my head without google.
Hamilton, Haig, Birdwood, Petain, Weston, these fellas threw the poor bloody squaddy over the top, in large numbers . Gave them Footballs to kick as they advanced, into a hailstorm of machine gun fire.
Actually tried to send the ANZACS over the top with no ammo, "They are Colonial irregulars, they must learn to use the bayonet!"
It was a great war for those jokers, miles behind the lines, safely tucked up in their French Chateaus. Did they dine day after day on the ubiquitous Corned Beef and Ships biscuits? chance 'll be a fine thing! Did they sleep in the mud? did any of them come down with trench foot?
It was the way the poor bloody squaddies were treated during the war, that backfired after the war, the subservience to the "well off " went out the window, slowly but surely the mental divide tween the well off and the poor narrowed, in 30 years it was gone.. All because some of the Generals still fought "the musket and bayonet! war"
They learnt nothing from the Boar war
The Somme? Passchendeale? Tremendous loss of life, a veritable slaughter of the Empire's finest caused by bad planning, non coordination of supporting arms, (artillery etc) Refusal to believe air reconnaissance photos, just stiff necked barbarism!
AND! laid firmly at the door of 1 man, Haig, in the tween war years! Modern Historians are much kinder now of course.
9
9526
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If you’re going to (quite correctly imo) criticise Haig and co, and include ANZACS, then it would be remiss of you not to mention a certain Mr Churchill
Interesting that there is only one Willie McBride who died during what we call the Battle of the Somme; Rifleman William John McBride of the 8th Service (Pals) Battalion (East Belfast). He died on 2nd July but has no known grave being commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial (Pier 15). There is a Pvt William McBride in the cemetery at Authuille but he died in April 1916. That still fits Eric Bogles song. Whether the songwriter ever went to a war cemetery is unknown as those who have will know that his "countless white crosses mute in the sand doesn't accurately reflect the headstones that were erected. That being said I have sung the song quietly in cemeteries both on the Somme and Ypres.
His other Great War song, The Band Played Waltzing Matilda also has an inaccuracy in that the subject of that song says he was given a tin hat and gun before going to Gallipoli in 1915. Helmets were first issued in 1916 in time for the Somme offensive.
Never mind both good songs.
I will know crawl back to the Village of Much Pedantry
I was wondering if he was referring to these kind of grave markings:
The Early Cemeteries
The crosses we see on the graves of the early cemeteries look ideal firewood material. Easily stolen, easily broken up and burn well. While it would be nice to think that the graves were respected by all, do you think it possible that, in the following winters, many would have disappeared? Scouri...
www.greatwarforum.org
World War I in Photos: A Century Later
One hundred years after the start of the Great War, none of the participants remain alive, and we are left with aging relics, fading photographs, scarred landscapes being reclaimed by nature, and memorials and graveyards across the globe.
This article paints a very different story: Viewpoint: 10 big myths about World War One debunked
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25776836
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If you’re going to (quite correctly imo) criticise Haig and co, and include ANZACS, then it would be remiss of you not to mention a certain Mr Churchill
But he wasn't a general! it was just a "suggestion" from him they picked up on it and Calamity Hamilton was the guy that ballsed it up big time.
Winnie then became a Colonel in a Guards Regiment, Scots ? I think. A splendid photo shows how his war went, Winnie fully booted and spurred, Buffed and highly polished surrounded by several mud piles, if you look closely you see they are squaddies
WW2 was Winnies hey day, he excelled himself in slaughtering "EMPIRE!" troops Dieppe 1942, Greece Crete, Singapore.
When the 6TH Div was called home from the Desert by the Aus PM, to defend Aus from the Japs in Papua New Guinea, he refused the Convoy carrying them a Royal Navy Escort.
Poor old Winnie is not the hero in Aus/NZ that he is here in the UK Some would even say he is reviled.
This is actually the Douaumont Ossuary on the Verdun battlefield. Through the windows of this Ossuary hundreds of thousands of bones can be seen. These were the bones of (mostly) French and German soldiers for whom just unidentified body parts were recovered from the battlefield. Inside the Ossuary are the names of most, but not all, the fallen who have no formal military grave.
The Verdun battlefield is, in my opinion, seriously worth a visit, and there is far more to see from the war than the Somme. You can go round some of the WW1 forts like Douaumont and still see many of the battle scars on the fort.
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Modern day historians putting their spin on a war fought a century ago. Gleaned from Generals Memoirs and offical Documents.
Read Harry Patches thoughts on it, for a different view. WW1 vets now all gone, but there are still their memoirs gathering dust in the shelves of librarys, there are also translations of French Squaddies Diaries about Verdun, German Squaddies too, all describing the meat,grinder they were thrown into.
I read one such diary of a french soldier, used as a messenger, he deliberately walked in full view of the german lines in the hope he would be killed thereby ending his trauma. He survived.
Hollyberry
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At school we had an elderly nun who taught us Latin and Divinity. She was about 70, so well past retirement age. We used to try to side track her in lessons ( we were all intrigued by why they wanted to be nuns) and one day she told us that at the end of the First World War no young men came home to her village. Every one of them had been killed in action. As she said, there was no one for any of the young girls to marry and she entered a convent at a very young age. I remember all us rather rather chatty teenagers were stunned into silence as she looked so sad and wistful.
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